JOLIET, Il. — The return to Chicagoland Speedway marks a milestone moment for NASCAR, which has not competed at the track in seven years. It also serves as an opportunity for William Byron to right the ship.
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The Hendrick Motorsports driver seeks to stop the alternating pattern of solid finishes mixed with struggles, which forces him to change some things behind the scenes.
"I think we've just kind of been really up and down, and we're just trying to find the balance and just be able to have some sort of rhythm," Byron said on Friday afternoon.
"You know, in the past, we just had a lot of notes and we could just kind of lean on that. And this year, it has just been kind of relearning everything. It's been a lot of hits and misses, so hopefully we can just have a good weekend here and kind of get back on track."
Byron finds himself in an unexpected place at the halfway point of the Cup Series season. He is above the cutline for The Chase as he sits 12th in points, and he is on pace to match his 16 top-10 finishes from last season.
Yet, he is winless through 18 races. This marks a major change from the other seasons of the Gen 7 era in which he won at least once in the first five weeks of the season. Three of these seasons (2022-24) featured him winning two times in the first eight weeks.
Byron is also on pace for six top-five finishes this season, which would mark his lowest total since 2022 when he posted five.
Thanks for the meme lol. Yeah of course in that moment, we put a ton into this 💩 and want it to go well. We’re not satisfied ever especially when you don’t execute to what your standards are. So yeah it hurts your sad all the emotions. But go again next week have all the faith… https://t.co/vKEdd1nVGg
— William Byron (@WilliamByron) June 22, 2026
The No. 24 team has delivered solid results on some tracks. Byron finished top-10 in seven of the first 13 weeks, highlighted by a third-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also finished 28th or worse in four of the first 13 races.
His average finish has fallen to 16.4, which is his worst mark since his rookie season in 2018 (22.1). His average starting position of 15.3 is the second-worst mark of his nine-year career.
He appeared to turn the corner heading into the summer stretch. He finished third at Pocono, but he then finished 32nd at Naval Base Coronado after hitting the wall and heading to the garage for repairs. This ruined what had been a potential top-10 finish.
Adding to the complexity of the season is a change in the Chevrolet camp. The Camaro underwent a body change, which meant that many notes from past seasons no longer applied. The teams had to see how the new body reacted to the different track styles.
"Yeah, I'd say on the ovals, I thought we were starting to gain on it and get in the right direction," Byron said. "And then the road courses, I thought we were just OK. I made a mistake in San Diego.
"I wish I could have that back because I thought I was going to finish probably in the top-eight. Last week (at Sonoma), I just kind of felt really good about it going in the race and then just a little bit worse throughout the race. But I think based on the ovals, like where we were at Michigan and Pocono, I was starting to feel pretty good about things."
The next two weeks provide rebound opportunities for the North Carolina native. He will first take on Chicagoland Speedway, a track where he has a top-10 finish in two starts.
He has also performed the best at intermediate tracks this season with top-10s at Las Vegas, Kansas, Texas, and Charlotte.
The series will then head to Atlanta. Byron finished 28th in this season's spring race at the mini-superspeedway due to a crash, but he also has two wins there since the reconfiguration.
Even if Byron can't snap his winless streak dating back to Oct. 26, 2025, he will still have opportunities to score some much-needed points and try to move up the Cup Series standings.
"I think at Atlanta, I was actually really optimistic when we went there in February because we had a lot of speed and a lot of maneuverability, and that didn't necessarily apply right away," Byron said.
"I think we should be good there. It's going to be hotter and there will be more off-throttle time. I think it's a great race, especially in the summer. It's going to be fun."
