It has not been the Hendrick Motorsports-type NASCAR season one would expect. Aside from two wins for Chase Elliott early in the season at Martinsville and Texas, an HMS car has not found its way to victory lane.
One of those include William Byron, who has had a lackluster season compared to previous years. With four races remaining until The Chase, the driver of the No. 24 finds himself 12th in the points standings with nine top 10s and four top fives in 2026.
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On a recent episode of “Inside the Race,” NASCAR analysts Steve Letarte and Kyle Petty gave their thoughts on Byron’s season and his championship hopes.
NASCAR analyst said Byron ‘hard to be considered’ a contender
Letarte, a former crew chief of the No. 24 car with retired four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, dropped an alarming stat.
Byron, who made the Championship 4 race under the previous playoff format the last three seasons, has not had back-to-back top-10 finishes since March of this year.
When a driver is not seen consistently running towards the front of the field, it is difficult to say they will be a championship contender.
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Despite Byron’s great success the last couple of seasons, it is evident the 2026 season has been a down one for the No. 24 team.
“It’s hard to be considered a real contender when you can’t run in the front 25 percent of the field on a week-to-week basis,” Letarte said.
Petty, an 8-time Cup Series race winner and NASCAR analyst, has noticed Byron’s inability to recover from miscues. Whether it is lack of speed or not making timely pit calls, Petty said Byron becomes a non-factor when things go sideways.
Suddenly, Petty said Byron will go from a top-five contender to mired outside the top 10.
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“When a misstep happens, they don’t have the speed or make the right calls or whatever it may be to recover. They just disappear. They go from running fifth to running fourth to gaining on somebody to being, ‘Oh, how’d they get to 13th? Why are they running there?'” Petty said.
Byron holds an 88-point advantage over The Chase cut line with four races remaining. While the North Carolina native is in a comfortable spot to make the postseason, time will tell if he can emerge as a title contender before the season’s over.
Byron’s woes part of Hendrick’s 2026 struggles
It has not been a stellar season for Byron, but that has largely been the case for HMS.
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Chase Elliott secured the team’s only two wins in 2026 at Martinsville and Texas, respectively, which both came within the first 11 races of the season. However, the driver of the No. 9 has struggled over the last few months with no top-10 finishes in the last eight races.
Kyle Larson, the defending Cup Series champion, continues to ride a winless streak of over a year. In addition, the driver of the No. 5 has three finishes of 34th or worse in the last four races.
In a season that was mired by a vertigo diagnosis causing him to sit out for four races, Alex Bowman sits 29th in the points standings. The driver of the No. 48 has recorded four top 10s in 18 starts.
One stat that encapsulates HMS’ struggles came recently. In the last three races, no HMS driver has recorded a top-10 finish, the team’s longest slump since 2020.
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