Challenges Mount for Byron as HMS Faces Slump
William Byron, pilot of the No. 24 Chevrolet, enters the final stretch of the 2026 NASCAR season with a modest 12th‑place standing in the points chart, having logged just nine top‑10 finishes and four top‑fives throughout the year.
Veteran analysts Steve Letarte and Kyle Petty have pointed out that Byron has been unable to string together consecutive top‑10 finishes since March, a pattern that makes a championship narrative increasingly tenuous.
Petty added that Byron often squanders strong positions, dropping from the top five to outside the top ten due to a combination of insufficient speed and suboptimal pit strategy, a trend that has plagued his campaign.
The difficulties are not confined to Byron; Hendrick Motorsports as a whole has endured its longest stretch without a top‑10 finish since 2020, with Chase Elliott missing the top ten in his last eight outings and Kyle Larson still searching for a victory in over a year.
Despite holding an 88‑point cushion over the Chase cut line, Byron's ability to convert that margin into a title before the season ends remains uncertain, as the team works to arrest a broader decline that has seen Alex Bowman slip to 29th in points despite occasional top‑10 performances.