"I don't want to be part of the story": When William Byron explained his rule about confronting rivals in victory lane

Three years back, William Byron explained that the simple rule to handle wrecks was to 'take care of it' on the track. During an April 2022 interview with The Athletic, he shared that he would not step in to stop a celebration if the driver had crashed him on the way to victory lane. But he preferred to handle things later with words or action.

Byron said, via NYTimes:

"I don't want to be in the way and I don't want to be part of the story. But I'd probably find a way to find them after the race and do something. I don't know if it'd be a fight, but at least words or something. But at the end of the day, the guy just won and he's not going to change his opinion on what he did.

"So even if he tells you, 'Oh man, I'm really sorry,' he doesn't care. You know he doesn't care! So just make sure the next time you race him, you don't care (either)."

In 2019, Byron tried to answer a rough move from Kyle Busch, who had spun his No. 24 Chevy into the grass at Watkins Glen.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver ran up behind Busch after his crew chief, Chad Knaus, told him to do so over the radio later in the race. But the two-time Cup champion braked hard, and Byron slammed hard, damaging his own car.

When asked how he came to handle such conflicts, William Byron said:

"It goes back to iRacing when I raced on there. You kind of learn the racecraft. And then I had a couple of run-ins early in my career with a few different guys my age. The only way you took care of it was on the track. It goes back and forth for a while and it's a little ugly, but that's my opinion."

Later in 2022, Byron took another stand, which resulted in a major penalty.

When William Byron's revenge on Denny Hamlin turned sour during 2022 NASCAR Cup playoffs

NASCAR: NASCAR Cup Series Championship - Source: Imagn

William Byron also retaliated against Denny Hamlin during the playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway in September of 2022. Byron felt that Hamlin squeezed him into the wall while they were racing hard.

So, when a caution came out later for another car, Byron drove up behind the No. 11 Toyota under the yellow flag and spun him through the infield grass. NASCAR later slapped a heavy fine of $50,000 and a points penalty on him.

William Byron still managed to have a career-best overall Cup championship finish in 6th place that season. This season, he won the Daytona 500 twice in a row and earned the 2025 regular-season title. The 27-year-old made it to the Championship 4 for the third time but had a tire failure that ended his and leader Hamlin's title hopes. Byron also apologized after ruining Hamlin's day.