Category: Race Central

In Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary weekend at a historic venue where the team achieved its first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series division, Hendrick’s three of four competitors notched a historic 1-2-3 finish as William Byron prevailed in an overtime shootout amid a late battle against teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott to win the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, April 7. 

Byron commented about the significance of the victory after the race.

“It’s awesome and it’s way bigger than me,” Byron said after the race. “There are so many men and women that this is a tribute to with all the hard work in the shop. It’s just a really good environment to work in. They have built something so special over the years, and I am thankful to be a part of it and drive the No. 24. It’s pretty special.”

The 2024 Daytona 500 champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 88 of 415 over-scheduled laps in an event where he along with teammates Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson each sported commemorative ruby red paint schemes to their respective entries to celebrate the anniversary weekend. Despite qualifying in 18th place, Byron methodically worked his way up the leaderboard in his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and through the field, where he would eventually race his way into the top 10 and claim a pair of eighth-place runs during the event’s first two stage periods. 

While battling in the top five with 103 laps remaining, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle utilized a strategic pit call as they were the first duo to pit under green before the front-runners pitted a lap later. This allowed Byron to gain momentum and competitive speed upon returning to the track as he would spend the proceeding laps overtaking teammates Elliott and Larson along with Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace on the track before he assumed the race lead from Daniel Suarez for the first time with 74 laps remaining.

After initially leading the race with a two-second advantage over teammate Elliott, Byron’s steady drive to victory was briefly halted with three laps remaining when John Hunter Nemechek wrecked and sent the event into overtime. Amid an extensive caution period and the start of the overtime shootout, Byron, who remained on the track along with a majority of the field on their current tires, was not to be denied. He fended off a late bump and challenge from Elliott along with teammate Larson in overtime to claim his third NASCAR Cup Series triumph of the 2024 season and lead a historic 1-2-3 finish to cap off Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary weekend of its first win.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, April 6, Kyle Larson secured his second consecutive Cup pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 96.034 mph in 19.718 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Bubba Wallace, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 96.029 mph in 19.719 seconds, thus missing the pole position by 0.001 seconds. 

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Larson fended off Bubba Wallace on the inside lane through the first two turns to retain the lead, where he proceeded to lead the first lap in his ruby red No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while the field behind fanned out to two lanes while jostling for early spots. Larson would proceed to lead the second to fifth lap marks while Wallace retained second ahead of Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano amid the early on-track battles.  

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson was leading by half a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Briscoe and Truex while Logano, rookie Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Alex Bowman was in 11th ahead of Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland while William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Carson Hocevar and rookie Zane Smith trailed in the top 25. 

Ten laps later, as Larson was approaching the rear of the field, he stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Wallace while Elliott, Briscoe and Truex continued to run in the top five. Meanwhile, Logano, Berry, Blaney, Hamlin and Busch also continued to run in the top 10 while Byron gained three spots as he was running 13th, two spots behind teammate Bowman. 

Another 15 laps later, Larson extended his advantage to more than a second over Wallace despite being mired in lapped traffic. By then, Elliott, Briscoe and Truex remained in the top five ahead of Logano, Berry, Blaney, Hamlin and Busch while names that included Daniel Hemric, Austin Dillon, Josh Williams, Michael McDowell and Harrison Burton were lapped by Larson. 

At the Lap 50 mark, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Wallace as Elliott, Briscoe and Truex continued to trail in the top five. Meanwhile, Byron, who had carved his way up to the top 10 earlier, was running ninth behind Logano, Berry and Hamlin, Bowman was running 11th behind Kyle Busch and Blaney had fallen to 12th.  

Fifteen laps later, Larson continued to lead by more than a second over Wallace followed by Elliott, Briscoe and Truex while Byron moved up to eighth place as he was racing behind Logano and Hamlin. Behind, Bowman retained 11th ahead of Blaney, Chastain, Keselowski and Austin Cindric while Gilliland, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece and Erik Jones occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell was mired in 23rd in between Stenhouse and Hocevar, Noah Gragson was in 26th and running ahead of Chris Buescher and John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Dillon, who was racing while reunited with crew chief Justin Alexander, was down in 32nd.  

