NASCAR star William Byron admits Bristol Motor Speedway 'not my favorite place'

NASCAR Cup Series star William Byron has admitted that his struggles to achieve strong results at Bristol Motor Speedway have not made it one of his favorite places to race.

After a break over the Easter weekend, the Cup Series resumes next Sunday at the 0.533-mile short track in Tennessee (3 p.m. ET, FS1), alongside the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, which takes place on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, CW).

However, Byron knows it will be a tough proposition. The Hendrick Motorsports star has 17 career wins in the Cup Series, but his best finish at Bristol is third, twice (2021,2022).

Since that second third-place in 2022, it has been more difficult to execute for the 28-year-old and his No. 24 crew, finishing 12th, 6th, 17th, 35th, and 9th in his last five outings there.

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Byron on Bristol Motor Speedway

“It's not really been my favorite place," Byron told the media ahead of Martinsville in a brutally honest admission. "I feel like it just hasn't been great, result-wise.

"I think it's just really fast-paced. The way you kind of load up into the banking with the concrete is very unique and just really hurts the tires if you're a little bit off.

"So I think just finding a good rhythm there, where you can make speed but not damage your tires, it really depends on the weather on how much tire wear we're going to have.

"So if it's 70 degrees and sunny, it's no big deal… you're going to be able to run the top of the racetrack. If it's 60 degrees or below and cloudy, it's probably going to be a high tire wear race.”

Byron's 2026 season so far

After a tricky start to the season, Byron heads to Bristol with some momentum behind him, finishing inside the top 8 for four consecutive races. That run even included a third place at Las Vegas and a fifth place at Martinsville last time out.

As a result, Byron now sits fifth in the Cup Series standings heading to Tennessee, with only Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick ahead of him on points after the opening seven races.