William Byron shares personal story after starting sports therapy

NASCAR star William Byron has opened up about his first experience at sports therapy in the new season of the Netflix docuseries, NASCAR: Full Speed.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver often faces questions over his place in the sport due to his non-traditional background, getting his start in racing through video games.

The latest series of the documentary dropped on the global streaming platform on May 7 and gives NASCAR the Drive to Survive treatment once again.

The third episode of the second season featured a vulnerable moment from Byron who revealed what led him to seek out a sports therapist in the hope of finding balance and sustainability in his personal and racing life.

Hendrick Motorsports star tells all in NASCAR: Full Speed

The No. 24 driver opened up about his struggles expressing his feelings whilst battling with the pressure of attempting to make it to the Championship Four once again in 2024.

With the season focusing on last year's NASCAR championship campaign, Byron detailed the pressure he feels racing for a dynasty team like Hendrick Motorsports, especially after securing six wins in 2023 and finishing third overall.

With Netflix following the 27-year-old's every move, he admitted: "I’m not a very open person, so I don’t let a lot of people in.

"You guys are the first people I tell that I do this," he said, whilst making his way to a session with his sports therapist.

Byron's unusual path to NASCAR began with the iRacing and because of that, the driver revealed: "It was really easy to get mentally dominated in this sport when I came in because it's like, 'well you shouldn't be here, this guy raced on a computer,' but I put in a lot of work to get to this point and I deserve to be here."

The episode saw Byron exclusively open up to his therapist over his concerns for the championship, revealing to Netflix what made him pursue the sessions in the first place.

"What made me want to do it is just I felt like I was a very quiet communicator and I didn’t say a lot," he said.

"I felt like that was getting in the way of our success or potential success as a team. But then it transitioned to learning more about myself as a person, and so then I feel it took off."

"At first, it was really hard to tell her everything," Byron said when discussing his progress with his therapist.

"Sometimes, I feel like I don’t say as much as I should. And I’m like, dang it. I should have said this, right? Should have gone into more detail. But I just try to give her everything that’s on my mind."

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