In the 40th anniversary of the first win for Rick Hendrick’s team, three of his four drivers lead the way in the absence of the boss – anniversary for Penske as well
The eighth of 36 races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season took place in bright sunshine at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. And once again, the sun shone brightest for Rick Hendrick’s team.
This was the 29th time a driver from his team triumphed on the ultra-short oval. This time, however, it was a very special triumph. Victory went to William Byron (Hendrick-Chevrolet) followed by his teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in P2 and P3.
The race was only decided in overtime after 415 laps instead of the originally planned 400. However, the Hendrick squad’s fiercest rival took himself out of the decision with a pit stop in the final yellow phase
Four ruby red special designs at Hendrick
In remembrance of the fact that the Martinsville spring race 40 years ago was the race in which Geoff Bodine scored the first win for Rick Hendrick’s team (then All-Star Racing), all four Hendrick Chevrolets raced in a special ruby red livery on Sunday.
The racing team has been officially known as Hendrick Motorsports since 1985, but without Bodine’s maiden victory at Martinsville in April 1984, Hendrick Motorsports would probably never have existed. Incidentally, team owner Rick Hendrick was not at the track for the anniversary on Sunday due to a recent knee operation.
After Geoff Bodine gave the command to start the engines together with Jeff Gordon, Hendrick driver Kyle Larson started from pole again, just like last weekend in Richmond. In the Q2 segment of qualifying on Saturday, Larson was a whole 0.001 seconds faster than Bubba Wallace (23XI-Toyota) this time.
At the start of Sunday’s race, Larson immediately took the lead in the ruby red 5 Hendrick-Chevrolet, with Wallace in second place. And this order did not change for the entire first race segment
Who will claim a @MartinsvilleSwy grandfather clock?️
The MVSCookOut400 is pic.twitter.com/y0JS1uQB4P
– NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 7, 2024
Stage wins for Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin
This first race segment (Stage 1) comprised 80 laps, all of which were run under green. Kyle Larson was just ahead of Bubba Wallace at the first stage flag. Chase Elliott crossed the line in third place. William Byron in another of the four ruby-red Hendrick-Chevrolets showed the greatest forward momentum. He moved up from 18th on the grid to eighth position within the first 80 laps.
The second race segment (Stage 2) comprised 100 laps. It was led at the start by Joey Logano (Penske-Ford), who only had two new tires fitted in the stage caution instead of four. While it was the 40th anniversary of the all-important first victory for Hendrick, Penske cracked the 6,000 starts mark across all racing series on Sunday. And on this anniversary, Penske driver Logano stayed in the lead for a long time despite his tire disadvantage
On the 169th lap, Logano was replaced as the leader by Denny Hamlin (Gibbs-Toyota). When the Stage 2 flag was shown after 180 laps, Hamlin was ahead of Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson. Logano, however, actually managed to lose only four positions on the 100 laps of Stage 2 with his two ancient tires (left side of the car)
Duell Hamlin vs. Elliott, but Byron with the best strategy
The remaining laps were for the final race segment (Stage 3). At this point, there were only 220 laps to cover, as the distance of the Martinsville spring race had already been reduced from 500 to 400 laps two years ago. Chase Elliott led at the start of the Stage 3 race, although Denny Hamlin had retained the lead during the routine pit stop in the stage caution.
Elliott, however, won the restart and then posted his first lead laps of the day. The driver of the ruby red 9 Hendrick-Chevrolet led the race until the 258th lap before Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin – after several laps side-by-side with Elliott – finally managed to reclaim the top position.
The next pit stop was made under green with around 100 laps to go. Chase Elliott regained the position in a duel with Denny Hamlin because Hamlin had stayed on the track a little too long as the race leader and had therefore lost time
The biggest beneficiary was the driver who had made the green flag stop first. It was William Byron in the ruby red 24 Hendrick-Chevrolet. The fact that Byron, Elliott and Hamlin were not separated by dozens of laps but came into the pits in three consecutive laps shows just how close the race was.
The fact is that Byron passed Elliott with 90 laps to go and was the virtual race leader. At this point, he still had several drivers ahead of him who still had their green flag stop to come. When these drivers also either pitted or were passed, Byron not only led the race virtually but also actually from 75 laps before the end.
Late yellow phase extends the race by 15 laps
And: With 75 laps to go, Hendrick Motorsports had the top 3 completely occupied with William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. First in pursuit was Gibbs spearhead Denny Hamlin. Just when it looked as if the race would finish in this order, another yellow was shown on the penultimate lap. The reason was a crash involving John Hunter Nemechek (Legacy Toyota). There had been a brake problem on the right front when braking into Turn 3.
As a result, the race did not go over 400 laps, but went into overtime. The top three – Byron, Elliott and Larson – remained on the track. Fourth-placed Denny Hamlin was the first to pit for a tire change during the yellow period before the overtime restart. This turned out to be the wrong strategy. Hamlin finished the race outside the top 10 in P11.
At the overtime restart, William Byron led the field on the inside lane. He had Chase Elliott next to him on the outside. Elliott tried everything to get past Byron, but was unable to do so. On the contrary: on the final lap, Kyle Larson took over second position from Elliott, who ultimately finished third. So it was a one-two-three for Hendrick on its anniversary after all. The fourth Hendrick driver – Alex Bowman – finished in P8.
Meanwhile, Penske “only” finished P5 (Ryan Blaney), P6 (Joey Logano) and P23 (Austin Cindric) at the anniversary. And: After eight of 36 races this season, Chevrolet now has five wins with the tried-and-tested Camaro, while Toyota has three with the Camry, which has been revised for this year
It’s like clockwork. pic.twitter.com/DwDsjyKZA9
– NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 7, 2024
However, Ford is still waiting for its first win of the season with the Mustang, which has been revised for 2024. However, it should be noted that in the thrilling three-wide photo finish in Atlanta, Ford was just 0.003 seconds off victory.
Next Sunday (April 14), the race will take place at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Jimmie Johnson will compete for the second time this season in the third Legacy Toyota (84)
