Bizarre, comical, or simply perilous in nature? The nose of William Byron’s #24 Chevy being covered with trash bags has been the talk of the town since the Las Vegas race on Sunday. While the NASCAR world was left speculating how the plastic (garbage) bag got stuck in the front of the grill, it caused engine temps to increase, as a result leaving Byron fuming on the radio. 

Although the race at Las Vegas was comparatively hassle-free, certain curveballs forced drivers to be relegated to the back of the pack. The same could be stated for the Hendrick Motorsports 11-time race winner as well, but Byron was still able to gauge his position and finished P10. However, he was livid after his on-track debacle with an empty trash bag axed his claim to victory.

William Byron left fuming after finishing 7 seconds behind his teammate

It was lap 47 when this bizarre incident happened. This led to No. 24’s overheating, making it fall to the 14th position from running inside the top 10. The unwanted pit, however, helped William Byron remove the plastic bag, but he fell off the lead lap into the 35th position.

Byron had to race hard to get back to his position and was able to fend off his fellow drivers after snatching the lead. However, the podium-caliber driver was struck with misfortune and could only lead 15 laps after starting fourth. He finished the day in the 10th position. 

To add to his woes, as crew chief Rudy Fugle said, the plastic was stubbornly stuck to the nose of the car without any signs of coming off. William Byron’s hopes of earning his second victory in the season were washed down. Complaining about his helpless situation, he was heard saying on the radio, “Water temps are skyrocketing for some reason.” To this, his spotter, Branden Lines, retorted, “Yeah, there’s a trash bag on the front. I don’t know when I picked up that sh*t trash bag. Stupid.”

Stating to the media about the debris, Byron added, “It was huge. It seemed to get stuck somewhere underneath. I just know my temps went from 250 (degrees) to 350 in like 10 seconds. I never had that happen.”

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While there could have been detrimental effects, the team seemed to look over it and was quite amused by the incident. Moreover, Rudy Fugle revealed it ended up with one of their team’s sponsors after it was removed from the car. He mockingly said, “I saw them after the race with it,” Fugle said. “So I’m like, OK that’s a souvenir for them.”

Rudy Fugle remains amused after finding a beer can in the car

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Speaking to Sirius XM, William Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle expressed, “That thing was like a 55-gallon trash bag for those big trash cans you see in the infield of the racetrack. It got loose and even worse than that or even funnier than that, I’m pretty positive it had a beer can in it because that beer can got stuck in our air filter. So, after the race, there was a silver bullet in our air filter somehow.”

However, Fugle was also disappointed, as the team was unable to display their prowess or the functioning of the car. He also stated, “I hate it didn’t give us a chance to show really how strong a car I think we could have had all day long, and you leave there with a couple of questions. We fought all day and go up there toward the top 10, but we slid through the (pit) box on the last green flag stop and lost some spots and just weren’t as good on the restarts as we needed to be. If we could have kept the track position and had clean air on our nose for the restarts, I think we would have been better.”

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With that being said, it will be interesting to see what lies ahead for William Byron and his #24 Chevrolet team. Whether the team is able to undo the damage and secure another victory will be an interesting spectacle to watch in Phoenix.