Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
He’s only spent half a season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, but 18-year-old William Byron has enjoyed a mountain of success.
In 13 starts this season, the rookie hotshot has earned himself five wins for Kyle Busch Motorsports, outduelling veterans such as Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter to score wins. He seems to be growing into his position as one of NASCAR’s next big stars, and is among a pool of talent in Toyota Racing’s stable.
However, Byron wasn’t always a Toyota driver. He was scooped away from Team Chevy where he was a JR Motorsports development driver. He raced for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the CARS Super Late Model Tour where he picked up one win in three starts last year. In 2015, Byron was a rookie in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for HScott Motorsports, a Chevrolet-based team. The virtually unknown rookie came up from the Legends Car rankings through sponsorship from Liberty University, going from an unknown to a four-time K&N race winner and champion.
It was at the end of 2015 where a career changing moment occurred for Byron. It was announced in November that he would join Kyle Busch Motorsports and Toyota to compete for a Truck Series title in 2016. Byron left the Chevrolet camp – a loss that looked small at the time, but could come to haunt Chevrolet for years.
Toyota has made big gains in their selection of young drivers over the past few years with drivers such as Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez and current K&N Pro Series standout Todd Gilliland. While Toyota has picked up these big drivers, Ford and Chevy have only been able to maintain young drivers like Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, rather than gain new ones. The sustainability will be an asset for the two manufacturers in the short run, but Toyota’s ability to move young drivers through the ranks and make acquisitions through Chevy and Ford will make Toyota the strongest competitor long term.
Joe Gibbs Racing is currently Toyota’s strongest team in NASCAR after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship last year with Kyle Busch. Their domination just doesn’t stem to the top division, as over on the XFINITY Series side, Gibbs has won 13 of 21 races this season. Gibbs’ fleet of Sprint Cup drivers have an average age of 36.5 between the four of them, and the organization knows that in order to keep their team strong, they need young drivers to develop into stars to replace their current stars.
Enter Erik Jones: Gibbs’ top prospect. The 20-year-old will move up to the Sprint Cup Series from the XFINITY Series next year in a second Furniture Row Racing Toyota through an alliance with JGR. Jones isn’t the only notable Joe Gibbs Racing development driver, though. Gibbs and Toyota also appear to have young Daniel Suarez on lock, and also have Matt Tifft, Cody Coughlin and Christopher Bell under contracts. The missing piece? William Byron, who might just have the most promise. Byron currently has no deal with Joe Gibbs Racing, and beyond this season, his plans are unknown.
The reality is, it’s now mid-August, and NASCAR silly season is upon us. Teams and manufacturers are thinking of their next move. To be frank, if Toyota isn’t already working on a plan to retain Byron for the years to come, they need to work on that plan before the opportunity goes away.
Ford and Chevy are both in desperate need to pick up young drivers to replace drivers in their camp expected to go away soon. Half of Team Hendrick’s Sprint Cup drivers are in their 40s while Roush-Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle is 46, and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick hits 40 this year as Kurt Busch climbs in age. With Ford and Chevy’s drivers getting older, the opportunity is there to entice Byron to join one of their respective camps.
Chevy’s lost Byron once, but they still have the chance to get him back. JR Motorsports has one full-time Truck team that presumably will be without a driver next year as Cole Custer is expected to take his Haas Automation sponsorship to Ford. The XFINITY Series is also wide open for JR Motorsports as Elliott Sadler’s funding appears to have gone away, and Justin Allgaier’s plans are unknown.
As for Ford, it appears they also have open slots in the XFINITY Series. Just last week, Team Penske announced they will be adding a second car to their team in 2016. The second car will run for a championship full-time with a driver and sponsor still not announced. With other drivers already rumored, Byron could be a long shot for that spot, though still a possibility.
Stewart-Haas Racing also has an opening as they’ll be adding a full-time team to the XFINITY Series next year. A driver and sponsor for that car has also not been announced. Much like Penske, another driver is already rumored to be taking this spot, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility for Byron to take the seat.
Brad Keselowski Racing in the Truck Series could be another possibility as the two-truck team hires its drivers on a year-to-year basis. With Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick’s plans unknown, it could open up a seat for Liberty University and Byron to take their sponsorship elsewhere.
Byron is currently one of the biggest unknowns in NASCAR and where he and Liberty University end up in 2017 could just be where they stay for the long term. With Byron as one of NASCAR’s best prospects, his decision would be huge for any manufacturers development plans. Whichever manufacturer lands the young driver could be setting themselves up for big success in the future.
