“Travis (Kelce) and Taylor (Swift) would have nothing on you two!” Austin Dillon definitely loved playing the matchmaker at the Phoenix championship race. Dillon, acting like the ultimate wingman, stopped the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports car and Championship 4 contender, William Byron, and convinced him to meet Sydney Sweeney. But it wasn’t your typical meet-cute. At the Sydney Sweeney-rich finale of the championship race, the Hollywood star was among the spotlight guests.

She delivered a pre-race message while waving the checkered flag, strolled through the garage area, and then even posted a photo with Ryan Blaney and his team to celebrate his race win. But what stole the spotlight was Byron’s first-ever encounter with the 28-year-old American actress. And now, as the jets cooled on Byron’s title hopes, the 27-year-old driver couldn’t help but clear the air on their awkward meeting.

William Byron reveals the reason behind the hurried meeting

Speaking to Bob Pockrass, Byron was smiling all along and even tipped his hat to Dillon. He said, “Yeah, I was pretty locked in on the task. So it was, that’s kind of why I was in a hurry to leave the meeting. But now I appreciate him (Austin Dillon). It was funny. It was a good moment. Yeah, a lot of my buddies just love to poke at me on that. So for sure. Yeah, I do know who she is. Like, I mean, oh, for sure. I was, yeah, I was pretty focused on the race. But yeah, but it was cool.”

Well, Dillon may have just wanted to lighten up the tense championship finale air that Phoenix brought in. Byron, who had locked his spot into the Championship 4 thanks to his Martinsville victory, looked every bit prepared for the race and was a man on a mission. “No distractions” seemed to be the mantra as the 27-year-old driver aimed to nail his third attempt at bagging his first title. However, that never followed through.

Early in the race, he won the first stage and led a race-high number of laps among the contenders, showing dominance, which made him a favorite. However, things unravel late. With just a few laps remaining, Byron’s car suffered a right front type of failure, sending his machine hard into the wall in Turn 3. The resulting caution triggered an overtime restart that reshuffled the field. But Byron left down and out of contention, Kyle Larson saw the opportunity to clinch the championship, and Ryan Blaney crossed the line for the race win.

But shifting back the focus on Sydney Sweeney, it can be said with utmost certainty that the star was left smiling after Dillon pulled that move. The Richard Childress Racing driver made the playful reference to the high-profile romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, a relationship that captivated the sports world when it began in 2023 and led to their engagement in August 2025.

As for Dillon, he has long been off the market. The driver got engaged to former NFL cheerleader Whitney Ward in 2016, and the couple tied the knot in December 2017. By contrast, William Byron is currently single following his split from Erin Blaney, the sister of fellow NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney, last year, in a relationship that lasted roughly 4 and a half years. But he was too shy to go up and introduce himself to Sweeney. But this year around, the 27-year-old’s dating life has taken center stage, and Hollywood female stars seem to be the running theme.

William Byron’s 2025 dating rumors

With his career soaring and another shot at championship glory, William Byron has also found himself at the center of growing curiosity about his personal life. Earlier this season, he was spotted alongside a mysterious blonde before a race, a moment that quickly ignited speculation about a possible new romance.

The buzz had already been brewing since NASCAR is pre-race hype for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which showed Byron standing next to a woman in a striking red dress during the national anthem, fueling whispers that the two might be a couple. Things took an even more intriguing turn when actress Sydney Sweeney made an appearance at Sunday’s season finale, leading to a brief and slightly awkward exchange between the two.

However, the rumor mill never sleeps, and the early speculations about Sabrina Carpenter and the HMS Driver are what took the cake. Following his back-to-back Daytona 500 victories, Byron’s newfound confidence seems to carry over into his off-track life. A parody account, “The Daily Downfords,” shared a fake screenshot that appeared to show Byron leaving a “Hi” under Carpenter’s Instagram post. The driver took the joke in stride, played along, and was asked about it by TMZ.

Byron laughed, saying, “Maybe we can get her out to race or something, that would be great.” When pressed for a message to the espresso singer, he simply grinned and said, “I don’t know, her music is pretty good.” It was a lighthearted moment, one that revealed a playful, easy-going side of the usually focused Hendrick Motorsports star.