William Byron is getting one more shot to go out a winner at Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Byron, who won the Camping World Truck Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, will run his last race for the organization in Snowball Derby this weekend at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. Should he qualify for the race, it would be Byron’s second run at the Tom Dawson Trophy.
He finished eighth last season.
“Homestead felt like the last race but we get one more shot at it at the Snowball Derby, so it’s really cool to wrap up the year with them,” Byron said. “It’s been great. Rudy (Fugle) has been awesome to me, all the guys at the shop at KBM have worked really hard. There would be no better way, no cooler way, then to go out with a win at the Derby. That would be a really special win for me, to get the Tom Dawson (Trophy) and get my name in the record books.”
Byron has both the team and the personnel to make it happen.
KBM has a rich history of fielding winning cars in various Late Model majors. Byron’s Truck Series crew chief, Fugle, will serve as his spotter this weekend. His Truck Series car chief, Hunter Robbins, will be his crew chief. Robbins is not only an experienced Late Model driver, but has competed in eight previous Snowball Derby events.
“He’s done a lot data-wise and he’s kind of my go-to for a lot of stuff,” Byron said of Robbins working on his truck team. “He’s been pretty influential this year on the No. 9 team, he’s kind of a homegrown part of our team; it’s going to be good to have him as a crew chief on the Late Model side. He knows a lot about Late Models and Rudy, while not as much, Rudy has a really good eye, so he’s going to spot and be able to help us that way.”
With limited Snowball Derby experience, Byron will be bringing his Truck Series mindset to Pensacola. He believes the length of the Snowball Derby will be about the same as a Truck race, in addition to having about the same amount of pit stops. Having competed in last year’s race, Byron feels he is now better equipped to handle the environment and the ebbs and flows of the race, including as saving his tires.
And if all goes according to plan, Byron will again be able to deliver KBM a checkered flag before taking the next step of his NASCAR career in 2017.
“I like the Derby, I think it kind of suits our style with truck racing — with the pit stops we have chances to work on it and the restarts are really important,” Byron said. “I think that fits our style, but we’ll just go and see. Our way of approaching of races is that as long as we bring our best and do everything we need to do, I think we’ll be right there in contention.”
