​William Byron appeared visibly frustrated with the handling of his No. 24 Chevrolet before weather delays halted Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at EchoPark Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was running 19th when he began venting over the radio, expressing that his car was not competitive as the field fought for position. “This is junk. Absolutely junk,” Byron said, making his dissatisfaction clear in the moment.
Crew chief Rudy Fugle acknowledged the mounting frustration while also reminding Byron that lightning was approaching the track. “Copy that, yep do what you can. Lightning is close, not quite halfway,” Fugle responded, trying to keep the team focused on the situation at hand. Byron wasn’t done. “Plowing my off, this is terrible,” he replied, the expletives reflecting his exasperation with the car’s performance.
Fugle cut in with a blunt directive: “I heard ya, okay? I got it.” After further radio chatter that was hard to decipher on the broadcast, Fugle offered one final instruction: “Just drive the thing.” Byron answered succinctly, “You got it.” The exchange occurred as NASCAR displayed the red flag due to nearby lightning, pausing the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart before the race could reach its halfway point.
At the moment of the radios’ back-and-forth, Byron sat outside the top 15 after qualifying 26th, with no clear sign of rapid progress as the car’s handling issues persisted. Whether the delay would provide an opportunity for the No. 24 team to regroup remains uncertain until the race resumes, but the unmistakable tone of Byron’s radio chatter underscored how frustrated he had become with the car during the early stages of Sunday’s event.
Heading into Sunday night’s race, Byron stood 12th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 499 points after 19 races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver still seeking his first win of 2026 had already posted four top-five finishes, nine top-10s, and had led 136 laps. He entered the weekend 265 points behind the series leader, Denny Hamlin. Byron’s winless season had intensified the tension revealed on the cockpit radio, especially as the regular season pressed deeper into its second half. The No. 24 team needed a strong performance at EchoPark to regain momentum and improve its position before the Chase, making the exchange—captured in the voice of a driver demanding more from his machine—all the more telling in the context of a season that had promised more but had yet to deliver a breakthrough victory.