To Mom, with love: Byron's Martinsville win is early Mother's Day present
Editor's note: Full race results, notes and updated driver points are at the bottom of this file,
NASCAR racing isn't always about winning and losing, rivalries and competition, or beating and banging on each other's cars.
It's also about motivation and love, and we saw the perfect example of that in Saturday night’s Blu Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway.
Sure, William Byron won the race, leading 212 of the 403 laps contested, making him the first two-time Cup winner this season. It also was marked the first time in the 24-year-old Byron’s Cup career that he’s won more than one race in a season – he now has four total victories in his Cup tenure.
But there was a lot more on the line Saturday night. It marked the one-year anniversary of one of the scariest moments of Byron’s life. It was on April 11, 2021, while Byron was working his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a fourth-place finish that evening, his mother, Dana, was on her way to the hospital, leaving the event after complaining about not feeling well.
The eventual diagnosis hit William as hard as if he had plowed head-on into the Martinsville retaining wall: upon reaching a Martinsville-area hospital, it was quickly determined that Dana was much more than just not feeling well. Rather, doctors determined that she had suffered what they termed a "mini-stroke."
Fortunately, Dana Byron was brought to the hospital in time and the stroke’s impact was eventually minimized, and she was able to be transported closer to home in Charlotte for further treatment and tests.
But as optimistic as Dana, son William and the rest of the Byron family, were after the "mini-stroke," that’s when the second part of the diagnosis came back with a much scarier outcome:
Dana had brain cancer.
Fortunately, as it turned out, Dana Byron had a rare but very treatable form of cancer, known as MALT lymphoma, and it was localized on just the left side of her brain. And after several months of treatment, she’s “doing great,” William said after his win Saturday.
It would be a lie to say William didn’t think about his mother quite a bit as last season progressed. It’s unimaginable how someone can focus 100 percent on a race and driving a race car when the person who carried him for nine months and gave birth to him was mired in her own battle to the finish line, so to speak.
Dana was one of William's two biggest supporters of his racing career and quick rise to stardom, along with her husband and William’s father, Bill.
When Dana was first diagnosed with the brain cancer, William took to social media to pay homage to his mother:
“She is a fighter and knows that the process will not be easy but she has a great support group, and my Dad has been there every step of the way,” Byron wrote in his post. “It has changed all of our perspective on life in a short time.
“Thank you for your prayers and support in advance. We are thankful she is in good hands and we will continue to be with her as she fights through this.”
Saturday night, Dana and Bill sat and watched the race from atop the No. 24 car’s pit box. And when William crossed the finish line first, FS1 cameras quickly zoomed in on Dana, jumping up and down in celebration, with an absolutely huge smile upon her face.
It was then a grateful and appreciative William’s turn to once again pay public homage to his mother.
William Byron revels in a very special win Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, his second of the season, and a win he dedicated to his mother, Dana. (Photo by Andrew Coppley/HHP for Chevy Racing)
While the win was his and for his team, it also was for his mom. Much like Knute Rockne implored his Fighting Irish to “win one for the Gipper” roughly 100 years ago, William dedicated Saturday’s win to the No. 1 special woman in his life.
“This one is for my mom,” Byron told FS1 on Martinsville Speedway’s frontstretch. “This same weekend last year, she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer.
“It means a lot to have her here and it’s been a crazy year but she’s doing great and thanks everybody for their support. I kind of felt like I had her riding with me.”
Indeed, Dana WAS riding with William in spirit and helped motivate him to get a great jump on the final restart – the race went three laps into overtime – and keep runner-up Joey Logano and third-place finisher Austin Dillon at bay.
In fact, William was so proud of what he had accomplished that he felt compelled to tell the fans in attendance just how much it meant to him that his mother was there in-person to watch him take the checkered flag, at one point choking up slightly, almost completely overcome by emotion.
That display brought about a near-thunderous round of applause in support of both William and Dana, and rightly so. Sure, William could have been all macho and say he did the job on his own, and maybe mention he had help from his team and sponsors.
But he didn’t. He thanked the person -- actually, the two people -- he should have thanked for making nights like Saturday possible, period, end of story.
“I love my parents,” William said. “They’ve been so supportive but have also let me grow up as I get older. I’ve got a great support system.”
He then laughed because Saturday’s win marked the second time in three days that he had earned one of the iconic Martinsville grandfather clocks. He also won Thursday's Truck Series race there.
Some drivers go their entire lives without winning one of those prized 6 1/2-foot clocks, and now Byron has two.
“I’ve always wanted to win at Martinsville and now I’ve got two grandfather clock’s this weekend, so I’ll enjoy that,” William said.
Well, folks, you can probably figure out the rest of the story on where one of those two clocks will likely ultimately wind up because Dana earned one just as much as her son did.
In a way, and even though it's a month early, William gave Dana one of the most fitting Mother's Day presents she's ever received (Mother's Day falls on May 8 this year).
So the next time someone tells you NASCAR is all about winning and losing, tell them they're wrong. That it's also about love.
Follow Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
