DAYTONA BEACH — Before he geared up to win another Daytona 500, William Byron wanted to get away — far away, to a place where he could blend in and leave behind the grind and garage.
A December trip unaccompanied to Japan provided Byron a reboot, a time for reflection, a lesson in self-sufficiency and an education.
“It was really cool because I went there by myself, and I was really nervous about that,” Byron said late Sunday after going back-to-back in the Great American Race. “The first day and a half was really crazy, just being there and trying to figure out where to eat and what to do. But by the end of the trip, I had such a different perspective on my life and what I want to do back home and what I could learn from their culture.
“It was just cool to be completely anonymous in a different country and not know anybody.”
When Byron returned to work a few of weeks ago, he was rejuvenated and ready, as evidenced by Sunday night’s improbable win going from ninth place to Victory Lane on the final lap.
Even so, Byron’s offseason absence was still a head-scratcher at Hendrick Motorsports.
“I still don’t believe that he went by himself,” joked NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, now the company’s vice chairman. “I’m still trying to get all the answers to that.”
Whatever Byron did worked to deliver Hendrick Motorsports a record 10th Daytona 500 victory, one more than Petty Enterprises.
“I spoke to him on the phone, and that’s one of the first things he said is: ‘We got No. 10,’ ” Gordon said of Hall of Fame owner Rick Hendrick. “It means a lot to him.”
With the race seemingly out of reach as the No. 24 Chevrolet underperformed, Byron kept his head and seized an 11th-hour opportunity similar to his 2024 victory.
“I just kept getting more pissed off as the race went on,” he said. “I wasn’t taking advantage of it because my car was really good.”
But during a furious two-lap overtime dash, a crash knocked out leader Denny Hamlin — in position to win his fourth Daytona 500 championship — and 2022 winner Austin Cindric, who led a race-high 59 laps, to clear a path for Byron during the final stretch of Sunday’s 201-lap, eight-hour, weather-plagued affair delayed more than 3 1/2 hours.
“Last year that win brought me to tears,” longtime crew chief Rudy Fugle said. “And then this win, it brought me to laughter because I looked up and we’re getting ready to win. It was just amazing.”
Two hours after Byron eclipsed Gordon’s mark as the youngest two-time winner of NASCAR’s showcase event, the 53-year-old Hall of Famer was still flabbergasted.
“I was pretty shocked,” Gordon said. “You get the buildup and anticipation of, ‘Man, I think we’re in position to win this thing,’ and you get tense because you want it for them, and you want it for the organization. But today I wasn’t like that at all.
“I was like, ‘Oh, well, darn. I guess we’re not going to get it this year.’ Then here we are. It was kind of a wild ride.”
Byron’s rise to the top of his sport has been a wild and unpredictable ride in itself.
Similar to his recent excursion to Japan, the 27-year-old’s arrival trip to NASCAR was a trip to a foreign land.
Growing up in Charlotte, Byron became interested in stock-car racing as a 6-year-old and became an iRacing phenom in his teens who eventually segued into cars at the age of 15 — long in the tooth relative to his peers.
“I was very much an outsider,” he said.
But Byron’s talent soon became evident.
In 2019 at age 21, he won the Daytona 500 pole and in 2020 won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to earn a spot into the 16-car playoffs.
Byron followed a six-win 2023 season with his 2024 Daytona 500 win driving the iconic No. 24 car Gordon drove to three victories and 93 overall in the Cup Series.
“We talk all the time about how quickly he’s risen through the ranks and won races and championships and continues to do it at the elite level in Cup,” Gordon marveled.
Fugle, a 40-year-old from western New York, has been there every step of the way.
“This is our 20th win together,” he said. “It’s special just because of our relationship and our trust in each other and how we respect each other and grow.”
Yet Fugle admitted to a bit of frustration, if not separation anxiety, when Byron set off for the Far East.
“It was tough,” Fugle said. “I’m used to seeing him a little more.”
But when it mattered most Sunday night, Byron appeared from the pack once again.
He soon bid sayonara to the rest of the field and konnichiwa — Japanese for hello — to history as one of five men to win consecutive Daytona 500s, leading Byron to celebrate with infield donuts followed by a leap from his car foot into the waiting arms of his pit crew.
“It worked out in a fortunate way for us,” he said. “But it’s not all luck to win twice in a row.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
