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Unlike William Byron, Austin Dillon Pledges To Push Teammate At Daytona

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon

William Byron and Austin Dillon are taking drastically different approaches into Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

While both have a teammate looking to secure a playoff berth in the regular season finale, Byron and Dillon don’t feel the same level of responsibility for helping their respective winless teammate punch a ticket into the playoffs.

Austin Dillon Committed To Helping RCR Teammate Kyle Busch At Daytona

For Austin Dillon, it’s all pretty simple. Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, can’t make the playoffs without winning the race at Daytona.

So Dillon, who gained automatic playoff entry with a victory of his own last weekend at Richmond Raceway, plans to go all in to help Busch score his first win of 2025.

That means Dillon, as much as opportunity allows, will be be using his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet to push Busch’s No. 8 RCR Chevy in the draft at the 2.5-mile superspeedway where having a reliable drafting partner is critical.

“It’s mostly about what we can do to support him, help him put himself in good positions,” Dillon said on Friday via multiple interview recordings shared on social media platform X, including the one below from Matt Weaver of Motorsport.com. “It takes a lot in these races. But if we can give him the support to where it plays out good, good for him in any kind of way, we will.”

Since Busch joined RCR and became a teammate to Dillon in 2023, the two drivers have typically worked together well at the Cup Series’ two superspeedways — Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway.

Dillon has no reason to think the teamwork with Busch won’t continue on Saturday night at The World Center of Racing, where helping Busch get into the playoffs is priority No. 1.

“He was very close to winning the 500 with me behind him in the first year out of the gate,” Dillon said of the 2023 Daytona 500. “So, we’ll do what we can. And that’s going to be huge for our team if we can accomplish that.”

Clearly, Busch is expecting lots of help from Dillon at Daytona.

Check out the post below from Dustin Long of NBC Sports.

William Byron Not Committed To Helping Hendrick Teammate Alex Bowman

Unlike Kyle Busch, who can only reach the playoffs by prevailing at Daytona, Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports has multiple pathways in.

As the driver currently clinging to the last of the 16 playoff spots, Bowman can punch a playoff ticket by winning the race or passing Tyler Reddick in the standings. But even if neither of those happens, Bowman is still safe as long the race doesn’t produce a first-time 2025 winner other than himself or Reddick.

Given all of this, at least one of Bowman’s three Hendrick teammates — William Byron — doesn’t sound overly concerned about being hooked to the bumper of Bowman’s No. 48 car. Even if Bowman is the only Hendrick driver who’s winless in 2025 and therefore not a playoff lock.

“Yeah, obviously we want to win,” Byron said during his Friday media availability at Daytona. “I mean, that would help (Bowman), as well. So, I think we just have to try to go out there and win. But you have to be really mindful of helping a teammate. It’s a very double-edged sword.

“I want to make sure I’m making moves to advance myself forward and not advance somebody else forward.”

Byron, who clinched the regular season championship last weekend, stands to gain very little from winning at Daytona. But he also doesn’t think it’s practical for himself and the other two Hendrick Motorsports drivers — Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson — to simply line up behind Bowman.

“It’s not that easy,” Byron said. “And I don’t know if that’s the right tactic, either. This thing is very complicated. You just try to be conscious of that. It’s no secret, right? Like everyone’s going to have some sort of playoff implication. So, it’s going to be very strategic throughout the field, I’m sure, on who’s helping who.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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