Inarguably, Jimmie Johnson is a name on the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR. With a glorious record of seven Cup Series championship titles and a future Hall of Famer, he is one of the most idolized drivers in the sport’s history. Ever since his departure from Hendrick Motorsports, many drivers have come in and tried to fill in his big shoes. One would be the successor to Jeff Gordon’s #24 car, William Byron.

Speaking at the post-race press conference at Watkins Glen, a victorious Byron addresses various questions from the media. Addressing the #24 team’s approach going into the playoffs, which looks great by now, he makes a witty comparison with one of the people responsible for Jimmie’s success to his current crew chief, Rudy Fugle.

William Byron reveals the secret to the #24 team’s confidence going into playoffs

After losing a good amount of strength in the bid for a regular season championship title, Byron put himself right back in with a win. After leading the points table with consistently strong performances, he propelled himself ahead of the likes of current leader Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin. Although he remains in third, he has lost a significant amount of points in the last month.

One of the media correspondents had a rather descriptive question for the exuberant winner at The Glen as he asked,

“I asked you yesterday if you just needed some momentum, and you said that the difference last year is you guys just weren’t putting your races together. Rudy came in here a little while ago and he said that when looking at the playoffs that you guys are really confident, really looking forward to the Playoffs. He loves the 10 races. Why does this year feel different? Obviously, take the wins aside, but why the confidence booster? Why is Rudy saying you guys are so looking forward to the Playoffs?”

Byron holds Fugle in high regard especially after the work he has put in this season. 5 wins is the highest any driver has been able to produce this season and that includes a sweep in consecutive races at Las Vegas and Phoenix. Expressing his admiration towards his crew chief for that, he draws a comparison to the legendary crew chief of Johnson, Chad Knaus.

“Yeah, I mean, I think he’s — out of all the crew chiefs I’ve worked with in my life, I think he really values — I think Chad was similar in his days with Jimmie, like we really focus on those 10 races and focus on what that looks like and build our setups around that. I think we do kind of lose sight maybe in July and August of kind of what is still at play there, but I think that yeah, we’re focused on those races.” says the 25-year-old.

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Rudy also voiced his opinion about coming back in cruise control just before the playoffs earlier, signalling at a change of pace in things especially after enduring the rough patch of from mid-season.

Byron names the possible drivers to watch out for

Byron being the winningest driver this season, sits on the top of the playoff point standings with 2036 points. Despite having two less wins than William Byron, Truex Jr has managed to rake in 2035 points which stands proof to the incredible consistency he has carried this season. Byron is aware of the looming threats to his hopes of winning the championship as he sheds light on some of them.

On his list are the JGR duo of Denny Hamlin and Truex Jr, and teammate Kyle Larson. The trio have already won multiple races this season, and look like some of the fastest and most capable cars on the grid.

“I feel good about our notebook for those tracks but there’s also a lot of really good cars. The #11 has been fast, the #19 has been really fast, the #5 has been really good. We’ve just got to keep building, but I think the tracks suit us well, and I think he knows those tracks really well.” adds the Las Vegas winner complimenting his crew chief’s excellence in strategy at the end.

“I feel like we’ll have good race cars there.”

With every round laying the guillotine on four drivers from the final 16, consistency will be of utmost priority for the drivers. Blunders will prove to be more costly than ever and racking up the highest points in the three races of every round will be beneficial as well. As for William Byron, if there is a point to jot down from his season, it is that he is going to be one of the most watched out for drivers in the playoffs, especially after his gradual rise into stardom on the back of his talents behind the wheel.

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