Hendrick Motorsports might have found its next household name, as William Byron looks to build off his stellar run in 2023. The campaign saw him reach the Championship Four for the first time in his career, along with earning a series-high six wins.
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No. 24 for six 🏁 pic.twitter.com/Gz8rz94Ihf
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) December 28, 2023
The last of Bryon's victories gave HMS the team's 300th in Cup Series history. As the team enters 2024, Hendrick will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary.
Byron has quickly become a contender for the NASCAR championship for years to come behind the wheel of his No. 24 Chevrolet.
With 2024 being the 40th year of Hendrick Motorsports, Byron has plenty of reasons to make next season his best, and he has his eyes on the prize. The Cup championship is definitely on his mind after coming up two spots short in Phoenix.
Byron has big plans for 2024, as he let NASCAR.com's Zack Albert look into what he hopes to pull-off next season.
"I mean, I'm not going to go into next year just because it's the 40th year and say 'Man, I really want to win,' but I hope I win more races than I did this year. I hope I win 10," Byron said. "So that's the goal, and I told everybody that we just want to be the fastest next year. We were really good this year, we were always in the mix and always one of the guys, but just want to be faster next year."
There's no doubt that Byron was the most efficient driver in 2023, and his consistency would have seen him claim his first championship if the year was 2003 with NASCAR's old point system instead of 2023 when Ryan Blaney was the driver in the right spot at the championship race.
As for his goal of winning 10 races, it's been done before plenty of times, most recently by his teammate Kyle Larson in 2021 when he won his championship.
Why stop at 10, if Byron finds the speed he is talking about, what's to stop him from reaching the modern era record of 13 wins in a season, set by Hendrick's own Jeff Gordon in 1998 in the same No. 24 car.
Winning 10 races isn't a bad goal to have going into a season, but Byron certainly has more on his mind. After reaching the Championship Four in 2023, he has his eyes on the crown in 2024.
