Chase Elliot vs William Byron, a Late Model Perspective
William Byron in his Anthony Campi Racing #24
[Author Note: I want to be clear, that while this is framed as a comparison of sorts, it isn’t meant as a ‘who is better’, or competitive comparison. More so, I found that the two as a pair of drivers have some compelling similarities and contrasts]
February 27th, 2024
Introduction
William Byron and Chase Elliot are two of the most recognizable household names in NASCAR today. Chase was selected in the National Motorsports Press Association as the “Most Popular Driver” for the 6th consecutive time, in an online vote performed by the fans. William Byron on the other hand is fresh off of a career-high 6 win NASCAR Cup Series season (2023) - a feat that Elliot has fallen 1 win shy of on 2 occasions in his 2 winningest seasons (5 wins in the 2020 & 2022 seasons) - including the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in 2020. It wasn’t Chase’s only NASCAR Top-3 National Touring Series Championship, as he would also win the Xfinity Series Championship as a rookie (the first to ever do so), as well as the youngest driver to win a NASCAR National Championship. While a Cup Series Championship still eludes Byron, he won the Truck Series rookie of the year, followed by both the Xfinity Series Championship as Rookie of the year, and started 2024 off with a Daytona 500 victory, a feat not yet achieved by Elliot.
Beyond being Hendrick Motorsports team mates, the NASCAR comparisons don’t stop there. With Chase 2 years apart in age, his calendar birthday is just 1 day older than Byron. Moreover, Chase was the successor, and only other driver to pilot a retiring Jeff Gordon’s iconic #24, which he did for a year, in 2016. A transition was allowed, with Chase turning that car into his retired father Bill Elliot’s #9, while Byron assumed the #24, as only the 3rd driver in the 24’s lineage.
The Early Late Model Years
Chase Elliot
Pre-full time NASCAR, Chase Elliot accomplished just about all of the biggest feats that one could do, and all as a teenager. Paired with former 2002 Snowball Derby Winner Ricky Turner (who went on to work with Chandler Smith, and Jake Garcia, and now coming full-circle and once again with Chase Elliot), the two were just about unstoppable. As a 15 year old, soon going on 16, Elliot would win the prestigious Winchester 400 in his 2nd attempt, a feat that would be his final victory of a 40 start year, punctuated by 12 wins, and 38 top-10s, including winning Five Flag Speedway's Blizzard Series.
In 2011, he would win the CRA Super Series Championship, and just after his 16th birthday, became the youngest winner of the Snowball Derby. After another strong 2012, he would have another record trailblazing year - not content with just a Winchester & Derby win, by 17 he became the youngest driver to win the other two crown jewel-races, the All American 400, and the now defunct World Crown 300. It would seem he would even finish the year, now 18, with his 2nd Snowball Derby, and to be the first driver to sweep the Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model feature, along with the Super Late Model 300 lap Snowball Derby feature. However, a tungsten violation led to a disqualification upon Ricky Brooks' post-race tech in the 'Room of Doom', notorious for keeping everything very explicitly by the book.
2015 would see redemption, in a way, however, as Christopher Bell accumulated enough rubber-post victory on his tires, having cooled down before celebrating, causing his weight ratio to be skewed just enough for a Chase Elliot win #2 in the Derby.
William Byron
William Byron having sharpened his mettle with a lot of iRacing simulated racing experience prior to jumping into a Legend car at a now considered quite late age of 15, immediately rose to prominence in racing, adding up over 30 wins, and earning a championship. Byron would quickly get a shot in the #9 JR Motorsports Late Model Stock Car in 2014 (another car number overlap with Elliot), putting up impressive numbers at Hickory Motor Speedway, North Carolina.
While Byron’s 2015 & 2016 years in a Super Late Model were highlighted by very strong qualifying performances, and he had wins such as leading 104 laps of 125 against a deep, stout field in the CARS Tour Super Late Model Series at his relatively familiar Hickory track (Chase Elliot ran runner-up to him in this one), Byron ran comparatively a lot more limited of a schedule in that short time-span, as it served more acutely as a brief stepping stone to NASCAR.
Post NASCAR Cup Series Success Late Model Returns
William Byron
What we’ve seen from William Byron post-hiatus, in 2021 onward has been incredible. After a brief foray in the CRA Midwest Tour, he joined forces with Donnie Wilson Motorsports in 2022, and seeming won at will. After taking at crack at 35 lap tune-up race to start the year at New Smyrna’s World Series of Asphalt Super Late Model division, he returned for both of the 100 lap features, winning both of them. He followed this up with 111 laps led in a PASS South Easter Bunny 150 lap marquee race (at Hickory), a 132 laps led Money in the Bank 150 win at Berlin, Michigan, the North/South Challenge race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway with an exciting late battle with Stephen Nasse, in a race that featured attrition after an early ‘the big one’. He placed 2nd in the CRA Super Series Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park race, against fellow Cup Series competitor Erik Jones, leading a 3rd of the laps in that one, he won the Slinger Nationals in Wisconsin, and capped the year off with a 6th place finish in the 2022 Snowball Derby.
In 2023, Byron joined forces with Anthony Campi Racing after another successful run at New Smyrna in his Donnie Wilson Motorsports machine, winning both of his starts - a 35 lapper, and his 2nd straight Clyde Hart Memorial 100. With ACR, he continued his impressive ways, finishing runner-up in 2 very stacked ASA Stars Tour races at North Wilksboro, North Carolina, and Hickory Motor Speedway, along with a slew of other very strong starts, and close-winning situations, such as Florida’s Governor’s Cup at New Smyrna, eventually won by team-mate Stephen Nasse as the two excelled in different ways at different stages of a green flag run, before issues took Byron out of contention at the very dying laps, after a spirited battle for the win.
Chase Elliot
While Elliot has had a longer lay-over between racing, and hasn’t had as much seat time since returning under his belt, compared to Byron, he also raced a lot more during this days in a Super. 2020 saw his long awaited return, as he had been largely getting his feet wet in under disciplines, such as Dirt Midgets to try scratching his racers itch in various other ways. It was the Snowball Derby, where both he and Chandler Smith found themselves starting deep in the field of the Last Chance Qualifier. Remember, this is the derby: They had to compete against the likes of Casey Johnson, Kodie Connor, Austin Nason, Noah Gragson, Carson Hovecar, Dalton Zehr, Preston Peltier, Connor Okrezesik, and Sammy Smith, and all while starting from very deep - Chandler dead last, in fact. Chase would go on to win the 50 lap feature putting on a clinic, while Chandler would also manage to race his way in. In fact, Chase would finish the feature after starting in the 30s in 3rd place, with Chandler doing the same, and settling for 4th place.
Chase finished runner-up to Bubba Pollard in the 2023 Battle at Berlin, a 6th place at the Slinger Nationals, and multiple other respectful finishes.
Conclusion
Two of NASCAR Cup’s elite drivers, on the same team at that sport, with many overlaps and similarities are both in the prime of their racing careers, and while Elliot’s teenaged success in a Super Late Model may never be touched, and he holds the torch on the Cup Series side, William Byron is arguably the hottest driver in NASCAR at the moment, and his Super Late Model return has been incredible to see. Elliot’s first win since returning, albeit with less starts, and a different circumstance, still eludes him (it is just a matter of time, should be continue making entries), but make no mistake, when either of these elites grace us with an opportunity to watch them at a local short track, we the fans are always the winners.
We are lucky to see the allure that Super Late Model racing still holds on those who ‘move up’, and grateful that Hendrick Motorsports allows his guys to do this. It seems for some, the funnest racing a driver has, is this discipline that we call our own here.
