“I bet you there’s one of them that goes winless in 2025.” Larry McReynolds, a two-time Daytona 500 champion crew chief, said about Hendrick Motorsports drivers in early 2025. Well, two drivers in the HMS fold are still winless. But for the moment, the impact of McReynolds’ ominous prediction is catching up to William Byron. The No. 24 driver won the Daytona 500 but has missed out on victories since, including last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600. Joey Logano may have been one of the reasons.

William Byron was the Charlotte dominator, leading for 283 laps. But the closing laps threw tough challenges in his path, in the form of ambitious competitors who sought to topple his run. Post-race, Byron pointedly criticized one of them, but Larry McReynolds would have none of that.

Joey Logano receives a shield of support

That is unlikely, as the 2024 Cup Series champion has seen no dearth of controversy. From last year’s shocking comeback in the playoffs to Joey Logano dissing his teammate in Talladega, the unpopular antics have been plenty. His Charlotte maneuvers also drew criticism from William Byron. The latter was battling Ross Chastain with barely 20 laps left when Logano’s No. 22 Ford stole clean air from the No. 24. With Logano able to maintain fairly good speed, Byron’s car got loose as they raced through Turns 3 and 4. These defending tactics shaved a chunk of speed off Byron’s run, and the latter was not happy post-race. He spoke of Logano’s moves: “He was doing the usual. What I didn’t like is he just kept moving around in 3 and 4.”

However, Larry McReynolds extended support to one driver in this fiasco – Joey Logano. The champion crew chief led Davey Allison to a weekend sweep of the May 1991 races at Charlotte with a victory in the Coca-Cola 600. Having worked with Allison and other champions, McReynolds cannot help but harbor an old viewpoint. He said in a recent ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ episode, “Maybe because I’m old school, maybe it’s because of how long I’ve been here. Maybe it’s because of the drivers I worked with, like Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Ernie Irvan. I have zero tolerance when I hear a driver talk about another driver racing them hard. Really? He raced you hard? That’s a shame. He shouldn’t do that, should he?”

So Larry McReynolds found no fault with Joey Logano’s aggressive defending. After all, he was doing it to accrue points for his own team, and not for William Byron‘s benefit. McReynolds said, “Joey Logano did nothing wrong. He was trying to stay on the lead lap because, you know what, if the caution comes out, then he’s able to come in and get four fresh tires. And he maybe can really get a much better finish than he had. Remember, Denny Hamlin was in the mix too, because he came in right in front of William. He was right there with Joey Logano. With that said, Joey Logano did nothing wrong.” However, McReynolds also warned Logano, “But the next time somebody’s out in front of Joey Logano in the same situation, I don’t wanna hear Joey Logano complaining about it.”

Clearly, William Byron would find no consolation in the veteran crew chief’s words. However, he found the same in another veteran, his own team’s executive.

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HMS head pats his driver on the back

Well, Joey Logano did make it hard for William Byron. And yet the latter drove on with a solid purpose, never letting Logano pass. Byron also faced other hindrances during the Coca-Cola 600 race. Firstly, Denny Hamlin hounded him for the entire race, exchanging leads 12 times and leading himself for 53 laps. Then Tyler Reddick incurred a speeding penalty, lost control, and nearly crashed directly in front of Byron. The HMS driver turned hard to the left as Reddick slapped the wall, going all the way to the apron and giving up almost a second of his advantage. These instances may have allowed a hard-charging Ross Chastain to prevail in the end, but the efforts were jaw-dropping, nonetheless. That is what HMS vice chairman and 1994 Charlotte winner Jeff Gordon acknowledged.

Despite finishing 2nd, William Byron holds a 29-point buffer atop the Cup Series standings. So Gordon gleaned the positives from his driver’s solid run. The four-time Cup Series champion said, “Overall, it was a really good race. Disappointed when you dominate and run that well and don’t get it done. So I feel for William and the team, but also, there’s a ton to be proud of him. I thought he just drove a super impressive race today. I’m pretty sure he probably has the points lead now, and, you know, it’s like points leads great, and there’s points for that… I think overall, you just take away how strong they were in the toughest race, and I feel like because of that, they’ll continue to build some momentum.”

Hence, William Byron can look forward to better race days ahead. Then, he may be able to stave off determined competitors like Joey Logano.