NASCAR
William Byron wins Martinsville, Hendrick Goes 1-2-3 in Anniversary Weekend
RIDGEWAY, Va. – Marking 40 years since Hendrick Motorsports’ maiden NASCAR win, Martinsville was a near perfect afternoon for this team. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and William Byron all spent time leading Sunday’s field. All of their ruby red Chevrolets were in the wind out front. The victory ultimately went to William Byron, only adding onto a milestone HMS celebration.
From the pole, Kyle Larson led the entirety of Stage 1. Joey Logano would take two tires on pit road though, edging out the No. 5 and leading most of Stage 2. This win would go to Denny Hamlin however, who passed Logano late.
Chase Elliott impressively took command to start the final Stage, despite starting outside of Hamlin. Elliott’s pit crew also came in clutch around lap 300, leapfrogging Hamlin after coming in behind him.
Even with Elliott initially leading on the final run, he was soon overtaken by William Byron. The No. 24 Chevrolet was the first to pit, and soon drove off into the Virginia horizon. This second half domination would only end with an overtime-triggering caution flag. On the restart, Byron got enough of a jump to clear the battle behind him.
After taking Rick Hendrick back to Daytona 500 victory lane in February, Byron delivers Mr. H a record 29th Martinsville win. Teammates Larson and Elliott also followed Byron to a 1-2-3 result for HMS in their anniversary race.
“I just want to thank Chase for racing me clean there,” Byron said. “It could have gotten physical at the end, and he gave me a shot. That was predicted but we all finished it off. Just so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. I grew up a big Hendrick fan, and to be here for the 40th anniversary and all that goes into this organization means a lot. It’s all about the people. Just want to thank Mr. Hendrick, Linda, and everyone involved.”
“It’s pretty awesome, badass to win at Martinsville. We’ve struggled at the short tracks, so we just kept inching up on it. I have a great team and they kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart at the end like that, but that’s the way it goes.”
“(Pitting first) was a great call. It didn’t get us the track position right away, but we had a little more heat in our tires. It seemed like I fired off a little faster than those guys. Was able to get ahead of them. We had a great car in the first third stage. Just want to thank all of the No. 24 fans for sticking with us. This is pretty exciting, can’t put it into words, and I’m tired.”
Behind the HMS top three sweep at the checkers, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney were in the top-five. Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-10. Hear from some of these drivers below.
Byron is the first man to reach three victories in 2024, a win total likely to soon grow. The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to another great track for Byron, Texas Motor Speedway. The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 goes green Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Byron will eye back-to-back Lone Star State wins after last fall’s Playoff triumph.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
