CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — William Byron received a four-year contract extension from Hendrick Motorsports on Friday that will keep the 27-year-old driver with the team through the 2029 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Financial terms of the contract were not released.
The two-time Daytona 500 champion has emerged as one of the sport’s most competitive drivers, having already earned 14 Cup Series wins and six consecutive playoff appearances from 2019 to 2024. He has won 13 Cup Series races since being paired with crew chief Rudy Fugle in 2021 — the second-highest total in the series over that span.
Now in his eighth season, Byron won this year’s Daytona 500 for the second straight year, becoming the youngest multi-time winner in the event’s storied history.
Byron, who grew up in Charlotte, currently ranks second in the Cup standings after 12 points-paying races.
“We’ve built something special with the No. 24 team,” Byron said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to continue working with amazing people at Hendrick Motorsports who believe in me, especially Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick. We’ve accomplished some great things that we’re really proud of, but we have even bigger goals ahead. I’m excited to go after them with this team and this organization.”
Byron first signed with Hendrick Motorsports when he was 18.
He earned Cup Series rookie of the year honors in 2018 and has become a factor in the Cup Series championship with six straight playoff appearances, including back-to-back Championship 4 appearances in 2023 and 2024. Byrson is the only driver to win in Hendrick Motorsports iconic No. 24 Chevrolet other than Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.
“William is the real deal,” Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said. “What makes him so special is that he combines natural ability with an unrivaled work ethic. You see it in the great ones — the drivers who could get by on talent alone but choose to outwork everyone anyway. That’s William. On top of it all, he’s a person of high character and embraces his role as a leader. We’re proud to have him in our lineup and look forward to many more wins together.”
Byron will race Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race of the season.
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William Byron heads down the front straightaway during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
William Byron signs autographs before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
