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Jeff Gordon Discusses William Byron's Dominance · Kenny Wallace Media

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  I mean what a what a weekend they put together and just you
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  know the race car that that Rudy and the and the guys broad and
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  in the way that that William drove it.
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  I mean just watching him qualify how smooth he was and and same
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  thing throughout the the the race just just seemed to put the
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  car in all the right places and I I never saw him make a mistake
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  which is what it was going to take to win today in those
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  closing laps because Bell you know had a faster car with the
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  with the fresher tires and and in any you know big lock up into
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  a corner I think I think that it would have been a different
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  outcome. So a lot of credit to to William
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  in doing that great job but you know it takes the whole team to
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  pick through everybody. So they're they're they're truly
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  on quite a quite a run here to start this season off and can't
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  wait to see where they take it next.
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  How do you feel about the development of William?
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  I mean, this is a guy when you look at his career, he is such a
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  quick study. I mean, he starts and he find
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  success pretty quick. Now he's finding maybe a little
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  bit of domination. I mean, you look what he did
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  today. Can you talk about how you feel
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  about his progression? And you know, he's getting to
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  the point now where he's the top winner at Hendrick Motorsports.
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  Yeah, it's been incredible. You know certainly when you look
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  at history and and you know some of the best of the best
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  throughout the years. You know certainly since I've
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  been a part of of NASCAR you just don't see somebody with
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  with this progression or this this you know path to to succeed
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  at this level the way that he is yet yet he's defying all that
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  And you know honestly it's it's making us look at young up and
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  coming drivers that that might be the next stars 'cause you do
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  have to even though we got a young line of you do have to be
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  thinking about that and planning for it and and it makes you yeah
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  it makes you you kind of look at what's out there what are
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  options what what does SIM racing mean and and what do guys
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  that that maybe don't get into cars at five and six years old
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  what what are they capable of And and that's all due because
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  of what we've seen with with William and and how he's I mean
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  I I I will say that that he makes up for the lack of of
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  experience you know that he had prior to coming to the cup
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  series through his his you know the way he focuses the way he
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  preps the effort he puts in. So I I I still think that don't
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  discount you know what what you know what what he's done to get
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  here because it's not always the stuff that's just on track
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  There's a lot more to it and and that's what he's proven is is
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  working to get him to the top right now in in in this series.
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  Did that 24 out front and that kind of domination or Rd. course
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  bring back anything from from your past performances?
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  I was thinking about Watkins Glen that day.
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  You just kind of had the perfect day and ground everybody up.
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  Any of those memories? I mean, yeah, a little bit.
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  But we did it with better brakes and better cars and better a lot
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  of other things too, you know, I mean I I do think that when you
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  find a combination, you know, with with the whole team, then
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  magical things happen and I feel like that's sort of what we had.
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  But you know the, the, the cars are also equal now.
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  It's so hard, much harder to find it a an advantage with with
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  your car and your set up. So I I think that, to me, is
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  what makes this even more impressive.
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  Jerry Jordan kicking thetires.net and once again you
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  find yourself with the bitter and the sweet.
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  You were, you know, sweet with win with William, but you bitter
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  with with Boeing. You were out there kind of
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  pumping him up a little bit. He raced a good race as you.
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  You told him, but you know how, what was?
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  What was going through your mind and talking to him and his
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  thoughts? Yeah.
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  Well, let me go back. I mean, yesterday was huge,
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  right? Because I remember sitting on
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  the pit box with with Rick at Watkins Glen last year during an
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  Xfinity race and I think we dominated that race and and
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  didn't get to win and. And I remember Rick hearing over
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  the loudspeaker how Hendrick Motorsports had never won an
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  Xfinity race on a road course. And I remember the look in his
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  eye and how fired up he was that I'm quite certain that day is
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  when we started adding more races to our Xfinity program.
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  And and also with the 17, you know how special that number is.
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  So that was truly special. And what was it?
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  What was it? Oh, and Bowman.
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  Yeah. I mean, you know, when Bowman
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  gets on A roll and he gets his confidence up, I mean, there's
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  no telling what, what they're capable of doing.
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  So I'm really happy for them two top fives in a row and and you
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  know they they'd had a couple rough weeks so they they needed
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  this and Hendrick Motorsports is tough right.
