William Byron breaks silence on viral Rudy Fugle radio blowup

While there was plenty to talk about following last Sunday’s Quaker State 400 in Atlanta, William Byron and Rudy Fugle received plenty of attention. It wasn’t that drivers and crew chiefs blasting each other on the radio is all that odd, it’s that it was so out of character for the Hendrick Motorsports pair. Kevin Harvick was one of many who expressed concern over it because it so strange to hear from Byron and Fugle. Ahead of Sunday’s Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro, Byron addressed the situation. Things got spicy in Atlanta The radio transmission that had people talking was on Lap 90 of Sunday night’s race. Byron was running 19th at the time. Byron: “This is junk. Absolutely f*cking junk.” Fugle: “Copy that, yep do what you can. Lightning is close, not quite halfway.” Byron: “I’m plowing my ass off; this is terrible.” Fugle: “I f*cking heard ya, okay? I got it … Just drive the f*cking thing.” Byron: “You got it” Pop-off valve engaged for Byron Byron was surprised by how that soundbite took off. He does understand why, however. “I do feel like it gets overblown a little bit because I’m usually really quiet on the radio, and he is too,” said Byron. “I was a little bit surprised that it was clipped and sent all over the socials because you hear that if you watch Radioactive, you hear that stuff every week from a lot of teams. “But you just don’t hear it from us because we’re pretty quiet people.” Byron said it’s important to have that pop-off valve. He explained the root of the frustration. “Sometimes you have to have a pop-off valve, and our season has kind of been a lot of hits and misses. Last week was a miss at that point of the race, and we were just expressing that, and we were frustrated at the car, frustrated at the situation. “Mad at the fact that we couldn’t, that we went a complete 180 in just one run on track.” Despite it all, the relationship is great. The two talked immediately after the blowup. “[Fugle] and I are great. We talked right after that happened, and we’re in a great spot. It’s just frustration with the situation and the way that we’ve been running in some ways. “We’ve had some hits, and Chicago was a big hit. We won both stages, and that was a week before that. So, we obviously feel very capable. “You’re racing cars and trying to do the best that you can, and you’re trying to compete and work together and get the best outcome you can. If we didn’t have that emotion, I feel like you guys would probably question whether we care or not. We obviously care a lot about what we’re doing, and we want to win races all the time.” Byron clears the air Byron and Fugle have been together for a decade. Like any relationship, Bryon pointed out, there are going to be some tense moments. This was just that. “You don’t want to just hold it all inside and then just eventually go insane because you’re not talking. So, we talk very fluently throughout the week. I mean, we text; I probably text him more than anyone, and we talk in person probably more than anyone. “I think it’s just the nature of any relationship. Like I said, it’s the fact that we’re frustrated with the situation and the car and how it was acting in those moments. We’re not mad at each other, but it just comes across as a lot of frustration.”