NASCAR mailbag: Is the hype about William Byron justified?

Each week SB Nation’s NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi answers your questions about the latest news and happenings within the sport. If you have a future mailbag question, email jordanmbianchi@gmail.com.

Ryan Blaney leaving the Wood Brothers bothers me. Just because Penske decides it wants Blaney back, the Wood Brothers suddenly lose a great young driver and all the excitement from what they’ve done this season is gone. How is this fair to the Wood Brothers?

--Tommy

The Blaney-Wood Brothers Racing pairing has been mutually beneficial, a perfect blend of an emerging driver with a veteran team possessing a knack for developing young talent. In a perfect world this burgeoning relationship would continue where Blaney elevates the Wood Brothers into an elite organization like it was during its heyday.

Except all parties involved always understood this partnership came with an end date. When Wood Brothers entered into a technical alliance with Team Penske, it gave the venerable outfit a driver, personnel, cars and other resources that laid the groundwork for an eventual return to racing fulltime. All with the knowledge that eventually Blaney would shift back to Penske whenever that organization deemed itself ready to expand to three cars.

That time is now with Penske announcing Wednesday Blaney will become a Penske-exclusive driver in 2018. But don’t think the Wood Brothers are getting a raw deal, it is in fact the opposite.

The Wood Brothers are unquestionably better off today than it was prior to this alliance. Prior to the agreement, the single-car team lacked funding that prohibited it from competing in every race and rarely at a competitive level. Now, the team is racing fulltime, flourishing, and the addition of Paul Menard brings additional sponsorship.

An excellent position for the Wood Brothers to be in; one quite a few teams would gladly accept.

Explain the William Byron hype. I’m curious what about him makes him so good and is the hype actually justified or will he be like so many other young drivers and flameout?

--Josh

There’s a lot to like about the 19-year-old, who’s won three of the past five Xfinity Series races. What immediately stands out is how Byron is a fast learner and can quickly find speed, though does so pushing beyond the point where he frequently crashes like so many other young drivers often do. He’s smooth, consistent and rarely places himself in bad positions.

What’s really remarkable about Byron is that he’s only been racing actual cars for all of five years. Yes, you read that correctly.

Although it’s quite common for drivers to get started as young kids -- for example, Jeff Gordon began racing at age 5; Kyle Larson at age 7 -- Byron’s first laps behind the wheel didn’t happen until he was 15 when he begged his father to buy him a racecar after having raced successfully online.

It’s unfair to throw around the word “prodigy,” but every indication points to Byron deserving of that label. He won a NASCAR national touring rookie-record seven times last year in the Camping World Truck Series, and would’ve likely taken the championship were it not for an engine failure in the penultimate race. This season as an Xfinity rookie, he’s tied for the series lead in wins.

These attributes plus him being good in front of the camera and behind the scenes with sponsors is why so many are incredibly high on Byron and believe he has a bright future. And while he could fizzle out, it’s just as likely he joins Larson, Blaney, Chase Elliott and others as stars of NASCAR’s next generation.

Why would the Wood Brothers pick Paul Menard when there are so many other better drivers available? Why not sign Blaney’s best friend Darrell Wallace Jr.? He doesn’t have anything and he’s worthy of a fulltime ride. You know he’d do better than Menard!

--Paul

If only opportunities in NASCAR came about solely because of a drivers’ ability, not due to factors such as sponsorship and funding. Unfortunately this isn’t the case.

The harsh realities of motorsports is something Wallace knows all too well, as he’s shown worthy of a chance to race every week but doesn’t have the necessary backing to put a deal together. And sponsorship is not an area where Menard lacks, thanks to his father’s-owned home improvement store chain, which has helped prolong a career that otherwise would’ve petered out long ago.

It may not be fair, yet racing like life rarely is. Wallace’s best bet is to remain persistent, and whenever his next shot arrives maximize it to the fullest. Because it’s obvious based off his four-race stretch filling in for the injured Aric Almirola, the right people are taking notice.