Jeff Gordon gives high praise to William Byron after COTA win: ‘He’s so smooth’

For the second time this season, Jeff Gordon watched as his old No. 24 car was driven to Victory Lane by William Byron. Since the start of the 2023 NASCAR season, Byron has won eight total races, and he doesn’t show signs of letting up.

After the Daytona 500, Byron had a little bit of a slump. Just didn’t have the speed or found himself mired in dirty air. There were lackluster performances for sure. Today at COTA was anything but lackluster.

It was a dominating performance, in which Byron led 42 of 68 total laps, Jeff Gordon was more than proud of his driver. The Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports talked with Regan Smith after the race.

“What a weekend for him [Byron]. He’s so smooth and just never put a foot wrong all weekend and that’s what it was going to take there at the end to beat [Christopher] Bell because Bell obviously had the fresher tires and had a fast race car and was coming hard,” Gordon said to Smith. “I was just keeping my fingers crossed, no cautions and no slips.

“William, just amazing job, the confidence that he and this team have, you’ve been seeing it these last couple of years, but to see them really get this season started off right with the Daytona 500 now this big win. Yeah, they’re on their way to another great season and couldn’t be more thankful for the hard work those guys are putting in.”

When you win, you feel good. In the last two seasons, Byron has been doing a whole lot of winning, and he’s done it everywhere. Road courses, superspeedways, short tracks, 1.5-mile tracks – it doesn’t matter.

Jeff Gordon consoling his other drivers

This win is big for Byron and his team. Jeff Gordon has other drivers at Hendrick, though. Alex Bowman just recorded his second top-5 finish in a row, finishing P4. At one point he looked like he might be able to find the speed to be a contender. He was strong all day, regardless.

Then you have Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Both drivers had issues on the track today. For Chase, it was a course-cutting penalty that cost him his track position. Then, he spun around later in the race to make things worse.

Larson was spun out by Christopher Bell. It put Larson backward on the track and he was then passed by about 30 cars before he could spin back around. Elliot clawed to a P16 finish, Larson P18.

“It’s our 40th year [at Hendrick Motorsports] and we’re celebrating the history but we want to celebrate the present and the future too,” Gordon said. “Great runs like this are certainly making us all really happy, really proud. At the same time I gotta go over there and see the 9 [Elliott] and the 5 [Larson] and you know, those guys had a bit of a tough day. But Alex, back-to-back top-5s. So, that’s kind of the way it goes in this position, you’re going to go console some and you’re going to go celebrate with others so, we’ll take em when we can get em.”

Motorsports are fickle. You lose way more than you win, so cherishing those wins is important. Jeff Gordon understands that, and he won 93 races, much more than 99% of drivers out there.