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Larson captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season after leading all the scheduled laps thus far from pole position. Wallace, who challenged Larson for the first stage victory on the final lap, trailed in second place ahead of Elliott, Briscoe and Truex while Logano, Hamlin, Byron, Berry and Busch were scored in the top 10. By then, 25 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap as Buescher, Gragson, Corey LaJoie and John Hunter Nemechek were lapped. 

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Joey Logano exited pit road first with the lead after only opting for a two-tire pit stop as Larson, Wallace, Elliott, Hamlin, Gilliland, Truex, Byron, Briscoe and Bowman followed suit in the top 10, with the majority of the field pitting for four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Gilliland was penalized for taking a wedge wrench out of his pit box and onto the track while Stenhouse, who was penalized for speeding on pit road, was turned by Elliott while trying to enter his pit box. Soon after, Blaney, who nearly ran over one of his pit crew members, pitted for a second time to have a lug nut on his No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse tightened and for a wedge adjustment. 

The second stage period started on Lap 93 as Logano and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Logano rocketed ahead with the lead while Wallace and Larson, who struggled to launch in the restart zone, battled for the runner-up spot, with Wallace managing to move in front of Larson during the following lap. Soon after, Hamlin pressured Larson for third place, which he was able to do by Lap 97 as Larson was forced to settle in fourth in front of teammates Elliott and Byron. Amid the battles, Logano retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Wallace by the Lap 100 mark. 

By Lap 110, Logano stabilized his advantage to half a second over Wallace while racing on two fresh tires while Hamlin, Larson and Elliott trailed in the top five ahead of Byron, Briscoe, Bowman, Truex and Busch. Meanwhile, Bell, who was running in the middle of the pack, limped his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE to pit road after a wedged right-front tire due to a fallen lug nut caused Bell to run his car up the track twice a lap earlier, though he managed to keep his car off of the wall. Not long after, the caution returned due to debris reported on the track. 

When the event restarted under green on Lap 119, Logano muscled his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse ahead from Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE through the first two turns to retain the lead as Hamlin challenged Wallace for the runner-up spot through Turns 3 and 4. Wallace, however, would fend off Hamlin entering the frontstretch to retain the runner-up spot while all four Hendrick Motorsports competitors, led by Larson, were running fourth through seventh on the track, with Elliott, Bowman and Byron following suit, respectively. As Briscoe and Chastain were racing in eighth and ninth, respectively, while Berry and Truex battled for 10th, Logano retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Wallace by the Lap 125 mark. 

Just past the Lap 140 mark, Logano retained the lead by half a second over Wallace while Hamlin, Larson, Elliott, Bowman and Byron followed suit from third to seventh, respectively. Logano would stabilize his advantage to half a second over Wallace at the Lap 150 mark while third-place Hamlin trailed by more than a second. In addition, Hendrick Motorsports’ four-car organization led by Larson and followed by Elliott, Bowman and Byron continued to run fourth to seventh, respectively, while Briscoe, Chastain and Berry were racing in the top 10. 

By Lap 160, Logano was mired in lapped traffic but continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Wallace, who was being pressured by Hamlin for the spot while Larson tried to join the battle in fourth place. Larson’s teammates Elliott, Bowman and Byron remained in fifth through seventh, respectively, along with Briscoe, who trailed the lead by two seconds as Hamlin moved his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE into the runner-up spot three laps later.  

Then on Lap 170, Hamlin muscled his way around Logano for the lead while Wallace and Larson followed in close pursuit in third and fourth, respectively. Hamlin would quickly stretch his advantage to a second four laps later as Wallace battled and overtook Logano, who was beginning to struggle on his two fresh tires, for the runner-up spot another lap later, with Larson and Elliott following suit. 

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 180, Hamlin, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Richmond Raceway, captured his second stage victory of the 2024 season. Wallace followed suit in second along with Larson and Elliott while Logano fended off Bowman to claim fifth place as Briscoe, Byron, Chastain and Berry were scored in the top 10. By then, 26 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap. 

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Logano returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin retained the lead after exiting pit road first. He was followed by Elliott, Wallace, Larson and Bowman while Briscoe, Logano, Blaney, Byron and Chastain exited in the top 10 amid a congested pit road, where Logano nearly got sandwiched in between Bowman and Byron while exiting pit road while Ty Gibbs rammed into the side of Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while exiting his pit stall. Amid the pit stops, Daniel Suarez was penalized for speeding on pit road. 

