William Byron, driver of the #24 Liberty University Chevrolet, drives during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 23, 2018, in Sonoma, California. Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, has been sharpening his road course racing skills under the tutelage of Max Papis.

Byron also worked with road course expert Ron Fellows earlier in the week at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada.

The work paid off on Saturday when Byron qualified eighth for his first road course race in the Cup series.

“Working with Ron a little bit and then working with Max Papis has helped me a ton in my career,” Byron said. “We work every week on a karting track trying to figure things out, so it’s been fun to get better.”

“Yesterday, I really started getting my rhythm of what I needed to do better and kind of put that all together today to try to get where we need to be. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.

It was cool.”

Byron also got additional track time in qualifying and racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West at Sonoma on Saturday.