MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 17, 2024) – Before William Byron advanced to the top levels of NASCAR, he climbed the driver ranks through the approved training methods. Beginning with U.S. Legend Cars, he quickly advanced to the Late Model Stock Car ranks with JR Motorsports.

On July 3, Byron will return to JRM’s Late Model team led by Bryan Shaffer and the zMAX CARS Tour in the No. 24 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. The Wednesday evening event will be streamed live on FloRacing.

Back to the grassroots.@WilliamByron and @HendrickCars joins JRM for the @CARSTour race at Caraway Speedway on July 3rd. pic.twitter.com/8flQANcsOA

— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) June 17, 2024

As driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the Late Model ranks, Byron started 27 races, winning twice (on Sept. 6. 2014 at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina and again on June 13, 2015 at South Boston Speedway.

In his 27 races, Byron earned the pair of victories as well as 14 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes

He made one start in the annual ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway in 2015, starting 11^th and finishing 18^th.

In many respects, coming into the sport with the JR Motorsports Late Model team helped prepare him for a NASCAR Xfinity Series ride with JRM. That choice led to the 2017 NXS championship in the No. 9 Liberty University Chevrolet. From there, Byron advanced to Hendrick Motorsports’ iconic No. 24 machine, and won the Daytona 500 to open the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

JRM’s Late Model program has long been a training ground for up-and-coming drivers, including current NASCAR Cup Series drivers Byron, Chase Elliott, and Josh Berry. Current JRM NXS driver Sam Mayer ran a full season with the late model program before returning to the team in the Xfinity Series. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes competed in the NXS with JR Motorsports, and fellow Truck Series competitor Christian Eckes has a season with Shaffer and JRM under his belt as well.

Last season, Hendrick Motorsports driver and NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson made a cameo at Caraway Speedway, driving a No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet as teammate to two-time and defending CARS Tour LMSC champion Carson Kvapil.