With 207 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Chase Elliott occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin and Elliott battled dead even for the lead in front of Wallace and Larson through the first two turns and through the backstretch, where Elliott managed to use the outside lane to his advantage through Turns 3 and 4 and muscle his No. 9 ruby red UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead. With Elliott leading the event over Hamlin, Wallace started to challenge Hamlin for the runner-up spot as Larson, Logano, Bowman, Byron and Briscoe followed suit in the top eight. 

At the halfway mark with 200 laps remaining, Elliott was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Wallace, Larson and Bowman while Logano, Briscoe, Byron, Blaney and Reddick were running in a long single-file line in the top 10. Behind, Chastain was in 11th ahead of Truex, Gilliland, Ty Gibbs and Hocevar while Erik Jones, Busch, Preece, Cindric and Berry occupied the top 20. 

Two laps later and with the field slowly fanning out to three lanes, the caution returned after Bell, who was running multiple laps down, spun in Turn 4 after getting loose underneath Kaz Grala. During the caution period, some including Truex, Gibbs, Busch, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Hemric, Grala and Josh Williams pitted while the rest led by Elliott remained on the track. 

As the event restarted under green with 191 laps remaining, Elliott retained the lead following a strong start on the inside lane while Hamlin also fended off Wallace, Larson and Bowman to retain the runner-up spot. As Elliott, Hamlin, Wallace, Larson and Bowman formed a single-file line towards the inside lane in the proceeding laps, Logano and Byron battled dead even for sixth place in front of Briscoe, who was being pressured by Gilliland and Blaney for more while Reddick, Chastain, Preece, Hocevar and Jones swapped battles within the top 15. 

With less than 175 laps remaining, Elliott extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Hamlin while third-place Wallace also trailed by more than two seconds ahead of Elliott’s teammates Larson, Bowman and Byron. Elliott, however, would have his advantage decreased to a second over Hamlin as he started to approach lapped traffic with 160 laps remaining. 

With 150 laps remaining, Elliott slightly stretched his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while third-place Wallace trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Elliott’s teammates Larson, Byron and Bowman trailed by within two seconds in fourth through sixth, respectively, while Logano, Gilliland, Briscoe and Blaney were racing in the top 10. 

Two laps later, Hamlin ignited his challenge on Elliott for the lead. After Elliott got pinned behind the lapped competitor of Josh Williams, Hamlin managed to lead Elliott by a mere margin with 147 laps remaining. With Elliott and Hamlin still battling dead even for the lead through every corner and straightaway during the proceeding laps, Wallace and Larson battled for third in front of Byron and Bowman. After a long tussle, Hamlin managed to run Elliott up the track in between Turns 3 and 4 to muscle ahead of him with 142 laps remaining. 

As the event was down to its final 125 laps, Hamlin, who weaved his way through lapped traffic, extended his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while third-place Wallace trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Larson was trying to fend off teammate Byron for fourth place while teammate Bowman trailed by more than three seconds in sixth place. In the process, Logano, Gilliland, Briscoe and Blaney continued to run in the top 10. 

Then with 103 laps remaining, green flag pit stops ignited as Byron pitted from fifth place. Not long after, Elliott, Wallace and Larson pitted together before the leader Hamlin pitted along with Bowman and more with 102 laps remaining. By the time Hamlin exited his pit stall and pit road, Elliott just managed to overtake Hamlin on the track while Larson, Wallace and Byron battled behind with 100 laps remaining.  

Then with 96 laps remaining and with the front-runners mired in lapped traffic, Elliott shoved Stenhouse and Nemechek out of his path while trying to fend off Hamlin. Amid the battles, teammates Byron and Larson made their move beneath Hamlin and overtook him on the track during the next few laps, thus placing three Hendrick Motorsports competitors within close distance of one another while Hamlin was being blocked by the lapped competitor of Stenhouse. In the process and with green flag pit stops still ensuing, Briscoe, who was one of several competitors who had yet to pit, was leading ahead of Cindric before he pitted with 93 laps remaining as Cindric moved into the lead. Meanwhile, Byron started to pressure teammate Elliott for the position, where he succeeded in overtaking him in his No. 24 ruby red AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the track with 90 laps remaining. 

