Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports.
1. When you see a hater on your Twitter timeline, do you block, mute or ignore that person?
Honestly, sometimes I read them just to check the temperature of what’s going on. But a lot of times, it’s up to you whether you take it personally or not. Typically, it’s not good if you do. Sometimes you just happen to catch them and you’re not trying to read it. It just pops up in front of you. It’s kind of difficult to avoid it sometimes.
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2. Do you believe the best sim racers are creating a legitimate path to driving an actual car one day, or is sim racing just a tool?
I think it eventually will be a path. For me, it was a big tool — it was the only tool I had. Ultimately, (real-world racing and sim racing) kind of live on their own in some respects.
Virtual racing does not have the team aspect, the adrenaline aspect, the physical aspect — all the things you deal with in an actual race car that are difficult and challenges. But for me, it was the only thing I had. So if you’ve never driven anything, it’s definitely an avenue. It was for me. But there’s a level of adaptation it takes when you get into an actual race car that is different.
3. You get asked to autograph things other drivers have already signed at times, so I’m sure you look at other signatures. Whose autograph sucks?
I’ve seen a few, and honestly there’s a lot I don’t even recognize. I’d say most of the field. (Laughs) The only one for a fact I can recognize is Jimmie (Johnson) with the two J’s. All the other ones seem like a jumbled mess. There’s really not even a majority of them I can tell what they are. They’re just scribbles.
4. Normally I could hand you the entry list from this weekend, but we’re on the phone, so we can’t do that. But I’m wondering if you’ve had at least one conversation with every driver in the field. Do you think you have?
I don’t think so. I’ve talked to people on certain teams, but I’ve never talked to every driver, no. I have an idea in my head of what every driver has done in the past — what they’ve raced, and maybe I’ve raced against them at some time. I couldn’t say everybody. There will be a couple pop-ups that do one-offs that I haven’t talked to before. But probably (talked to) the top 25 and then a lot of (other) guys who race consistently.
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5. I wrote many of these questions in a coffee shop, so it got me wondering: What is your relationship with coffee?
With age, I’ve grown to like versions of coffee. But I can’t drink straight coffee. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m pretty much a sweet tooth, so I can have something with a lot of sugar that has some coffee in it, but that’s as close as I’m going to get at this point. Maybe in another 10 years I’ll drink straight coffee.
I think you nailed it there. I drink straight black coffee all the time now, but I never did until I was in my mid-30s. So I think taste buds evolve or something.
Yeah. I think the need for it becomes higher, too.
6. Being a professional race car driver seems like a cool gig. But what is one of the less glamorous aspects of your job?
I don’t think there are any real least glamorous aspects of it. I’d say just the amount of teamwork and communication it takes that people do not see. Even me, when I was naive and watched the sport as a kid growing up, I didn’t realize how much goes into it behind the scenes. So that’s the work aspect of racing people may not know. I wouldn’t say it’s not glamorous, because there are a lot of worse jobs out there. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
7. What is your personal definition of a good teammate?
Being honest. I don’t think it’s your job to tell someone else how to drive or give away your biggest and best traits or characteristics. But if somebody asks you point blank, you’ve got to be honest. Honesty is important. But there’s an element of craft and expertise that you may have found that other people may not be willing to dig into or haven’t asked that is your own touch.
8. It’s storytime. I’ve been asking each driver to give the backstory of a high-profile incident they were involved in during their career. You haven’t been in too many controversies, but last year at the July Daytona weekend, Brad Keselowski rammed into you during practice and then went on TV and said he was sending a message about blocking to all the drivers watching. What happened after all that? Did you guys have a conversation about it, or did you just move on?
That was really my first conflict, legitimately, in the Cup Series. Just a difference of opinion or race craft. Yeah, I was surprised by it.
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What it did for me was gave me a chance to handle a situation. (I could have) shied away from it and not said anything and been under the radar. But I used it as an opportunity to learn. So I texted him right after and said I didn’t appreciate it, mostly because my team had to work on the car and we had to go to a backup car after final practice, so that wasn’t fun.
But we met in the bus lot and talked about it. I think I got a fair understanding from him and some honesty from him. And that’s really what it takes at this level to handle situations. You can’t shy away from things and you can’t turn away, because you’ve got to deal with these guys every single lap on the track. I think the next race we were around each other. So it’s just not worth not talking about it. So that’s what I did. I don’t know if that’s right or wrong.
9. I know SMT data is a big thing right now. When you look at other drivers’ telemetry, is there anyone who jumps out at you? What are you looking for?
Man, I’d say whoever is fast. You have to be careful not to look at another manufacturer too much, because the settings and the way they mount their throttle and the steering and those things are different. So you look at it with a grain of salt.
My teammates are honestly who I look at the most, just to understand what they’re dealing with and whether it’s similar or not. So whoever is fast of the Chevy guys is who I’d look at.
You can easily get too consumed in it for sure. It’s easy to look at data and say, “Well, I should do what this guy is doing.” But you don’t have the same race car. That’s the team aspect of NASCAR racing that isn’t in virtual (racing) — everyone’s got a different race car and everyone is in a different seat.
10. Bad news. A doctor has diagnosed you with a mystery illness that will keep you out of your race car for exactly one week at your favorite track. But the good news is you can pick your replacement from any retired driver. Who do you choose to drive your car?
I would say Carl Edwards. I’d want somebody who would do a good job. I never got a chance to race with him or against him, but he’s definitely super talented, gets a lot out of it and has got all the qualities you would want as a driver. He does a good job.
11. This is obviously a big election year. So would you ever run for political office some day?
That’s funny. I actually don’t think so, because no matter what you do, you’re always going to do the wrong thing in somebody’s eyes. But I do watch this “Designated Survivor” show on Netflix. I’ve been watching it for the last week. It’s pretty interesting. It’s about a designated survivor who takes over the presidency after a terrorist attack. It’s interesting to me to learn the different avenues of the White House and how it all works — but I have no desire to be in it, by any means.
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12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Kyle Busch, and he wanted to know: What is the biggest thing that has helped you prepare for racing in the Cup Series? Is there anything that comes close?
That’s a great question. I think the big-time Super Late Model races and Late Model races are probably the thing that applies the most to Cup racing because of the amount of competition and great teams that show up for one event. From the Snowball Derby to the Martinsville Late Model race, those are the things that come the closest to Cup racing for me.
The wins and the days that went really well in the Xfinity and Truck Series are very similar to great days in the Cup Series — when your car is fast and you make the necessary moves it takes to win. That feeling is the same. But I’d say mostly the big Late Model shows and the way those feel.
Do you have a question I can ask the next driver?
What do they envision as the ideal length of a race? Is the weekday race experiment we’re doing something they envision as a future, consistent thing we do?
The 12 Questions podcast with William Byron can be found here. Head here for previous 12 Questions interviews.
(Top photo of William Byron: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
