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NASCAR insider weighs whether William Byron penalty could impact regular season title

JHby: Jonathan Howard08/23/25Jondean25
William Byron
Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

This afternoon, William Byron was penalized by NASCAR after his team made a splitter adjustment following inspection. It will cost Byron his pit stall, crew chief Rudy Fugle was ejected, and the team must start at the rear and perform a stop-and-go to begin the race.

William Byron locked up the NASCAR regular season championship last week. He has enough points over Chase Elliott that there is no way for him to lose the championship at this point.

That is, barring a points penalty. For what it’s worth, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports doesn’t believe there will be any further points penalty given to the 24 team. “Not expecting any additional penalties so wouldn’t impact anything so far as William Byron winning the regular-season title.”

William Byron is hoping to race for a championship this year. Securing the regular season title would be a big boost to the 24 team’s hopes. Right now, those hopes are still alive. The 15 bonus points are going to be just fine, too.

Hendrick Motorsports is going to have Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman up front. But Chase Elliott and William Byron are going to have to race from deep in the field to get to the front. Being Daytona, that shouldn’t be a major issue, but could cause problems on Saturday night.

William Byron penalized after inspection

There was no qualifying session today due to the weather. William Byron was expected to start P11 after the lineup was set by the metric. However, that has now changed after the team was caught messing with the splitter.

Crew chief Rudy Fugle has been ejected from the race. The 24 team loses out on pit stall selection. The 24 car must start at the rear of the field, and Byron must perform a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag is put out.

Making adjustments after going through inspection is one of the big no-nos in racing. You can’t get away with it often. Teams are always watching each other, on top of officials, and there are cameras all over the place nowadays. It’s not as easy to bend the rules when they have become so rigid.

For William Byron, this is a big deal. To lose his crew chief for the weekend won’t be easy. Rudy Fugle is in Daytona right now. So, is he going to fly back to Charlotte to be in the Hendrick “war room” and deliver the info the team needs? Or is the 24 team going completely without Fugle and his input this weekend?