With 74 laps remaining and with most of the field having made a pit stop under green, Byron overtook Suarez, who had yet to pit, for the race lead. Teammate Elliott would follow suit in second place while Larson moved into third place two laps later, thus placing three Hendrick Motorsports competitors in the top three on the track. Meanwhile, Hamlin trailed the race lead by more than two seconds in fifth place while Wallace trailed by more than four seconds in sixth place. In addition, Bowman, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports competitor in his No. 48 ruby red Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, trailed by more than five seconds in seventh place. 

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Byron was leading by more than a second over teammate Elliott and by two seconds over teammate Larson while Hamlin, Blaney and Wallace followed suit in the top six. Behind, Bowman trailed by six seconds in seventh place while Logano, Briscoe and Gilliland occupied the top-10 spots ahead of Reddick, Erik Jones, Preece, Chastain and Chris Buescher, all of whom were scored on the lead lap. 

Fifteen laps later, Byron extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammates Elliott and Larson while fourth-place Hamlin trailed by nearly five seconds. Behind, Blaney also trailed by more than five seconds in fifth place while Wallace, Bowman, Logano, Briscoe and Gilliland were racing in the top 10. 

Another 10 laps later, Byron, who was trying to lap Buescher, stabilized his lead to two and three seconds over both teammates Elliott and Larson while Hamlin, Blaney and Wallace continued to trail in the top six by seven seconds. Byron would continue to lead by more than a second over teammate Elliott and by more than two seconds over teammate Larson with 15 laps remaining. 

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron, who was trying to lap Ross Chastain, retained the lead by over teammates Elliott and Larson within one and two seconds, with Byron slowly having his large advantage decrease amid the lapped traffic. Meanwhile, Hamlin trailed in fourth place by more than four seconds while Blaney, Wallace and Bowman trailed in the top seven by as large as eight seconds as Byron stabilized his lead to two seconds with five laps remaining. 

Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew after John Hunter Nemechek, who was lapped by Byron a lap earlier, scrubbed the outside wall after losing the right front of his No. 42 Skip Barber Racing School Toyota Camry XSE, which ended up on fire, through Turns 3 and 4 as Byron’s steady advantage over teammates Elliott and Larson evaporated.  

During the extensive caution period, some led by Hamlin and including Reddick, Erik Jones and Preece pitted for fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by Byron, Elliott and Larson remained on the track. 

At the start of the first overtime period, teammates Byron and Elliott battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Byron managed to muscle ahead through the backstretch as he then withstood a bump from Elliott to maintain the lead through Turns 3 and 4. 

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron remained as the leader over teammate Elliott while Blaney challenged Larson for third place. With Elliott nearly running wide through Turns 1 and 2, Larson made his move beneath Elliott for the runner-up spot as Blaney and Wallace followed suit. In the process, Byron pulled away entering Turns 3 and 4 and was able to cycle back to the frontstretch victorious, where he claimed his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup season much to the delight of a bevy of Hendrick Motorsports’ fans and employees gathering and watching the event in tents above the backstretch. 

With the victory, Byron, who delivered Hendrick Motorsports’ 300th Cup Series victory last September at Texas Motor Speedway, became the first three-time race winner of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season as he recorded his 13th career win in his 224th start in NASCAR’s premier series and his second at Martinsville. The Martinsville victory was the 29th overall for Hendrick Motorsports, which keeps the organization as the winningest one of all time at Martinsville, as the organization also racked up its 305th win in the Cup circuit and the fourth of the 2024 campaign. 

“I just want to thank Chase [Elliott] for racing me clean [in overtime],” Byron said on FS1. “He gave me a shot, which was expected, 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 just this organization, all the people, it’s all about the people, and just want to thank Mr. [Rick] Hendrick and [wife] Linda [Hendrick] and everyone involved. It’s pretty awesome, pretty badass to win at Martinsville. We’ve been struggling at the short tracks and just kept inching up on it and I got a great team. They just kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart there at the end like that, but it’s the way it goes.” 

