There’s no doubt about it, even with stealing a win like he did in Sunday night’s Quaker State 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, William Bryon is in my opinion the championship front runner. The Hendrick Motorsports driver now has as many wins this season (19 races) as he had in his previous 180 starts.

We’ve been waiting for this type of breakout from the 25-year-old North Carolina native. It took him 97 races before scoring his first career win in the 2020 regular season finale. He’d go winless throughout the playoffs however.

MORE: 5 takeaways from Byron’s Sunday night win in the Quaker State 400

MORE: How Byron’s win was a perfect storm in Atlanta

Then in only the third race of the 2021 season, he won again. Unfortunately for him, that was his lone trip to victory lane.

Last year, he finally broke out and won multiple races in a season. He’d win 2 of the first 8 races including here that spring. Again, those were his only wins. He’d go winless over the final 28 races. In fact, after his win, he went the rest of the regular season (18 races) without a top five. He had one top 10 in that span which was only a ninth place run. It was 21 races between top five finishes.

As good as he was early, he faltered after.

That’s why I was skeptical when he began 2023 with two wins in four races including both in-a-row. Out of the first six races, he had two wins and three total top five finishes. His other three results were 34th, 25th and 32nd respectively.

Who was Byron going to become in 2023?

He’s shown enough now for me to say he’s going to potentially become a champion.

Yes, through nine races those three top fives early in the season were his only ones. However, since that point, Byron has figured it out.

7th, 4th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 8th, 14th, 6th, 13th and now 1st are his results over the last 10 races. He’s led almost as many laps this season (742) as he did all of last (746).

“Yeah, it’s really important,” Byron said of this summer run. “We’re just keeping our heads in it. Over the last few weeks, we’d finish in the top 15 when we don’t have good cars, and the days we have really good cars we finish in the top 5.

“It’s just a matter of staying with it, and today was definitely a lucky break. I can’t overstate that. We were in the lead, but certainly a lot of laps to go.

“But just thankful for a good team to make good decisions, and like I said, to stay in the race when it’s easy to kind of give up and pack it in.”

8 stage wins and now 4 wins gives him 22 playoff points heading into Loudon next Sunday. Kyle Busch is next best with 17. Kyle Larson (12), Martin Truex Jr. (11) and Ross Chastain (10) are the only other two in double digits.

Byron is on his way to a Championship 4 berth at this point and if he can truly get there, he led 64 laps and was first and second respectively in the pair of stages to go along with a win at Phoenix. That’s the site of this year’s final round again.

You have to consider that Byron is still so young at this. He’s only 25 years old and didn’t honestly start racing inside of a race car until 10 years ago. So, while some may say that he should be doing this in his sixth season at Hendrick, others have to realize that he’s only been doing this a decade in total. He just came though the ranks that quickly. It takes time to fully grasp it.

“Yeah, I think people around me have always kind of helped me understand that I’m young,” Byron noted after his Phoenix win earlier this season. “Max and my dad, just everyone, my dad especially, he’s a big stats guy. He’s like, Man, you’re young. Just give it some time.

“I’m very impatient, so I like things to happen quick. That’s how it happened for me coming up through.

“This level is so different. Took a lot of homework, a lot of details. I think the fact that I started later than most driving was a little bit — it took some time to bridge that gap at this level. Now that gap is bridged obviously.

“Yeah, I just feel like it’s a constant evolution, just trying to continue to get better.”

Jeff Gordon agreed.

“I see a progression with William ever since he came to Hendrick,” he says. “Got to remember how young he was coming into the Cup Series, so much to learn. Young in racing in so many ways.

“When Rudy came to Hendrick, the instant connection and chemistry between these two was so obvious. It just took the whole team up to another notch. I think now they’re just building on that.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch and see.”