No team has been more dominant in Daytona in the last few years than Hendrick Motorsports. Or at least, no team has been more dominant in Daytona 500 qualifying.
In addition to winning eight of the last 10 poles for the sport’s biggest race, Hendrick Motorsports drivers swept the front row in six of the last nine races. It became routine and assumed that, despite how single-car qualifying began, it would end with a Hendrick Motorsports driver and engine topping the field.
However, when claiming the Harley J. Earl trophy, the organization hasn’t been to victory lane in 10 years. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the last Hendrick driver to win the Daytona 500 on February 23, 2014.
“I sure would like to win it again,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “It’s been a while. But everybody wants to win this race. It’s hard to do. It’s hard to be there at the end and be in position to win, so hopefully Sunday will be the day.”
The four drivers who will suit up for Hendrick Motorsports for the 66th running of the Daytona 500 had no connections to the company 10 years ago. Kyle Larson was a rookie for Chip Ganassi. Alex Bowman was also a rookie, competing for BK Racing. Both of those organizations are no longer in Cup Series competition.
Chase Elliott had a deal signed with Hendrick Motorsports but was a rookie in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports at the time. Elliott won three races and the series championship.
William Byron? Many in NASCAR probably hadn’t heard his name. Byron didn’t make a NASCAR national series start until 2015 in the Craftsman Truck Series for Kyle Busch, the same year he also began running in the ARCA Menards Series.
“Rick, at least in the few years that I’ve been at Hendrick, he’s mentioned it every year that, ‘It’s been this many years many since we won,’” Larson said of the dry spell. “He’s not adding any pressure, but it’s been 10 years. We all know that. We want to win, but it doesn’t add any pressure either.”
Larson joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. Bowman was brought into the organization as a sim driver before becoming a substitute for Earnhardt Jr. when he was concussed in 2016. Bowman took over Earnhardt’s No. 88 car in 2018 before becoming the No. 48 driver after Johnson’s retirement in 2020.
“It’s been 10 years, right? We definitely want to change that,” Bowman said. “I want to be the guy who changes that, but [we] want to put Hendrick Motorsports in the best position with all four of cars to get there. The Daytona 500 is a huge deal, and we want to go get a trophy.”
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As a Hendrick Motorsports driver, Larson has led eight laps in the Daytona 500. His best finish was 10th in 2021. Bowman has led 29 laps and finished a career-best fifth last season.
“We’re trying our hardest every year,” Byron said.
Byron moved into the Cup Series with Hendrick Motorsports in 2018. The Daytona 500 has been unkind to him, though he’s led 46 laps. In six starts, Byron has failed to finish four times.
“This is an important race,” said three-time Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon. “Even though it’s one of those unique races where you’ve got to survive the big wrecks, position yourself just right, execute, have luck on your side, somebody is going to win this race, and we’ve been fortunate to win it many, many times. There is no other win like it. There just isn’t. I want one of these four guys to experience it. I want all four of them to experience it in the future because it is so special, and you realize it once you win it.
“But right now, they’re realizing how hard it is to win also.”
Gordon finished fourth to teammate Earnhardt Jr. in the 2014 race. Today, Gordon is the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.
“I didn’t realize [how hard Daytona is to win] as much early in my career because I came fifth in my first race (1993), we won in ’97, won in ’99, and took a little while to get back there in ’05,” Gordon said, “But we were competitive and in a position to win many times, and that started to get less and less and less. The percentage started to catch up to me; I was getting in more wrecks and caught up in the Big One a lot more later in my career, but I didn’t think I was doing anything different.
“This can be a tough race to win, but it’s almost one of the more gratifying ones when you do do it.”
Elliott inherited Gordon’s car when the former retired after the 2015 season. The son of a former Daytona 500 champion, Bill Elliott, the younger Elliott has a series championship but not a Harley J. Earl trophy. Of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, Elliott has led the most laps in his Daytona 500 career, 72 and has a second-place finish from 2021.
Hendrick might remind his organization as each year passes, but the message to his drivers remains the same.
“Let’s go win it,” Hendrick said. “Let’s win it. Haven’t won it in a while; let’s go win it.
“Everybody puts this on their calendar when the year starts, and it makes the year for an organization and your sponsors. Hopefully we’ll have a good day Sunday.”