The roar of 40 engines, the blur of the finish line, and the frantic chaos of the final laps culminated in a storybook moment for William Byron and Hendrick Motorsports in the 2024 Daytona 500. The victory was Byron’s first in the ‘Great American Race.’ Team owner Rick Hendrick, visibly elated, remarked that “You couldn’t write the script any better,” as Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet edged out teammate Alex Bowman for a one-two sweep, tying the legendary Petty Enterprises for the most Daytona 500 wins by an organization.

Cut to this year, and he defended that win again on a last-lap lead that involved a huge wreck. This made him the first driver since Hamlin in 2019 and 2020 to win the “Great American Race” in consecutive years. Now, as he reaches the pinnacle of the season once again, Byron reminisced about how the Daytona 500 win affected the rest of his season, saying that the team has “trained ourselves for that pressure.”

How William Byron flipped the script on the Daytona hangover

In an interview with FOX Sports reporter, Bob Pockrass, Byron acknowledged the emotional toll of such a monumental victory, stating, “Now, I think there’s definitely, what I would compare it to and what I had to learn last year is that there’s a high from it, and then there’s obviously any time you have all that energy and adrenaline, you’re gonna come down from that eventually.”

While the 2024 Daytona 500 victory was special, as it marked the 40th anniversary of the team’s first start, this year’s win was the icing on the cake. But the initial euphoria and the subsequent demand for media appearances and celebration tours often pull focus away from the relentless grid of the weekly Cup Series schedule, resulting in a temporary performance dip.

Byron confirmed this predictable struggle, noting, “And we did. We had some struggles, I think just right after the first 500 win, we struggled for about a month and then and then got it back going and carried us all the way through.” In the immediate races after the Daytona triumph, the No. 24 car’s average finish temporarily worsened, failing to consistently replicate the elite performance seen in the numerous victories from the previous year.

However, the period of adjustment was short-lived, as the No. 24 team quickly found its footing and transformed the emotional momentum into a consistent execution. Byron emphasized this return to form, explaining, “But I think this year’s been more business as usual. We really told ourselves we wanted to compete for wins in the big races this year, and we’ve done that in each one of them each of the crown jewels.” This speaks to the maturity of the HMS program and Crew Chief Rudy Fugle’s strategic planning.

Byron racked up multiple wins throughout the 2024 season and maintained a strong presence at the front of the field, leading one of the highest numbers of total laps among all competitors. Having already secured the Daytona 500 victory, Byron‘s performance in the subsequent major events demonstrated his team’s consistent preparation for the sport’s biggest stages.

His crew chief, Rudy Fugle, also commented on dealing with the pressure and the hard work that Byron puts in his work, saying, “I am just so proud of this team. You put everything into Sundays. Sometimes you don’t get anything in return…Honestly, throughout the year, had some close calls. But yeah, sometimes life is that way. You just got to keep being resilient. We were. Just feels damn good.”

Ultimately, Byron viewed the journey of managing the post-Daytona high and the pressure of a championship run as a critical developmental process. He concluded, “So I feel, like yeah, we just kind of trained ourselves for that pressure.”

The 2023 season, where Byron had a career-high six wins and made the Championship 4 for the first time, provided the baseline experience. By successfully navigating the emotional pendulum of the 2024 Daytona 500 win and its aftermath, he and the No. 24 team solidified their ability to handle intense, continuous pressure.

How William Byron rewired his mental game to conquer Martinsville

After two bruising weeks in the playoffs, crashing at Las Vegas and spinning on the final lap at Talladega, William Byron’s title hopes looked finished. But when Martinsville arrived, he turned the narrative upside down. Starting from pole, Byron swept both stages, leading a career-high 304 of 500 laps, and dominantly sealed his Championship 4 spot, proving pressure could bring out his best.

Post-race, the 27-year-old HMS driver revealed what changed behind the scenes. “It’s been a lot of work and it’s been a lot of heartbreak this year, the 600 and just different races, and you just channel those things, you just learn from them,” Byron said. “And if you can learn from them, they become positives, they become things you lean on in the moment.” That frustration from Vegas and Talladega, instead of breaking him, built the foundation for his Martinsville masterclass.

Byron summed up that transformation in one striking line: “I found a way to flip that script.” He continued, “For some people, they become like scars and things you can’t get past, but I feel like for me, I found a way to flip that script either this week or sometime during these playoffs, and it went the other way.” That shift carried him past Ryan Blaney in the closing laps and etched his 3rd Martinsville victory into playoff history, the first ever to sweep pole, stages, and win.

As Jeff Gordon said afterward, “William Byron had the race of his career today.”