William Byron to run Martinsville Truck race for Spire Motorsports

Byron, one of three different Hendrick Motorsports drivers to win in the Cup season’s first five races, will compete in Thursday night’s Truck Series race at Martinsville.

Byron, 24, will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports and will make his 26th career start in the series and just second since the 2016 season.

Byron is the second HMS driver to take the wheel of Spire’s Truck this season. Teammate Alex Bowman drove the Truck in the March 26 race at Circuit of the Americas.

In two previous Truck starts at Martinsville – both coming in 2016 – Byron finished third and eighth.

“I’m really excited to get in Spire’s truck this week at Martinsville,” said Byron. “Even though it’s been a couple years since I was in a truck at Martinsville, I had good runs before with a couple top-10 finishes.”

“I’m excited to see how things have changed since that time. Plus, any more track time at Martinsville is always good since it’s such a rhythm-based track. Bono (Kevin Manion, crew chief) and the No. 7 truck ran well when they were at COTA and he has done a great job at Martinsville in the past, as well.

“It should be a fun time.”

Byron has won 14 times across NASCAR’s three national series – Trucks (seven), Xfinity (four) and Cup (three). He also earned rookie of the year honors in all three series – one of three drivers to do so.

In eight starts at Martinsville in the Cup Series, Byron has three top-five and four top-10 finishes, including a best finish of second in the fall of 2019.

“We’re thrilled to have William Byron behind the wheel of our No. 7 truck Thursday night at Martinsville Speedway,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “Obviously, we’re not racing for points so it’s a lot of fun to put William in the seat, pull out all the stops and see if we can pick up our first Camping World Truck Series win.”

Alex Bowman, Spire Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images