William Byron Can Take the No. 24 to Important Milestone

Getty William Byron will pursue more wins during the 2023 Cup Series season.

William Byron will enter the 2023 Cup Series season with four career wins in the No. 24. If he can add three more, he will help take the number to a milestone.

There are 97 Cup Series wins tied to the No. 24 Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon scored 93 of them during his Hall of Fame career that included four championships. Byron has since added four wins of his own after taking over the entry. This includes races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in 2022.

If Byron can set a new career-high with three wins, he will take the number to 100 overall. The iconic number will join only four others that have reached Victory Lane at least 100 times.

Hitting this number will not be a simple matter, especially with the Next Gen car making it possible for so many new drivers to contend for wins. Though Byron is fresh off a season in which he set a new career-high with two wins and 746 laps led.

2 Numbers Have More Than 200 Cup Series Wins

GettyWilliam Byron takes part in a Next Gen test at Daytona International Speedway.

According to the statistics tracked by Racing Reference, there are four numbers with more than 100 wins. The No. 2 and the No. 3 each have 101 trips to Victory Lane with a variety of standout drivers.

Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, and Tim Richmond are some examples of drivers that won in the No. 2. Earnhardt, Austin Dillon, David Pearson, Junior Johnson, and Buck Baker are some of the drivers that took the No. 3 to Victory Lane.

There are two other numbers that have reached 200 wins. The No. 43 is at an even 200 courtesy of Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Jim Paschal, Bobby Hamilton, John Andretti, Aric Almirola, and Erik Jones.

The No. 11 actually tops the list with 228 Cup Series wins courtesy of a stacked lineup of drivers. Parnelli Jones was the first to win with the number back in 1957, but Johnson joined him in 1958.

The list of winners also includes Ned Jarrett, Mario Andretti, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, AJ Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Geoffrey Bodine, Bill Elliott, and Denny Hamlin.

Another Number Can Reach 100 Cup Series Wins

GettyAlex Bowman races at Michigan International Speedway.

Byron is not the only Hendrick Motorsports driver that can push his number closer to 100 career wins. One of his teammates, Alex Bowman, can also do so in another iconic number.

The 2023 season will mark Bowman’s third consecutive campaign in the No. 48. He took over the entry in 2021 after Jimmie Johnson retired, and he has delivered five wins to take the number to 91.

Bowman entered the 2021 season with two career wins — both in the No. 88. He won the final Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in 2019 and then added a win at Auto Club Speedway in 2020.

The 2021 season was the best of Bowman’s career. He won four races in the No. 48 — Richmond Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway. Bowman then added his fifth win in the number at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2022.

The first driver to win in the No. 48 was Bill Norton. He achieved this during a 1951 race at Carrell Speedway. James Hylton then took the number to Victory Lane at Richmond Raceway in 1970 and Talladega Superspeedway in 1972.

Johnson obviously has the most wins in the No. 48 from his time with Hendrick Motorsports. He reached Victory Lane 83 times while winning seven Cup Series championships. Now he will pursue more wins while driving a different number for Petty GMS.