William Byron and Rudy Fugle really needed this one

Motorsport photoWilliam Byron first worked with crew chief Rudy Fugle in January 2016 at a little-known short track race called ‘Speedfest’ in Cordele, Georgia and have spent all but three years together since.Their Speedfest effort was designed to give them a head start on their communication before the NASCAR Truck Series season began a month later at Daytona International Speedway.Together, they have won a combined 23 Cup and Truck Series races and have built a tremendous amount of trust and conviction in each other. However, this has been the kind of season that tests even the strongest of bonds.Until their breakthrough on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 team had been held winless all season. They were a fringe playoff contender, entering the Chase for the Championship as the 13 seed, and are about to watch their teammates in the No. 5 win their third championship in six seasons.In other words, they really needed this one, claiming their fourth win together at the historic half mile in Ridgeway, Virginia. Similar to Jeff Gordon’s legendary tenure in this car, if they can’t win at Martinsville, there are much deeper problems that need to be addressed.Fugle, almost a year to the day of their last win, agreed this has been a ‘trying year’ and that Byron did his thing at Martinsville.“We got a heck of a race car driver that gets around this place really, really well,” Fugle said. “He's figured it out lately on what he wants and needs. Then we have a good package because we have a great company that works with four great teams that all push each other. …“The fact that we have such a great history at Martinsville, Jeff teaching these guys the important things to get around here. I'm sure Jimmie was part of that too before I got there. All the drivers know what they need. We've been able to give it to them.”Fugle also takes responsibility for their struggles. He’s the team leader and the buck stops with him.“Yeah, I mean, there's definitely lots of things to reflect on,” Fugle said. “I'll take ownership of messing up on how we approached or took some of our lack of speed and messed up our cars through the middle part of the year.“That's what I felt like was the biggest thing. I thought we came out firing pretty well, then we started recognizing our lack of speed, and we couldn't get going. Made some missteps, led by me mostly.”That sort of accountability motivated Byron.“There’s been a lot of adversity,” Byron said. “I think we just continue to work hard. I mean, I think our work ethic has always been a thing that's kept us moving forward and progressing, always looking for the next thing.“I'm just proud of that. I'm proud of the fact that no one quit. Just that we could continue to kind of put our heads together. Within the shop, too. It's easy to say from the outside, ‘Oh, let's just put all the effort into one car.’“I think for us it was never that way. We were just putting in all the effort we could. Every little thing. Like is there something I need to do different? Do we need to change something that we can maximize our day? We kept working on all those things.”For Fugle, he said this season was a bank withdrawal on the success he and Byron have had over the past decade. They know what they are capable of together and they never lost of sight of that.“We pulled from our equity over the years, trust, whatnot,” Fugle said. “It's trying. Going through things, making mistakes on my end or his end, not getting us where we need to be.“There's 25 competitors in the field that would love to have this kind of year for us. But it's not where we want to be. It's always work. It takes more time to take care of each other and check on each other.“Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you have to do those things. When things go really, really well, it's super easy. The slower your car is or you have hard times, everything's harder. This is a really hard job, and it's a really hard sport. It takes all of us together to make it happen.”Next comes a really challenging part where they are going to look at the other side of their shop where Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels are set to celebrate another championship while the No. 24 is still seeking their first.Byron again just pointed to their combined work ethic as the answer.“I don't think we can work any harder,” Byron said. “It's just how do we work smarter in the future to be in that position.“We had some bad luck. At the same time, we got to continue to work on all the different racetracks, put some of the harder days when things aren't going well together, too.Just been a trying year. I think this really is a good shot in the arm, something that we can look at and just be really proud of because everyone, yeah, like I keep saying, kept their heads down. It's a really good weekend for us.”They needed this one. Byron has said all summer and into the fall that even with a championship fading away, he did not want to end this season winless. They succeeded."I think you look at all the great drivers, great teams, they found a way to win a race every year," Byron said. "So yes, I was aware. Just aware of the fact we haven't won in the calendar year. That to me is a big deal."Whenever you start a season, the first goal is to win a race, the next goal is to win a championship, so on, or make the Playoffs, whatever. Traditionally it's been good for us because we start hot early, get a win early, kind of take that pressure off. This year was a grind."To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.