18-year-old William Byron continues to dazzle, wins NASCAR Iowa Truck Series race

With his 15th birthday approaching William Byron was thinking about cars, as most teenagers are wont to do, and he initiated a discussion with his father about purchasing one. Unlike most teenagers, however, Byron didn’t seek a car to find some semblance of freedom or to chase girls or to do any of the other assorted things kids his age normally like to do once behind the wheel.

The vehicle Byron desired was a Legends car, an entry-level racing machine that NASCAR superstars Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and others used to learn the fundamentals and before ascending up the motorsports ladder.

Although Byron’s family lived in the Charlotte, N.C., area and therefore had some understanding of racing, they had minimal grasp of the particulars and thus had little knowledge about what exactly a Legend car was. So the elder Byron used a familiar tack most parents employ when their children ask for something: Bill demurred, telling William to do some research then they would discuss the matter further.

William did precisely that, delivering to his dad a six-page paper 48 hours later. In it, William laid everything out, detailing what Legend cars were, how it was a great way to get started in motorsports and the location of tracks near them where he could compete.

“We’ve always believed that if somebody wants something, they need to work for it and earn it,” Bill Byron said. “If it was important to him, then he would put the time in to show me what it was. And he did.”

By the end of the week father and son were on their way to look at cars. Shortly thereafter, the Byrons became a racing family.

If there was any second-guessing that they may have made the wrong choice, Bill and Dana quickly realized their son — who at age 6 had fallen in love with NASCAR and had been playing iRacing, an intricate and very realistic simulation of the real thing, and had been doing quite well amassing over 100 victories — might be a racing prodigy.

“He didn’t think he was ever going to race because I was very overprotective,” Dana Byron said. “I just wasn’t going to let him, that’s why he started so late. I thought it was going to be a hobby and they talked me into it.”

Two weeks shy of his 15th birthday, William Byron finished fourth in his first race. This was 2012. The next year he would win 33 races along with the Legend Car Young Lions Division national championship. More accomplishments followed. And similar to Busch and Logano before him, he was crafting a name for himself.

In 2014, Byron transitioned to Super Late Models driving for a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. The subsequent year, Byron progressed to the NASCAR K&N East Series (the sport’s equivalent of Single-A baseball) and as he did before, he adapted seamlessly. He won four times and despite being a rookie, captured the tour championship.

That earned Byron a ride in the Camping World Truck Series for 2016, where the recurring theme throughout his meteoric rise is again playing out. Making only his fifth start in NASCAR’s No. 3 division, he won May 6 at Kansas Speedway. He followed that with another victory last week at Texas Motor Speedway and Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.

If Kansas represented the initial breakthrough and Texas offered validation, then Iowa showcased Byron’s ability to overcome adversity incorporating a mixture of savviness, patience and dogged determination.

Having established firm command and leading the majority of the evening, Byron committed a rookie mistake while pitting 50 laps shy of the finish. As he tried to pull out of his pit box, he stalled, costing himself nine spots, falling to 10th.

Byron then went to work, gradually picking off positions that allowed him to capitalize when another caution tightened the field. He retook the lead with a three-wide outside pass of pass of Cole Custer and Ben Rhodes with nine laps remaining. From there, he never looked back.

But though the on-track performance was that of a veteran and not an 18-year-old, in Victory Lane Byron’s youth was apparent. The fresh-faced kid excitedly high-fived grizzled crewmembers, some sporting graying facial hair and three times his age, and even ate a slice of pizza.

As it all unfolded Dana Byron acted like any proud mom would having witnessed her teenage son achieve a notable accomplishment. With an ever-present beaming smile, Dana snapped photos and video on her smartphone while also responding to the multitude of texts and tweets that were coming in.

Off to the side stood Bill Byron, taking it all in and trying to comprehend the whirlwind journey his son had set them on when he asked for Legends car back in 2012.

“We’re proud of him,” Bill Byron said. “It’s really been incredible.”

If there is such a thing as an overnight success, then the kid who graduated high school May 27 and began racing less than four years ago might qualify as the definition. Three Truck Series wins in nine career starts is that proof. And in a sport flush with an abundance of emerging young talent, Byron may just be the most promising of them all.