William Byron put on a masterclass in last Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at the Martinsville Speedway. The driver of the No. 24 swept the stages and led a race-high 362 of 500 laps en route to his first victory of the 2026 Cup Series season.
It was Byron's first win since last year's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville. Byron avoided suffering a winless season for the first time since 2019.
With his Martinsville win, Byron avoided adding his name to a recent NASCAR trend that the Hendrick Motorsports driver would not want to be a part of. Last year, Byron won the regular season championship.
Prior to Byron, the last three regular season champions suffered a winless season the following year.
Trend of Winning The Regular Season Championship, Then Going Winless The Following Year
In 2022, the first year of the NextGen era, Chase Elliott won the regular season championship. The driver of the No. 9 won a series-high five races in 2022 and made it to the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. However, Elliott finished fourth among the title contenders.
In 2023, Elliott would go winless for the first time since 2017. His season was plagued by missing seven races, six due to recovering from a b...