ARCA Graduate of the Week: William Byron takes two clocks at Martinsville

William Byron’s weekend at Martinsville Speedway was one for the record books.

Not only did the 24-year-old earn his second NASCAR Cup Series win of 2022 in Saturday night’s Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400, his second win in the last four NASCAR Cup Series races, but he also took home his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win since 2016.

Byron started his journey to NASCAR stardom in what was then the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, now the ARCA Menards Series East. As a rookie, Byron made 14 starts in the East Series in 2014, winning four times, finishing in the top five a total of five times and finishing among the top 10 a total of 11 times on his way to the series championship.

Byron’s car owner in 2015 was Justin Marks, who himself has had success as a driver on the ARCA platform, winning the series’ first-ever “wet” race at Palm Beach International Raceway. Mike Greci, car chief for Byron’s 2015 championship run, was a part of Byron’s winning team in Thursday night’s Truck Series race, serving as general manager for the Spire Motorsports truck operation.

When Byron made the leap into Truck Series in 2016, he was a dominant force. He won seven times, had 11 top-five finishes and posted 16 top-10 finishes. He started on the pole three times and finished the season fifth in the standings.

Byron’s success in the Truck Series earned him a promotion to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and his impressive run of success continued. Four wins and 12 top-five finishes led him to the series championship, his second title in just three full seasons of racing stock cars.

Byron then ascended into the NASCAR Cup Series driving the famed No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. After a pair of winless seasons in 2018 and 2019, Byron found his footing and scored victories in the both the 400-mile race at Daytona International Speedway in 2020 and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2021.

Byron was poised for a breakout season in 2022 and has so far lived up to those expectations. He won at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway in March and then proved unbeatable on the tricky track conditions on a cold night at Martinsville. Byron sits third in the Cup Series standings but has locked himself into the series playoffs.

His victory in Thursday’s Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 was the first win for the Spire Motorsports truck team.