William Byron

Efisher131

Efisher131

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If there's already a Willy B mega thread, feel free to move this.

Byron has shown lots of speed this year, as have his teammates, but by this point in Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson's careers, they were being labeled busts by everyone for not winning. Where's the criticism for Byron? He was the hottest thing on wheels coming into cup in 2018. No one seems to care that he hasn't won yet. I can't really think of a race where he's even been close and given it away. Elliott and Larson were at least contending.
 
Willy B has been steadily improving since his rookie year. None of the young guys have set the world on fire. He will win a race this year under Knaus' guidance.

I don't think he's close to being a bust. He's still what, 22 years old? He's shown flashes since getting Chad as crew chief.
 
Guy is never gonna get to the next level unless he pulls his head out of his ass. Dude makes a lot of bonehead, overdriving moves.
 
hidesert cowboy said:
Hms cars sucked the last 2 years calm down
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Elliott and Bowman have won races. I just remember people being so tough on other drivers if they hadn't won by now in their career and there's none of that for Byron.
 
Don't forget that Byron has less total seat time than Elliott or Bowman or pretty much everyone else. Chase had quite a bit of real on track race experience when William was still sitting in front of a computer screen. If the Camaro resurgence is real, I think a win will come soon. I think he could have won Vegas if Matty D. didn't tear the side off the 24 trying to get around him. When I look at young drivers, I tend to look at year over year improvement. Year two was vastly better than year one. They really seemed to miss the setup at Cali, but otherwise they have been real solid this year so far.
 
Bryon is going to win sometime this year I believe. Has continued to improve each year and with the Hendrick cars showing more speed he is going to win one or two.
 
He seems to be fast in qualifying and practice. He does show some ruff ness in the actual race. He is not a smooth patient driver like chase is. If he ends up with a car that is faster and the situation is right he will win. Don’t doubt his cc to just have a car that runs away from the others
 
Larsonfan1995 said:
by this point in Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson's careers, they were being labeled busts by everyone for not winning.
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Larsonfan1995 said:
Elliott and Bowman have won races. I just remember people being so tough on other drivers if they hadn't won by now in their career and there's none of that for Byron.
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And the critics were wrong. Why should that mistake be repeated with Byron?
 
He's on his way up. Look at Martinsville, for instance. Or Las Vegas. He has improved with time. He's still prone to errors, but I think he's going to overcome them. There's no excuse for not doing so with a championship crew chief present.
 
Truex_rox said:
He's on his way up. Look at Martinsville, for instance. Or Las Vegas. He has improved with time. He's still prone to errors, but I think he's going to overcome them. There's no excuse for not doing so with a championship crew chief present.
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It's been interesting watching Byron. He has been a victim of the cup drivers level of dirty tricks, and been caught cussing on the radio (good sign). He takes his licks and he isn't backing down or whining about it. I think he has a winning season with a decent car under him.
 
StandOnIt said:
It's been interesting watching Byron. He has been a victim of the cup drivers level of dirty tricks, and been caught cussing on the radio (good sign). He takes his licks and he isn't backing down or whining about it. I think he has a winning season with a decent car under him.
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I wonder if he doesnt win this year is he HMS's Daniel Suarez?
 
Still firmly believe this guy is overhyped. He has one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. His teammates have shown more speed than he has all year long. Yet most people are just saying "just wait he'll get it" instead of talking down on him and calling him a bust like they did Chase Elliott. This guy is way more of a bust than Elliott ever was looking to be. At least Elliott contended for a handful of wins before he broke through. Larson was also labeled a bust constantly because he didn't win in his first two and a half years.
 
