The surreal fashion that Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway was unfolding for Hendrick Motorsports got to Jeff Gordon.
There were many emotions layered onto the NASCAR Cup series race as Hendrick Motorsports celebrated its 40th anniversary. William Byron being the victor was an accomplishment only made better by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, making it a 1-2-3 sweep.
“I felt like I was in the car there about 50, 60 laps to go because it reminded me of when you’re leading and you feel like you’re going to do something really, really special,” Gordon said. “You start thinking about the moment, what it means. You start getting choked up a little bit. I was like, ‘Stop, stop, stop, can’t think that. We got to a long way to go here.’ Usually, it’s not that easy and it wasn’t.
“I don’t even know where to begin, honestly. There are so many things that are special. … You just cannot plan it any better, script it any better.”
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Before the race started, it was already a Hendrick Motorsports weekend. The facility was taken over by the legendary organization, which only exists today because Geoff Bodine was victorious at Martinsville Speedway in April 1984.
All four drivers had a ruby red paint scheme. The tunnel leading to the infield featured pictures of previous Hendrick Motorsports wins. Bodine and Gordon were co-grand marshals, and Rick Hendrick was scheduled to be the pace car driver, but slow-healing knee replacement surgery kept him home. There were also different cars on display throughout the property, and most notable were the 1,500 people wearing ruby red shirts high above Turn 2. Byron made sure to celebrate in front of them after winning.
“That’s the last number I heard,” Gordon said of how many people were in attendance for the company. “That’s employees (and) families. The coolest thing about this whole thing is, one, Rick agreed to do it. Clay (Campbell, track president) opened it up to be able to do. Also, it wasn’t just, ‘Hey, come for free.’ It was, ‘Bring a family member, and if you want more tickets, we’ve got a really good discounted rate on more tickets.’ They bought more.
“We expected, I don’t know, maybe 500 people. You just don’t know until you put that invite out to the group and they start RSVPing. One day, it was 400. The next day, it was 700. The next day, it was 900. Every day, we were like, ‘Well, we’re going to have 700. Oh, really, 900?’ To see our folks rally behind this milestone and this moment, this day, get on buses early this morning and come up here. Listen, the music was going. They were partying up there pretty early. They had a good time.
“To be able to cap that off with the victory, what this is going to do for our company is incredible. To be able to have them that engaged with a day like today, our history, but also making history at the same time.”
Gordon won four championships and 93 races driving for Hendrick Motorsports, including nine at Martinsville Speedway. But what accompanied those accomplishments was much different from what Gordon felt Sunday when sitting atop a pit box watching but feeling like he was in the car.
“It’s not even the driving part, it’s the emotion part,” Gordon said. “It’s what does it mean to you working with your team, what the moment means. Like this accomplishment. There’s not a person in our organization who didn’t realize winning today how much that was going to mean to Rick Hendrick, Linda Hendrick, to Hendrick Motorsports. Gosh, you look at William, he’s been stepping it up at the big milestone wins for this company.
“I didn’t know if I was going to like being in this role, working as much as I am. These guys work hard. I don’t work that hard. But from being a driver to basically a desk job and being in the office every day that’s not where I envisioned my life going. But days like today and weeks like this, years like what we’re already off to, celebrating, makes it beyond what I could ever imagine and dream of.
“I’m in the ultimate position. These guys make us all look good, so it’s cool. Fun to be in that role right now.”