“You just can’t script it any better,” Jeff Gordon, vice chairman and co-owner of Hendrick Motorsports, added. “The race the way it played out, to get that green flag stop was it. Our cars were just so good on the short runs. We just needed to get that track position. Then that last restart, oh my god, I did not want to see that. Then I was just so hoping we could get the 1-2-3 [finish]. These three guys as well as [Alex] Bowman, they just drove their butts off. Great race, but how about that William Byron and that No. 24 car? Every time we have a milestone day or opportunity or moment, he steps up. This is gonna be a huge one for him and the organization.”

Like Byron and Gordon, teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, both of whom ended up second and third, respectively, were left pleased with their top-three results and capping off the 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick Motorsports’ historic victory. As an added bonus, Hendrick Motorsports also became the first organization to place three entries in the first three finishing results at Martinsville Speedway. In total, Byron, Larson and Elliott led a combined 238 of 415 laps en route to the 1-2-3 finish of today’s Martinsville event.

“[It’s] Really special to get a 1-2-3 [finish] there with William [Byron], Chase [Elliott] and I,” Larson said. “Just a great day for Hendrick Motorsports. It’s been a great 40 seasons for them. Really cool to have 1,500 people here from Hendrick Motorsports to celebrate. Congrats to William. He did a really good job. [He] Kind of schooled us all there after that green flag stop. He did a really good job passing all of us. Then, he was able to set a good pace and still get through traffic good. Solid day. Just an awesome day.” 

“Obviously, number one, congrats to William and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports,…all the people that put this together for us,” Elliott added. “[Hendrick Motorsports] have an unbelievable program and I think we’re all proud to call it home. It was awesome hosting over a thousand folks from Hendrick today, employees and their families. Glad one of us could get it done. Obviously, I wished we could’ve gotten it done selfishly like anybody would, but nice to have a couple solid weeks and to be in contention there for a win. I haven’t been in contention to win one for a while, so it was fun to kind of get to that last restart and it actually mattered. [I] Enjoyed that aspect and certainly hungry for more.”  

Bubba Wallace was the highest non-Hendrick competitor on the track in fourth place while Ryan Blaney rallied from struggling at the start to finish fifth. Logano and Reddick came home in sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Alex Bowman, the fourth Hendrick Motorsports competitor. Preece and Briscoe completed the top 10 in the final running order.

Notably, Denny Hamlin ended up 11th. In addition, Kyle Busch finished 16th, Martin Truex Jr. ended up 18th behind rookie Carson Hocevar, Suarez ended up 22nd and Josh Berry ended up 25th behind Brad Keselowski after being penalized late for an uncontrolled tire violation.

There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 51 laps. In addition, 14 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap. 

Following the eighth event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 14 points over Martin Truex Jr., 17 over Denny Hamlin, 48 over both William Byron and Ryan Blaney and 51 over Chase Elliott.

Results. 

1. William Byron, 88 laps led

2. Kyle Larson, 86 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Chase Elliott, 64 laps led

4. Bubba Wallace 

5. Ryan Blaney 

6. Joey Logano, 84 laps led 

7. Tyler Reddick 

8. Alex Bowman 

9. Ryan Preece 

10. Chase Briscoe, eight laps led

11. Denny Hamlin, 66 laps led, Stage 2 winner

12. Erik Jones 

13. Todd Gilliland 

14. Ross Chastain 

15. Chris Buescher, one lap down 

16. Kyle Busch, one lap down 

17. Carson Hocevar, one lap down 

18. Martin Truex Jr., one lap down 

19. Ty Gibbs, one lap down 

20. Noah Gragson, one lap down 

21. Michael McDowell, one lap down 

22. Daniel Suarez, one lap down, 13 laps led 

23. Austin Cindric, one lap down, six laps led

24. Brad Keselowski, one lap down 

25. Josh Berry, two laps down 

26. Kaz Grala, two laps down 

27. Josh Williams, two laps down 

28. Daniel Hemric, two laps down 

29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., two laps down 

30. Justin Haley, two laps down 

31. Zane Smith, three laps down 

32. Corey LaJoie, three laps down 

33. Harrison Burton, three laps down 

34. Austin Dillon, three laps down 

35. Christopher Bell, four laps down 

36. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident 

37. David Starr – OUT, Steering

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, April 14, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.