William Byron earned his second win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season at Iowa Speedway, carefully managing his fuel in the No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet. This victory is his 15th career win and comes after his second straight Daytona 500 win earlier this year. Byron thinks that this win will change the momentum of the season for him. Winning at Iowa Speedway was important for him, especially after his tough run on the short track last year.

In the 2024 race, Byron’s chase to victory was crushed by Ryan Blaney, who won the inaugural race at the city and also his first of the year. Post the race, Byron acknowledged that his victory was well deserved, “No, he had a really good car, so he was up front and contending a lot, and him and the 5 (pole winner Kyle Larson) were really good.”  After his Sunday’s Iowa race win too, he maintained his stance on it, “I don’t know if we came out on the wrong side last year. I don’t think we were really—I think he was the best car, you know, so we didn’t really have a lot of chances at winning last year, but we had a good run.” And now, Byron is happy with his own short track progress and opened up on how their team has been working on it.

William Byron explains the short track situation for their team

A victory at Iowa was, in fact, very important for William Byron. This is because after winning the Daytona at the start of the season, Byron had trouble winning again. This win was a big boost for Byron, especially after a tough eight-race stretch where he only had two top-10 finishes. Speaking about how this race was different than last year, Byron said, “We did a good job last year, and I think coming here, we didn’t really know what to expect. The track had aged quite a bit, so we’d worked on our short track program. I feel like, you know, short tracks are probably a weakness for us. It’s probably the area where we could improve the most.”

It’s not the first time Byron has been outspoken about his short track struggles. In a previous Super Late Model race at New Smyrna, Byron had shared his reasoning. He had stated, “On short tracks, when tires/brakes wear out, it leads to battles like these. Mechanical aspects of the car challenge you to manage and find an edge towards the end. It’s an engaging battle.” The statement was just an honest take from a driver who’s very well aware of his strengths and weaknesses. 

Byron also mentioned how their practice sessions helped make the short-track situation better. He said, “I feel like our speed’s been better than it’s ever been, and that’s a big reason why we stay confident. I feel like every week we work really hard together, show up prepared, show up fast, and we just needed one to go our way, and today we did.” In Iowa’s post-race conference, he continued about the practice bit, “So to have a weekend like we had this weekend just kind of opens up a big door and window for us because these tracks have probably been the area we’ve needed to work on the most.”

William Byron’s victory at Iowa marks a unique achievement: a win at the track in three different NASCAR series. The racer also thanked his team while highlighting his fuel mileage in Iowa. “How about that for some fuel mileage? “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage. Super thankful for Rudy and all these guys, all the engineers back at the shop. This whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year, a lot of growing pains. It felt like we had a good car and kinda raced it.” The win showed both speed and smart strategy, which had been missing in his previous races. 

Especially because Byron had struggled with strategy, particularly with the fuel decisions at Michigan and Indianapolis. But in a caution-filled race at Iowa, Byron and his team made the right choices. With Chase Briscoe’s Toyota hot on his tail, Byron had to drive defensively. He revealed that during the final 64-lap green flag run, he was intensely focused on saving fuel, a strategy that ultimately paid off as Briscoe was never able to get close enough to challenge for the lead.

William Byron’s win is a big boost for the team

As per the crew chief, Rudy Fugle, despite leading the standings for most of the 2025 season, William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team were “starving” for a win. Their only victory in the last 50 Cup races was the season-opening Daytona 500. Byron’s win on Sunday at Iowa Speedway ended that dry spell and marked a significant moment for the team as the playoffs approach.

During the post-race press conference Fugle mentioned, “It’s a credit to everybody on the team, but yeah, it’s been tough because you’re just waiting for that next thing to drop, so that’s why we were all sitting up there like, ‘When is something going to go wrong today?’ and it just didn’t. Thankfully that gives us more confidence, and it’ll give us a boost for sure.”

The victory also shifted the points lead, with Byron now ahead of teammate Chase Elliott with just three races remaining in the regular season. This win was a much-needed boost for Hendrick Motorsports, as it was only their second victory in the last 11 races. Even with a recent dip in victories, Hendrick Motorsports continues to dominate the points standings, holding the top three positions. William Byron currently leads the pack with an 18-point advantage over teammate Chase Elliott. Kyle Larson is in third, 45 points behind Byron, as the team prepares for Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International, the third-last race before playoffs and the final road course event of the year.