We should all be impressed by William Byron right now.
Why? Because Byron, a rookie in NASCAR's Cup Series, is displaying maturity well beyond his years.
Here's what you have to remember about Byron whenever you talk about his potential, or expectations thrust upon him, or anything of that sort: He's 20. He's just a kid.
In addition to being a professional race car driver, he's still a sophomore at Liberty University, squeezing in any time he can to complete his online math classes. During NASCAR's three-week trip to the West Coast, he spent free time in Disney Land _ and good for him.
Heck, he can't legally buy a beer until after this NASCAR season finishes ... in November.
But at the same time, Byron doesn't act his age. As the person ordained to drive the legendary No. 24 car in which Jeff Gordon won four Cup championships, the pressure has been on the Charlotte native from Day 1.
And so far, flashy results have been tough to come by _ his best finish was 12th, and his worst 27th.
Rather than get angry though, or succumb to the pressure, Byron understands this is a process _ and that's commendable.
"You just have to realize where you stack up each weekend," Byron said. "Once you set that expectation and understand where that is, you can really be realistic with your weekend and feel good about it.
"I think we're starting to understand that as a race team, and not to go out there with the mindset that we're going to set the world on fire yet, because it's going to take some time."
Does that sound like a 20-year-old? No, didn't think so.
Instead of expecting to compete with NASCAR's best drivers from the jump, Byron is taking a much more mature approach. However good his car is, that's how it is. There's no stretching it, or magically thinking you'll hop from 20th to first. It's knowing what you've got, making the most of it, and trying to improve incrementally race by race.
"Obviously we'd like to have more speed," Byron said, "but when that comes, it'll make our jobs a lot easier. ... I feel like right now, we're just doing a good job of managing what we have and maximizing that.
"That's been tough as a rookie to kind of jump in and maximize something, but it's been a lot of fun the last few weeks to run inside the top 10 at times."
It's those moments of optimism that make it easy to believe Byron will have a successful Cup career sooner rather than later. In a world jam-packed with instant gratification, it says something that the youngest driver in NASCAR's top series can have so much patience.
And like Byron said, it's not like there haven't been any positive signs. He's run inside the Top 10 both of the last two races, and he even led 15 laps at Phoenix (even if only because the leaders pitted midway through the race). Those are the sorts of little things, like gold coins in a longer piece of writing, that make you want to press on.
"Honestly, the last couple of weeks have been really encouraging for me," he said. "I feel like we really started to turn the corner."
So then, what can be expected of Byron the rest of the season?
For now, starting this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, continued tiny improvements. Making the slow transition from a 20th-place car to a 17th-place one, and 15th. That might sound like slow growth, but in a sport where tenths of a second can determine the difference between first and last, it isn't.
Byron hopes to make enough of those small jumps that it adds up to a big leap. Maybe there are a few top-5 finishes in his future. Maybe even a victory. Whatever it is, Byron isn't as concerned about now as he is about, say, where his car is this summer.
"My expectations right now are just to run where the car is capable of running," Byron said. "My goal this year is to keep that trajectory going upward. Just keep things going in the right direction this part of the season, and that's really going to make it so over the summer, in the middle portion of the year, we can really capitalize."
Whether any of that happens is still up in the air. But Byron is doing and saying exactly what he should.
And for a 20-year-old kid, it's one of the more impressive things about this young NASCAR season.
