By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
In this week’s edition of Flashback Friday, Kickin’ The Tires relives when William Byron won the Pocono Mountains 150 from Pocono Raceway on July 30, 2016.
When the Truck Series headed to the mountains of Long Pond, PA for the 12th race of the season, a young William Byron had already visited victory lane an impressive four times.
Byron started the event on the pole in his No. 9 Liberty University Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Qualifying was set based on practice speeds from Friday’s session because of rain that had plagued the track overnight.
The event would see nine cautions for 27 laps but being up front, Byron had track position and was able to avoid any on track incidents.
Byron was able to save fuel due to the many caution laps and ultimately only had to pit once on lap 25 for four tires and fuel service.
Time and time again a young Byron held off the competition.
When the final restart came with four laps remaining, Byron’s restart was error free, winning his fifth race of the season by a 1.4-second margin over second place.
“Honestly this is just a credit to this team. I mean this team is a great group of guys. Rudy Fugle (crew chief) leads them all. The pit crew is great, and we just have good chemistry. We show up and do our jobs, and I just love being here. These things don’t come easy at all and it’s a good thing when you get one”, Byron said in Victory Lane.
With his victory, his first at the 2.5-mile tri-oval, Byron became the winningest rookie in NCWTS history, breaking the record set by Kurt Busch in 2000.
Career Update: Byron would go on to win a total of seven times for Kyle Busch Motorsports during the 2016 season and become the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion.
Moving to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the 2017 season, Byron would tally up four wins and claim 2017 NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors.
In his first full-time season in NASCAR’s premiere series, Byron earned four Top-10’s in the No. 24 Chevrolet for powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports, as well as 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors.
As of 2019, Byron is still with Hendrick Motorsports and continues to improve and learn each and every event.
Heading to Pocono Raceway this weekend for Sunday afternoon’s Gander RV 400, Byron has earned one Top-5, six Top-10s, three pole positions with 180-laps lead.