Byron Hopeful Charlotte Tire Test Provides Advantage for Homestead
William Byron, who won the season-opening Daytona 500, has had an incredible start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. While he's only won one race, compared to Christopher Bell's three, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has been ultra-consistent.
Byron has racked up three top-five finishes, and four top-10s to go along with a boatload of Stage Points. That level of consistency has allowed Byron to pull out to a 29-point lead in the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship standings heading into Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 27-year-old driver participated in a Goodyear Tire Test on Tuesday and Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which, like Homestead-Miami Speedway, is a 1.5-mile intermediate oval. Byron is hopeful that the information he and crew chief Rudy Fugle gained at the test will give the No. 24 team an advantage going into this weekend's race.
"Yeah, I think if we didn't have this test, we would just build off of Vegas, and we'd just go to Homestead and try to duplicate what we did at Vegas, if not try to improve a couple of things. The fact that we have this test steps us through the things we would have done to go to Homestead and hopefully that should be an advantage for us," Byron said.
Byron, who won at Homestead in 2021, ranks the track among his favorites on the schedule and says the track is his crew chief's favorite without a doubt. Part of that love for the track likely stems from what it takes to compete well at Homestead.
"Well, it takes everything. It's a drivers' track because there is a lot of technique, but you have to have a good car," Byron noted. "You have to have a car that is good on the long run and things like that. Yeah, it's a team race track. I feel like Darlington is that way as well. It takes the whole team, and the driver is a big part of that."
While he loves Homestead-Miami Speedway, Byron admits he's been disappointed the last few years at the facility as he's lacked just a little bit of overall speed to be the dominant car.
"It's kind of been frustrating the last couple of years, I feel like I've been close, but not good enough," Byron explained. "Like, I'm always in the top five or six, and I feel like we're always in the mix, but we haven't been the dominant car, so, it's been a little bit frustrating the last couple of years. Hopefully, this test can get us a little bit closer."
Another thing that has Byron hopeful that this time around at Homestead will be his time is the placement of the race on the schedule.
In the last three seasons, Homestead has been the 34th race of the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series schedule, making it a pivotal stop in the Playoffs. Without worrying about making a mistake, which could eliminate them from a Championship 4 appearance, Byron feels he and his team can really go for it this weekend.
"Honestly, I think Homestead will be more fun being in the Spring because you can really test the limit of the car and not have to worry so much about outcomes," Byron said. "It's still a points race, so, it still matters, but it's not like that semi-final race or second-to-last race where you have to really focus on points."
Byron comes into Sunday's race on the heels of a fourth-place run in last weekend's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Over the last three races, Byron has finished no worse than sixth, and aside from a 27th-place run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the season's second race, it's been nearly a flawless season for the driver of the No. 24 machine.
The Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway is set for Sunday, March 23. The event will be televised on FS1, and can be streamed on the FOX Sports App with a valid television provider login. Television coverage will kick off at 3:00 PM ET.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.