When Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Tuesday that the current Monster Energy Cup Series season would be his last as a full-time driver, speculation immediately began as to whom would replace NASCAR’s most driver at Hendrick Motorsports.
William Byron not thinking about replacing Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports
The 19-year-old Byron is currently racing in the Xfinity Series for a team partially owned by Earnhardt.
Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Among the names most frequently mentioned is William Byron, a 19-year-old rookie driving for Hendrick in the Xfinity Series. Regarded as one of NASCAR’s rising stars, Byron has only been racing since 2012 and has rapidly ascended through NASCAR’s feeder tours. He captured the 2015 K&N East Series championship as a rookie, and last year setting a Camping World Truck Series record for most wins (seven) by a first-year driver.
Team owner Rick Hendrick signed Byron away from Toyota last summer, placing him in an Xfinity car for this season fielded by JR Motorsports, co-owned by himself, Earnhardt, and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Earnhardt’s sister. Byron has five top-10 finishes in seven starts and ranks second in points.
“Every one of us wants to race in the Cup Series, that’s the ultimate goal,” Byron said Friday at Richmond International Raceway. “I’d be ready for anything I think, but right now I’m just focusing on what I can do at JRM, see what we can do the rest of the year and hopefully, compete for a championship.
“It’s hard enough doing that, so just hopefully have a good run at Richmond. Just keep hard work going and see what we can do the rest of the year.”
Lack of experience is frequently the reason cited why Hendrick may be reluctant to promote Byron to fill Earnhardt’s seat. But young drivers making the jump from Xfinity to Cup and having success isn’t unprecedented.
Current Cup points leader Kyle Larson, 24, had only four Truck starts and a single Xfinity season before Chip Ganassi promoted him to NASCAR’s top division in 2014. And Joey Logano, 26, had all of 19 Xfinity starts when Joe Gibbs Racing elevated him to Cup in 2009. Logano has since won 17 races and twice earned a spot in the four-driver championship playoff round in the past three years.
Cup veteran and current Xfinity points leader Elliott Sadler is a JRM teammate of Byron, and he believes the youngster possesses the skill set to succeed at the sport’s highest level.
“He’s got it,” Sadler said. “He’s one of these kids that’s got it, who’s going to go to Cup and understands it. And I think once he learns these tracks and these races and setting your car up for the longevity of them and making adjustments and stuff like that.
“Once he gets that nailed, he’s going to win a bunch of races — not only in Xfinity, but in the Cup Series.”
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