One of the many surprises of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season so far has been the No. 24 team and driver William Byron.
Byron, who has the third-most wins in the NASCAR Cup Series since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022, currently sits 12th in points, only 74 points above the 16th-place cutoff.
Adding to this, Byron now has his worst average finish of the Next Gen era, 15.8, and his worst career average start in the Next Gen era of 15.0.
This slow start has come as a shock, as a driver like Byron seemed like the perfect fit for the new NASCAR Chase format.
This past weekend, fans and media personalities thought that frustrations may have come to a head with Byron and his long-time Crew Chief, Rudy Fugle.
During Sunday’s race at EchoPark Speedway, the two had a short shouting match shared on the race broadcast and grabbed from the in-car audio.
In this exchange, the usually reserved Byron says to his Crew Chief, “Plowing my ass off. This is terrible!”
Though this was far from vulgar, Fugle’s response is what really caught fans’ attention, with the two-time Daytona 500 Champion telling his driver:
“I fucking heard you, okay? I heard you, I got it. You’re five numbers loose. I put a round in the left rear; we’re too tight right now. It’s the tight offset. We can park it, or we can keep trying until I get to work on it again. Just drive the fucking thing.” — Rudy Fugle
Clips of this exchange have made the rounds in NASCAR circles, with fans wondering if everything is all right in the No. 24 camp or if this moment was the culmination of a frustrating afternoon and 2026 season.
With talk about their relationship making the rounds among fans, Fugle addressed this viral exchange, saying that there is no need to worry about their relationship during a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“From his end and my end, I’m trying to deal with a frustrating aspect of not getting the car where we want to,” Fugle said. “So, in general, we’re mad at the car for not acting the way we think it should, and not each other.”
This is likely a reassuring note for fans of the No. 24, as any signs of trouble in paradise would mark a harsh turning point in their long relationship.
The two first crossed paths in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2016, where they won seven races, and, many agree, should have brought home the championship.
After his promotion to the Cup Series in 2018, Byron teamed with veterans like Darian Grubb and Chad Knaus before reuniting with Fugle for a breakthrough 2021 season.
This personal relationship is why Fugle says he has no fears in the future, adding that it’s good to get these things out in the open.
“Our relationships way too strong to let a little bit of back and forth banter and even yelling at each other, fighting, whatever it is. . . all that stuff is healthy. If you just hold all that in and don’t get any of that out, that’s not good.” — Rudy Fugle
Still, that doesn’t mean the veteran Crew Chief doesn’t regret lashing back at his driver, adding that he wishes he had chosen better words for his long-time teammate and friend.
“I do wish I had chosen some better words that we’re not talking about it today, and everybody thinks that something’s wrong, but him and I are the only things that matter for this relationship, and we’re good, and we always will be good,” Fugle said. “We got way too many years and way too strong of a relationship.”
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