Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron is not concerned about a huge points deficit on one of his NASCAR rivals, predicting that the Cup Series championship race will fluctuate throughout the campaign.
NASCAR has ditched the playoffs for 2026 and brought back The Chase, which will see the top 16 drivers in the regular season points standings compete across 10 races for the title in the fall.
So far, 23XI star Tyler Reddick has totally dominated, winning the opening three races of the year and taking a huge lead in the standings.
In fact, Reddick is so far ahead that even second-placed Bubba Wallace is 70 points behind.
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William Byron unconcerned by Tyler Reddick points advantage
Byron himself sits 13th in the standings and 100 points behind Reddick. Asked if he was concerned about that deficit after just three races, the Hendrick Motorsports star made his stance clear.
“Yeah, I mean, look, they've hit a home run on two drafting tracks. To score the points that they did is phenomenal," Byron told the media at Phoenix.
"If you start the year and you say, man, if we could score 40 to 50 points on drafting tracks, that's going to be a huge advantage. So they've accumulated a big advantage in those drafting tracks.
"And then COTA, I don't think there was any surprise to me that Tyler ran so well. But they executed really well, and that momentum was big.
"So I think for us on the 24 team, it's not really about looking at anyone else. It's looking at ourselves."
William Byron predicting championship fluctuation
"If we get to race 26 and that gap is still there, then shoot, you know, wish we could have had a couple things back," the Hendrick Motorsports star continued.
"But there's so much circumstance in those first couple weeks that you've got 26 weeks to figure it out.
"I think there's going to be plenty of ebb and flow in the next, I don't know, 20-22 weeks.”
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