William Byron and family celebrate emotional day at Martinsville
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Typically, Martinsville Speedway brings out heated emotions from drivers.
In a relatively tame race Saturday night, it brought out emotions of joy and triumph from beyond the driver in victory lane.
William Byron captured the Blue Emu 400 at the track where his mother, Dana, suffered a stroke-like event just prior to the race a year ago. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and then battled through surgery, pneumonia and radiation in the months that followed.
This year, she sat atop the pit box and cheered her son to the win, his second of the season and in a race in which he led 212 of the 403 laps.
"This one is for my mom," Byron said. "This same weekend last year, she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here. ... I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me.
"It's cool to have her here, and I'm definitely going to enjoy this one."
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After winning the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 in Martinsville, Virginia, William Byron dedicates the victory to his mother.
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Here are three takeaways from an emotional day:
Byron remembers
Last year, the 24-year-old Byron was not told during the race what had happened to his mom, who was taken away by ambulance as the race at Martinsville was starting.
After the race, he saw a message on his phone telling him to call his father.
"It all seemed OK, but they were like, ‘Yeah, there's this mass in her brain. We're not sure what it is,’" Byron said. "My heart just stopped. I was just like, 'Man, I couldn't deal with the emotion of that.' It was hard to process.
"I'd say the next few days after that, I didn't think about racing at all. It was all about what was going on."
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Dana and Bill Byron describe how their son, William, handled Dana's diagnosis and recovery from a brain tumor while he was racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.
From then on, Byron checked on his mother several times a week.
"He was there for me the whole time," Dana said. "He drove me one day to treatment. He was great. ... I just wanted him to go out to do what he needed to do and do his job racing."
Byron crew chief Rudy Fugle said the trauma of his mother's health battle impacted Byron, just as it would impact anyone.
"He did an awesome job of getting through all that and still being successful and racing," Fugle said. "But it's amazing. I’m just so happy that a year anniversary for that, [and we] get a win. It's pretty awesome."
Enjoying the return
Dana Byron had never been to victory lane on the Cup side because COVID protocols in 2020 and '21 didn’t allow anyone outside the crew into the celebration, and she wasn’t at Byron’s victory at Atlanta earlier this year.
Even though this weekend is her 30th wedding anniversary, she wanted to go to Martinsville, a place that doesn’t symbolize the start of her health issues as much as it symbolizes what she overcome — namely, that recent tests show the tumor is gone.
"It brings back good memories because I survived, and I’m here, and my cancer is gone," she said. "For me, it’s a happy thing, not a sad thing."
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Dana and Bill Byron talk about watching their son, William, win one year after Dana had a stroke-like event at Martinsville that resulted in the diagnosis of a brain tumor. They also describe Dana’s recovery and Bill’s visit to the local hospital prior to the race.
Grit at finish
Byron won a race in which he stayed out on old tires prior to the two-lap overtime restart. He figured most of the other drivers would come in and get fresh tires in hopes that would be enough to overtake him, but the majority also stayed out.
It was a sign that tire wear wasn’t an issue, and track position was important, which was good for Byron but not necessarily the rest of the field.
"I don’t think the racing was bad, but it was definitely harder to pass," said Joey Logano, who used lane choice to finish second behind Byron and ahead of third-place Austin Dillon. "I don’t think anyone could really pass without putting a bumper to somebody.
"It was a lot more challenging, and it’s harder to get there. ... I thought it would be harder but not that much harder."
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Joey Logano talks about the difficulty of passing on Saturday and whether a different tire is needed for Martinsville in October.
Logano said he thinks a different tire should be brought to Martinsville for the race in late October, but Dillon wasn’t so sure. He thought the cold temperatures impacted the ability for tire rubber to be ground into the surface, which affected the racing.
"You didn’t see a rubber buildup tonight," Dillon said after a race run with temperatures in the low 40s. "When the rubber builds up the next time we come, it will be different."
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Following Martinsville, Austin Dillon said the Next Gen car doesn’t have a short-track issue, as he thought there was some tire wear where he could pass. But he said the cold weather impacted the ability for rubber buildup.
Ryan Blaney, who was fourth, wasn’t so sure, as teams are learning the dynamics of the Next Gen car on short tracks, where NASCAR has reduced the horsepower from 750 to 670 to have it consistent at most tracks this year.
"If it was 90 degrees [outside], you still would have been plowing tight behind somebody," Blaney said. "The exits would have been worse. The entry and exit would have been more slick, but that would have been for everybody.
"When you’re in dirty air, you’re in dirty air."
Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!