William Byron balances NASCAR career, college studies as he prepares for Daytona 500

Most 20-year-olds spend their weekends engaging in a combination of social activities and studying. William Byron is not most 20-year-olds, a fact he demonstrated by posting the fifth-fastest time in Daytona 500 qualifying on Sunday.

Byron is a much-hyped first-year driver this season in the Monster Energy Cup Series. To describe him as a phenom isn’t a stretch, as he’s only been racing actual cars for six years, and at every level through his progression to NASCAR’s premier division he’s won quickly and won often. He earned the Xfinity Series championship as a rookie last year, and won eight races and nearly the Camping World Truck Series championship in 2015, also as a rookie.

“I don’t feel like it’s that difficult,” Byron said. “I feel like I can do what I need to do in the race car, and that’s going to take care of itself. I think the hard part was getting to that point.”

Growing up in NASCAR’s North Carolina epicenter, Byron developed a passion for the sport as a young kid. With his parents reluctant to let him race, Byron did the next-best thing and immersed himself in iRacing, a sophisticated simulation that is so realistic numerous Cup drivers use it to hone their skills.

Eventually Byron wore his parents down — in part because he wrote a six-page paper detailing the best approach to get started in racing — and they bought him a Legends car, a small, full-bodied car that is seen as a basic entry point into motor sports.

In what would become the theme of his burgeoning career, Byron adapted seamlessly and instantly tasted success. During his first full season in Legends, he would score 33 wins and the national championship for his division. That earned him an opportunity with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Super Late Model team and from there Byron kept advancing, never spending more than a year in one series but always taking the championship hardware with him when he would go on to the next challenge.

Seeing Byron’s potential, team owner Rick Hendrick signed him in 2016 to have him drive one of the Xfinity cars he co-owns with Earnhardt and Earnhardt’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller. With an opening on his Cup roster, Hendrick promoted Byron this offseason and placed him behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet made famous by Jeff Gordon.

Expectations are high for Byron during his freshman season, but he also realizes the competition level is stiffer than he’s ever faced. He joins a Hendrick Motorsports organization that is very much in transition coming off a disappointing 2017 (by its standards) and has retooled both its driver lineup and behind-the-scenes personnel with numerous changes.

Along with Byron, the team will field cars for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman. Johnson and Elliott are holdovers, while Bowman replaces the retired Earnhardt and Byron takes over for Kasey Kahne who was released. The 42-year-old Johnson is the veteran of the group and affectionately called “grandpa” by his teammates, who are all under the age of 24.

The youthfulness within Hendrick has seemingly provided a boost to its patriarch. After Bowman won the Daytona 500 pole on Sunday, Hendrick admitted he’s had flashbacks to when the then- 21-year-old Gordon joined the team.

“This has been so much fun for me,” Hendrick said. “I’m kind of reliving Gordon with his little pencil mustache. I tell these guys, ‘You know when I met Gordon, he had a briefcase with a stock car magazine and a Game Boy. That was it.’

“But to see the excitement with the team, the way they’re working together, it’s just a lot of fun. Jimmie taking the lead role and giving these guys, telling them this is what you need to expect out of the car.”

Unlike Gordon, Byron isn’t carrying a briefcase with a magazine and a video game console. Instead, he travels with books to study for his college studies at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. (Liberty is also one of Byron’s primary sponsors.) He is pursuing a business communications degree and his schedule is filled with statistics and religious classes.

Byron attended one semester on Liberty’s campus in 2016, but because of his racing commitments he now takes classes online. He has coursework due every Monday, but in anticipation of being focused on preparing for the Daytona 500 he turned in his assignments early before traveling to Daytona International Speedway.

“I can do it pretty much when I want,” Byron said. “It’s really flexible as far as my schedule goes. I do it basically before I get to the racetrack. It’s fun. It’s cool. It kind of gives me a chance to get away from everything for a little bit. I enjoy that part of it.”