What Happened?
A Hendrick homecoming held true when William Byron held off his teammates to take the checkered flag in a special race at a special track for Hendrick Motorsports. While Byron earned the win, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott secured the Hendrick 1-2-3, the first time an organization has ever swept the podium in Martinsville Speedway’s 76-year history.
Byron already has three triumphs this season, with two victories in the past three races. The second win at Martinsville for Byron, his victory donuts culminated a major celebration of Team Hendrick’s illustrious 40 years of racing.
What Really Happened?
To all the Hendrick haters, I’m sorry. There was no chance that anyone other than a Hendrick Motorsports driver would wind up in victory lane today.
Everyone knows the significance of Martinsville in the Hendrick history. The site of first triumph, unbearable loss, victorious sendoffs and so much more. Hendrick chose this track to run its four ruby red paint schemes for a reason.
When Rick Hendrick has eyes on a milestone, you might as well hand the trophy over when the green flag drops.
Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano all tried their best at points to break up the quartet, but a Hendrick trio seemed destined for history as the three led the parade in the waning laps.
The nerves of the late caution confirmed a win. Surely Mr. H thought back to the spring of 2012, when Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were destined to duel for win No. 200 at The Paperclip. A late caution destroyed that hope when a third-place Bowyer dive bomb took out the duo.
The message this overtime? Don’t mess this up.
Controlling the top three spots, pitting likely never even crossed the mind of the crew chiefs. A three-car buffer would surely cushion any chaos and deliver a victory to one of the three.
Even Elliott suppressed his desperation to snap his winless streak in a major way, racing his teammate with restraint, seeing ruby instead of red and taking care of Byron on the final lap.
For whatever reason, this driver lineup never fails to deliver milestone victories.
Elliott clutched late in 2020 to win the championship. Alex Bowman triumphed in Hendrick’s top four Dover Motor Speedway sweep in 2021. Larson delivered record-breaking win No. 265 at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few weeks later.
Now, Byron has become Mr….
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