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  I mean you're you're for the top drivers and teams out there and
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  there's a lot of pressure on you and and if you're winning then
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  there's there's pressure to continue when you're not you
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  know winning or you're not you know at the same level as your
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  teammates there's a ton of pressure you know that you got
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  to get there. So I'm proud of him and Blake,
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  of the way that they've been working hard together to to to
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  get some good finishes. And now I can't wait to see what
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  they do next as well. Zachsterniolonascar.com Jeff,
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  congratulations on this. What, from your perspective what
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  what do you feel like is something that we can take away
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  from this first Rd. Course race of 2024.
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  Obviously you and the the the 24 and the 48 had a lot of speed
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  here, but the Toyotas were right there.
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  Bell was really closing late. What can we take away from what
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  we saw today? I honestly, even though the 24
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  got the pole, I really thought it was going to be a Toyota
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  dominated race. I just we're seeing they've got
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  a lot of speed and and you know it's one thing when one car has
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  speed, it's another thing when a group of them have speed that
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  tells you a lot about what they have and what they're bringing
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  to the racetrack. So it's certainly on her radar
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  in a big way. It also to me is that much more
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  impressive of what the 24 and the 48 were able to do today.
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  I thought the nine had great speed too.
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  Please don't get me started on track limits and my thoughts and
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  feelings on that and how that needs to be policed.
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  But I'll save that for another day.
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  You guys can argue that if you want in the media but and and
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  even the five I thought had had a solid car and you know with
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  the spin and having to let the whole field go by you just you
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  just can't make that up. When the race flows the way it
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  did. They're just, they're just
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  weren't a lot of, which is kind of surprising.
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  We normally at this place see cautions and you know once you
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  once you get a couple of those random cautions, especially in
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  the late stages, then it just gets wild and crazy down into
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  Turn 1. So and maybe the restart zone
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  helped a little bit with that on the on the stage breaks.
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  But yeah, it was, you know you just couldn't make up time.
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  I thought all four of our cars had good speed but you know the
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  bell at the end had the speed. They played a pretty good
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  strategy. I mean I think you know I've
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  actually heard some of our guys talking about that strategy of
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  staying out and just kind of doing A2 stopper earlier and and
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  didn't end up going that route. So we're all anxious to see how
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  it worked out for for Christopher.
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  I mean they, I think he had a fast car all day, but but
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  certainly with the fresher tires at the end it it showed how much
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  that that was really mattering as well along with a good car.
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  Do we have any final questions for Jeff?
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  We'll go to Chris Knight. Chris Knight, kitchens.com Jeff,
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  To follow up on Jerry's question, the strategy that the
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  48 team did with pitting a lap before everybody else did
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  propelled Bowman two spots and he was able to come out behind
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  William. Were you impressed with that
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  strategy? I mean, it almost kind of worked
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  for him other than the balance went away there at the end.
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  Yeah, I mean I I want to dissect it and dive into it a little bit
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  more with with Blake and the team you know do some of that on
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  the flight home when I leave here as well as you know
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  tomorrow and our debrief. But yeah I I mean I it seemed
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  like it was it was the right call but at the same time they
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  were they were a little bit short on fuel.
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  So I don't know if they didn't get it full or or they were just
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  using more than they anticipate. But you know it was going to be
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  really really tight for them even if they could have held off
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  Gibbs and and and Bell but as soon as those guys got by and
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  they started saving and and you know so yeah I'll be I'll be I
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  don't want to comment too much on until I I get a little bit
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  more of the information from those guys.
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  But, but I mean getting a top five I think was was huge and it
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  was a, you know it was a good call to obviously get the track
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  position and who knows that may have helped the 24 as well,
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  right, because they had to get by the 48 and and you know that
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  takes a little bit of time to do that.
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  I mean, it was Bowman's 4th consecutive top five and 5th top
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  ten overall here, so there's something about this place in
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  Bowman. Yeah I mean Alex is one of those
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  guys where the bigger the challenge it seems like the the
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  the better he does. So I'm going to I'm going to
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  leave here and try to find more ways to really challenge him
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  even more you know but but you know he you know he's a great
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  race car driver and and it just you know just takes the whole
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  combination to to get the the the the.
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  I mean they didn't qualify well but they had a good car, seemed
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  like all weekend and I think his confidence in the car,
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  especially once they dropped the green flag, it it it showed and
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  and Blake called a good race.