A couple of years ago, William Byron made a guest appearance on the FOX television show ‘LEGO Masters’. At the time, it didn’t seem like much. In fact, Jeff Gordon kind of took the main billing in the episode, but a couple of years later, Byron is now an 11-time NASCAR Cup Series race-winning driver, and he is coming off of capturing victory in the sport’s biggest race — the Daytona 500.
Byron is starting to become a household name outside of the NASCAR circle.
Prior to the season-opening Daytona 500, Byron was featured in the NASCAR: Full Speed Netflix docuseries, which followed drivers through the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. In a featured behind-the-scenes clip of Byron at home, the driver shows off his passion for LEGOs. Whether it be the NASCAR Next Gen car set, the Titanic, or a space shuttle, you see completed LEGO builds all around his house in the show.
Needless to say, Byron’s status has grown quite a bit since that appearance on LEGO Masters in December, 2022. Now, it appears as though Byron has LEGO’s attention to the point that the iconic brand very well could serve as a primary sponsorship partner of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet someday soon.
“Yeah, I mean we’re working on it, for sure,” Byron said during a media availability on Saturday. “I’d love to have a LEGO car out there. I think they do so many unique things with that design. Certainly, still going to build.. need to work on my next project here soon. I have some ideas. They are going to send me quite a few sets, so that’ll be nice. No more eBay. I usually go on eBay and get the LEGO sets because they’re backordered.”
Without a doubt, it would be awesome for Byron to have LEGO adorn his race car, but while he awaits a potential deal with LEGO, Byron has his sights set on Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400. And for good reason.
Since Atlanta Motor Speedway was reconfigured heading into the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, Byron has racked up two wins in the four races at the 1.54-mile intermediate/superspeedway hybrid racetrack.
Even with his solid performances at Atlanta, and coming off a win at Daytona last week, Byron is apprehensive to feel he is the guy to beat on Sunday.
“Yeah, I mean look – we’ve been really fortunate that it’s worked out for us a couple of times,” Byron explained. “The first win, we were pretty dominant here – led over 100 laps and put ourselves in a good position. But since then, it’s gotten even more chaotic. It’s two to three wide and it seems like everyone has really figured out the draft here.”
While he doesn’t want to count his chickens before they hatch, as Atlanta has become just as unpredictable as Daytona and Talladega since the reconfiguration. However, Atlanta has been circled as a point of emphasis for Byron and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team as the track will host a race in the Playoffs this season.
“Yeah, I mean it just makes the race a little more important for us. We just have to have a notebook for this race, so we need to understand what our setup needs to be and kind of tinker with that going back here in the fall,” Byron said. “We can’t really try much here because we want to have a good data point for the fall and know – hey, our car drove pretty well. A lot is out of your control here, but hopefully, we can have a good driving Chevy, good strategy, and just get a little bit of an idea for the fall.”
If Byron is within striking distance of the win in the closing laps, expect him to be ultra-aggressive in his pursuit of the win. By virtue of his win in the Daytona 500 last weekend, Byron is the lone driver locked into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs heading into Sunday’s race at Atlanta.
He has nothing to lose, and Playoff Points to gain. And another win could put him a step closer to that ever-coveted LEGO sponsorship.