Efisher131 said:
Still firmly believe this guy is overhyped. He has one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. His teammates have shown more speed than he has all year long. Yet most people are just saying "just wait he'll get it" instead of talking down on him and calling him a bust like they did Chase Elliott. This guy is way more of a bust than Elliott ever was looking to be. At least Elliott contended for a handful of wins before he broke through. Larson was also labeled a bust constantly because he didn't win in his first two and a half years.
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eh, the grumblings are starting I think
 
Efisher131 said:
Still firmly believe this guy is overhyped. He has one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. His teammates have shown more speed than he has all year long. Yet most people are just saying "just wait he'll get it" instead of talking down on him and calling him a bust like they did Chase Elliott. This guy is way more of a bust than Elliott ever was looking to be. At least Elliott contended for a handful of wins before he broke through. Larson was also labeled a bust constantly because he didn't win in his first two and a half years.
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22 years old
 
This guy is waaayy to young to be counted out. He will be good
 
I agree, something is off with Byron. I’m shocked, he was dominant in the lower series winning 7 races in the Trucks and then 4 in Xfinity as well as the title. Guy gets into the cup series and struggles to get Top 10s after beating everyone with a stick in the minors.

One thing you have to consider is that Cup racers are more experience and much more aggressive. You’ve got guys like Ryan Newman out there battling in the mid pack who are feisty as heck. Some don’t do well in that environment
 
i think he and the cars are a little off.so they try to trick him to the front,last week was the worst.fast car and in first and they put out on 2 tires.just do what the other fast cars do and give the kid a chance.
 
Same thing could be said about Jones. Blue chip ride and not much for results. If Bell doesn't produce in a Gibbs mobile, similar record, same thing. But on the other hand there is a Reddick that so far is hanging around at the top of the food chain. I'm disappointed in Byron's lack of results. He shows flashes of speed but they are brief. There is no doubt he is going to start catching hell from some of the Hendrickites and others if he doesn't start showing some speed soon. Rightfully so IMO, you have to produce if you are in a top rung ride. Nothing personal jus bidness.
 
Byron's problem could just be the CC. Just because he was a winning CC with another driver does not mean every driver he gets will be a winner. I like to use Tony and his CC at JGR. The man could set up the car the way Tony wanted and then Tony took no prisoners on the track which resulted in many wins. That same crew chief could not help Joey at all. I think it was because the CC wanted Joey to drive his cars instead of giving Joey what he needed. The same thing could be going on with Byron, Chad may be insisting that he drive what ever Chad decides.
Dale E. could never win the 500 and then he did. Every thing fell into place and he got the win FINALLY. That same year he fired the CC that got him the win. WHY? Because Larry wanted Dale to drive his cars and Dale had enough pull to get a CC that gave him what he wanted.
Jones doesn't have that privilege and I doubt his future is with JGR nor do I think he should want to stay. Every driver except KB who won a championship with JGR has left soon after.
 
Team Penske said:
Byron's problem could just be the CC. Just because he was a winning CC with another driver does not mean every driver he gets will be a winner. I like to use Tony and his CC at JGR. The man could set up the car the way Tony wanted and then Tony took no prisoners on the track which resulted in many wins. That same crew chief could not help Joey at all. I think it was because the CC wanted Joey to drive his cars instead of giving Joey what he needed. The same thing could be going on with Byron, Chad may be insisting that he drive what ever Chad decides.
Dale E. could never win the 500 and then he did. Every thing fell into place and he got the win FINALLY. That same year he fired the CC that got him the win. WHY? Because Larry wanted Dale to drive his cars and Dale had enough pull to get a CC that gave him what he wanted.
Jones doesn't have that privilege and I doubt his future is with JGR nor do I think he should want to stay. Every driver except KB who won a championship with JGR has left soon after.
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It's definitely a relationship thing. I think Chad demands a lot, and I don't think Byron is assertive enough of a person to confidently race under Chad tbh.


