William Byron Breaks Down the Art of Mastering Martinsville | NASCAR Film Room

He was making it tough on me, but with respect, and I feel like that is kind of what you want. Like, you'd love for somebody to lay over, but there is an art to being able to make that pass. Welcome back into NASCAR Film Room. My name is Eric Estep. I am joined by Martinsville Speedway winner William Byron. William, congratulations on the win. It's great to have you in here. The most important question, though, is you've had a lot of success at Martinsville. Did you remember to set all of your grandfather clocks back an hour for the time change this past weekend? Um, yeah, I'm, I'm a little embarrassed to say that, that mine aren't on, but they, uh, they're definitely present in my house, but, uh, I need to get them. I, they are functioning. They just don't, I just don't turn them on. So I need to, I need to probably do that. Cause I'm, I'm late to my fair share of things. So I'm sure that would be a, if you had them all cranked up, it would be quite noisy every top of the hour. So, uh, I don't blame you there. William, congrats on the win, man. We're going to break down some key moments, although, frankly, you dominated much of this race after taking the lead late in stage one. Outside of a few pit sequences, you never really relinquished it. So we're going to back things up here to start stage one. You were on the one-stop strategy. A few others tried to go the distance without making a pit stop. Just a few laps to go, you were able to catch and pass Ryan Preece. So, I mean, did you recognize in this first stage just how good your car was, or did you just feel like it was strategy that got you out front? Yeah, I mean, I thought that my car was good, especially once we got that set of tires on the car. It just felt like... the car woke up and just had more, I just had more grip and my balance was better. And yeah, we just, we came out in a pretty good spot on track. I was able to kind of manage and just, just get to get to a comfortable place. And I had SVG in front of me. He was having, he had good pace, so I could just kind of set a pace off of him. He had a couple lap fresher tires, I think, and just kind of was able, the two of us were able to kind of march to the field. And really Really, at that point, it was... Just good information by the team, honestly, to tell me what they thought I was projected to get to and where they thought I was going to get to on track. Once we got to second, I think the 60 was way up the road, and he had a really good long run pace that first stage. And so I wasn't sure if I was going to get there, and then he started to tank at the end of that run the last five, six laps, and I was able to get to him. So, that was... One of the easier passes for a stage win, for sure, when you have, you know, 70 lap fresher tires, but it was, uh, it was a lot of work to get to that point. And I just feel like that, that really, in a lot of ways made our race because we were able to, you know, able to get control. And I think our, our history at Martinsville and knowing what the track does up front and knowing kind of how to manage the race up in the front couple of rows really helped us. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, that last like two laps of stage one, there was a lot going on because you had the lead, you took it from Preece, but you had Ty Gibbs, who I think was one of the last of the leaders to make his pit stop. So he had fresher tires than you bearing down on you. And you're catching up to your teammate, Kyle Larson, who's struggling to stay on the lead lap. Can you sort of take me through everything that was happening this last lap and a half of the opening stage? Yeah. Honestly, yeah, you're seeing it here with Ty got to me, you know with a couple laps to go and I think he He kind of knew that you know, I was in a spot where I'm just trying to get to the end of the stage You know, yeah, they're they're too wide in front of me. So I'm not trying to force the issue And I'm like, man, I just, uh, I'm just trying to get to the end here. I think he, he was trying to capitalize on that pressure and, uh, kind of put some added pressure on me just to maybe slip up or make a mistake. And his car was fast at that point. I think he had a couple lap fresher tires. So, you know, he was, he was putting pressure on me for sure. Yeah, it was a good battle, but like you said, by winning the stage, having a great pit stop to start stage two, you sort of established control of the race from there. I do, before we move on, just have like a general Martinsville question for you, especially in that first stage. I know I listened to like, you know, Denny Hamlin's radio, and I don't think he was shifting for most of that first stage. But then Ryan Preece was, for example, they were on the same strategy and obviously a lot of different variables, but they finished that first stage in very different positions. Based on the onboard, I went and watched a view. It seemed like you were shifting most of the race. Is there like, can you talk us through just sort of like the risk versus reward? Like what's the benefit? What are the risks of shifting versus not shifting? What, how does that work at Martinsville? Just so, you know, normal fans like me at home can better understand what they're watching. Yeah, you know, ever since we went to this car, basically the first race at Martinsville, we all went out to practice and we were running fourth gear and running about 20 flats, I think. And somebody on track figured out that, man, I can downshift a third here and go about a tenth faster. And so that just opened Pandora's box where it's like, OK, I think we need to shift at Martinsville. And that was pretty physically demanding those first couple of races. And the cars weren't. Weren't very smooth shifting, and there were a lot of things, but anyway, you know, now five, six years into it, now there's kind of an option whether you want to run fourth or run third to fourth every lap, and, you know, it's really kind of what your car does, and just kind of figuring out what your balance is, and I think either can work, but, you know, I just, yeah, I felt like that was what was working for me, and, you know, it's just, the tires are really soft now, so it's, You know, either gear you run, you know, you have to be smooth with whatever you're doing. And, yeah, it was, I don't know, it just kind of worked for me. Well, speaking of being smooth, you were very smooth on restarts most of the afternoon. I have a clip here. This is from stage three. This was the final restart of the race since the race ended with over 200 green flag laps. But you had a lot of practice on restarts. Is there any secret? Is there any sort of timing to restarts at Martinsville? Or is it