William Byron battled Daytona “gremlins” but praises stand-in crew chief after penalty-hit race

Regular-season champion William Byron battled a rear-start penalty, early “gremlins,” and an incident at Daytona, but praised stand-in crew chief Brandon McSwain

William Byron reflected on the NASCAR Cup regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway - a race which saw him start on the back foot then wrestle with "gremlins" that plagued his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Fortunately, Brandon McSwain, stepping in as his crew chief for Daytona, worked well with the driver.

Byron secured the 2025 Cup regular season championship at Richmond and finished 19th in today's superspeedway race. Ahead of Saturday's campaign, crew chief Rudy Fugle was ejected following an inspection violation. McSwain replaced the New Yorker.

"Thank you to everyone back at the shop. I thought Brandon did a really good job stepping in tonight," Byron said after the race. "We've worked together for probably a decade, really, since the JR Motorsports days.

"He did a good job, and I'm sure all the work that Rudy was doing back at the shop helped Brandon, as well."

After NASCAR officials spotted Hendrick Motorsports making unapproved adjustments to the No. 24 Chevrolet, Byron was also penalised. Starting at the rear of the pack, he had to serve a pass-through penalty at the race start.

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen - Getty Images

"Just really proud of the effort by this No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet team. We had some gremlins there at the beginning of the race. We just had some weird stuff going on.

"Really nothing was wrong with the car, we just got in that early crash and thought we might have had some damage. But overall, our Chevy was good enough to compete for the win.

"I just wish I could take a couple decisions back in the final stage, and really, that caution hurt us because we were kind of mired in the back and it was hard to pass."

Despite a difficult race, the North Carolina driver is confident in himself and his machinery.

"I thought our weekend was smooth, all things considered. Just excited to get to Darlington. It’s one of our best racetracks, and I’m sure we’ll be fast there.”

Byron enters the playoffs as the second seed behind Kyle Larson.