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I’m getting worried about Willy B. I wouldn’t launch him yet but I really expected him to have a win this year by now as well as being a solid top 10 in points. The pandemic stoppage shifted the goal posts a bit in that HMS seems to have stalled the last few races. The small speed advantage the organization had, has evaporated and they might be behind Ford and Toyota once again. All HMS cars were top 10, now with the return maybe my eyes deceive me but RCR has seemed just as fast as HMS in some cases. I’ll tell you I wouldn’t launch Byron after this year but I would make his seat a little warmer going into 2021. I don’t know if William and Chad are meshing, I think Rick was trying to recreate that Jeff/Ray dynamic, when maybe the right move would have been shifting Chad over to the 9 side of the garage. I think you needed a younger/less experienced crew chief to grow with William while Elliott was ready to win now and that’s where Chad comes in. The example I can give is when a championship level coach leaves their championship team because they are done winning. They go to a young team that’s won but is ready to take that next championship winning step. He can show them the way. I think that’s what Chad could have been to The 9 crew. For you NBA Fans, Think Phil Jackson leaving the Bulls to start another dynasty with The Lakers.
 
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why would HMS keep a driver for their age 20-23 years (which have always sucked for cup guys besides like 5 exceptions in the sport's history) but get rid of him before he has any chance to actually be good for them?

why even invest the years of him learning if they won't be the team that enjoys the payoff?

I thought we learned this lesson with Logano but I guess not. He's at least 5 years away from when we should expect him to routinely win. 0 reason to have drivers at that young of an age if you don't want to keep them until they'll actually produce.
 
I think young drivers are made to look great in the Xfinity series. What I mean by that is you have fantastic cars at JGR and until a few years ago these cars where wheeled by the cup drivers. Those drivers worked with the CC and I venture to say helped those CC's become much better. Also the pit crews where also of the Cup caliber.
IMO drivers today SHOULD be looking great because of the teams helping them. The problem is when they go to cup those same drivers will no longer have the advantage of best cars/teams and so it looks like they are failing.
The other thing controlling driver talent is what drivers at the top of the list have or will agree to go cup for a very reduced salary contract. The teams are boxed in on what they can do to get an advantage as far as the cars go and there isn't much they can do about costs EXCEPT personnel. That means less people and younger drivers willing to take less money.

End of random thoughts.
 
I think the jump from Xfinity to Cup is just a lot more intense’ than it might seem on the surface...

Some of these guys when they get to cup, they truly need a good window of time to come into their own, but the downside to that is obviously Cup is a very fast moving, sometimes a revolving door... spitting one young driver out in hopes that the next will strap into the car, and instantly out run Kyle, Harvick & Hamlin right from the start.
 
a drawback of restrictions on cup guys xfinity is that young stars get less chances to beat the best and truly prove themselves, pretty sure Harrison Burton said smth along those lines
 
JGR_20 said:
I think the jump from Xfinity to Cup is just a lot more intense’ than it might seem on the surface...

Some of these guys when they get to cup, they truly need a good window of time to come into their own, but the downside to that is obviously Cup is a very fast moving, sometimes a revolving door... spitting one young driver out in hopes that the next will strap into the car, and instantly out run Kyle, Harvick & Hamlin right from the start.
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I thought about this. The jump from Xfinity to cup maybe the biggest jump any driver has to make in his career. Not only is it a huge jump, but I can be such a confidence crusher. These are all guys who have been the best driver throughout their lives. Since they began racing they always were competitive enough to win championships. Now, they get to the cup series. The talent level is just ridiculous. The best drivers they have ever raced against probably wouldn't even be good enough to win in good equipment in the cup series. So not only are these young drivers going a series where they used to being the best, but they're going to a series for this at least 20 drivers who are not only significantly more talented than them, But more experienced.

Gone are the days of Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, were these guys come into the cup series and good enough to win and compete for races.

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LJ7201 said:
a drawback of restrictions on cup guys xfinity is that young stars get less chances to beat the best and truly prove themselves, pretty sure Harrison Burton said smth along those lines
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Yep, in fact I remember when Bowman was in the training series he thanked Kyle Busch for helping him with advice and said he learned a lot from following his lines at times to gather more knowledge. I think drivers that want to show boat or just rack up wins probably doesn't like the veterans in the b series that much...but the drivers like Bowman that were more interested in learning from the veteran drivers so that they could hone their skills to the best of their ability and be a little more advanced if the opportunity ever did come along for them to land a ride in a top notch car in the Cup series probably welcomed the veteran drivers a little more.
 
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