helpful having a teammate on the front row with you kind of take some pressure off your shoulders? Just how do restarts work at Martinsville compared to other tracks? Yeah, it's definitely helpful to kind of have the teammate restart there. You know, I feel like it's kind of, it's advantageous to have Chase be in second versus, you know, somebody else. And, I mean, for sure, me on the, you know, restarting on the bottom would be... somewhat easier because I just I'm in the preferred lane the launch is a little bit easier there's a little less wheel spin the outside lane kind of like Atlanta used to be or some of these worn out tracks like the asphalt at Martinsville the outside lane is a little bit slicker so you have a little harder time getting the rears to hook up and and launch smooth so I had to make sure I was on my game and just make sure I didn't make any mistake that kind of put You know, Chase or somebody else in a spot where they could capitalize because you never want to get to turn one, not have a good launch and be at the mercy of maybe the third place guy, you know, knocks Chase into me or or something. So, yeah, we've seen crashes over the years. I think, you know, Kenseth and and Koszalowski a few years ago when the teammate restart was going on. And and if it doesn't go well, then the guys behind them on the second row can can really shake things up and and and possibly end your day. So it's. Yeah, there's a little bit of pressure to executing that well, and it's not as easy as it looks. Well, you certainly got a lot of practice throughout stage two, and I guess a little bit there to start stage three. But then this race ended with, I think I saw the longest run at Martinsville in almost 40 years, physically demanding, I'm sure. I'll fast forward here to your final pit stop, right around 79-ish laps to go. When you come off of pit road and the cycle's still playing out, you came out right behind Kyle Larson, kind of in between Larson and Reddick, who were both battling for either Either the free pass or... For a top 10 last car on the lead lap position. And it looked like it took you a couple laps to kind of settle in here. You know Chase Elliott was about two, three seconds behind. So just how challenging were these first few laps? Battling good cars knowing you need to make these tires live for a long run. Yeah, that's, that was a tricky spot. You know, Kyle had just come off pit road. So I think he had a little bit fresher tire than me. Um, but the, the big factor in that was the 45 was right behind me and really pushing me to go. So I had, I had just lapped the 45 right before I pit it. So it kind of put me in a spot where it was like, and should I push the issue here or should I just take care of my stuff? And I, I just decided to take care of my tires and just kind of let Kyle. You were able to manage the gap between yourself and Chase Elliott really nicely the entire rest of the way. It felt like the closest Chase got to you is maybe seven, eight tenths. Usually you kept that bubble around a second. I know you said after the race, there were a couple moments where it felt like maybe your car was a little tighter on that last run. There was some lap traffic here and there that got in your way. I tried to pick out maybe the, like... Maybe the toughest spots that you had to face? Like, there was this moment where you were kind of stuck behind Brad Keselowski for a few laps. Like, what's your sense of urgency at this point? 20, 30 laps to go, knowing that you got Chase Elliott, you know, half straight away back, maybe? Yeah, it's just, it's really like, how can I... Execute a pass and not hurt myself. How can I make sure I keep my car in good condition, make sure my tires are still happy? You know, and yeah, so, you know, some of these lap cars, like you're just trying to make the pass as efficient as you can without damaging your car. So, you know, it's tricky. I think that's the real art to Martinsville leading the race is how do I make these passes efficiently It doesn't slow me down too much, but also it doesn't damage my car once I clear them that I have less potential in my car. Because it seems like you can kind of see here like you're running almost that second lane, really straight exit off of the turn seemed to be your strong suit. I got one last clip, one other battle. This was, I think we're less than 20 laps to go here. Bubba Wallace, he's running like 7th or 8th place. This is a top 10 car you're trying to lap here. Chase Elliott, still not far behind. You'll see in a moment, Daniel Suarez almost loses it right in front of you. That had to be a tense moment. How did you set up this pass? Because once you got by Bubba, I felt like, oh, this is kind of over. Yeah, it um This was a tough pass. I mean, Bubba gets around Martinsville really well. I think he's won a couple truck races there. And so I knew this one was tough. He was doing all the right things, and his car wasn't that far off. Like you said, he's running in the top 10. But Chase had closed within a second and a half, I think, down to maybe a second. I felt like I was right on the verge of my car starting to maybe go away if I pushed too hard. So that was a critical pass because I felt like Bubba was doing a good job of getting off the corner with momentum. You know, he was getting in the corner well, so he didn't really have a glaring weakness. So, yeah, that was, I mean, I think in a lot of ways, like, maybe he feels the same, but I felt like he was... He was making it tough on me, but with respect, and I feel like that is kind of what you want. Like you don't, you don't necessarily, you'd love for somebody to lay over, but it, um, there is an art to being able to make that pass. And, and, um, yeah, I think he, uh, he was doing a good job and that was honestly, yeah, that was probably the critical pass in the last 10 to 15 laps that gave me some comfort, um, that made it not look so close, you know, in the final few laps, because Chase was the next car behind me. So if I don't get that. Pass Bubba, then maybe I get stuck and he gets a run on me. Yeah, that's the thing. Fans, if you just look at the box score and you see 360 laps led, swept the stages, you're like, oh. William Byron wasn't challenged all day, and then you watch, and you're like, no, he had to pass top 10 cars down this stretch to maintain that gap. It was no easy feat, but congratulations, William. First win of the season, fourth career cup win at Martinsville. Make sure you get your grandfather clocks tuned for next year. Hopefully, it'll be after your good luck charm going into the next season, but congratulations. Thanks for doing this. Appreciate the time. Yeah, thanks, man. I'm glad I could finally be on and offer some insights. It's cool to watch y'all and good details about the race.