Tag: Martinsville

Gordon swept up in surreal day at Martinsville

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. …

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.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

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.

William Byron celebrates after his victory at Martinsville Speedway. Motorsport Images

“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.”

Wallace sees worthy result from strong Martinsville performance

Bubba Wallace had a question and kept asking those around him until he got an answer. “Where’d he finish?” Wallace asked of teammate Tyler Reddick while doing his required top five media obligations on pit road Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. “Was …

Bubba Wallace had a question and kept asking those around him until he got an answer.

“Where’d he finish?” Wallace asked of teammate Tyler Reddick while doing his required top five media obligations on pit road Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. “Was he [in the] top 10?”

Wallace, who finished fourth, then turned to his 23XI Racing public relations representative and asked the same question. The answer finally came: Reddick had finished seventh.

“Oh, wow. Proud of the little buddy,” Wallace playfully said. “I didn’t see him all day.”

The amusing exchange resulted from Wallace acknowledging that 23XI Racing performs well on short tracks but doesn’t have many results to reflect those performances. Sunday was Wallace’s best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway in his 13 tries. Furthermore, it was his first top-five finish at Martinsville and just his third top-10.

“We do a lot of things that hurt our results, there’s no doubt about it,” Wallace said. “But we’re all taking big self-reflection [moments] over the last couple of months and being like, ‘Hey, let’s get our stuff together.’ And we know what we’re capable of. It’s days like this. I’ll continue to take top four finishes because eventually, your name will be thrown in the winner’s circle.”

The result came from a different feel Wallace had searched for in previous Martinsville Speedway races. He and the No. 45 team were contenders from the first on-track activity when he was second fastest overall in practice before qualifying second (after losing the pole to Kyle Larson by 0.001s).

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“A lot to build off, a lot to learn, a lot to debrief with the team,” Wallace said. “If we came back tomorrow, we’d be even better. But I appreciate everybody on this No. 23 team. The McDonald’s Toyota Camry was really, really good.

“It was a great showing here at Martinsville; I love this place and got to keep it going.”

Wallace had an average running position of fourth Sunday afternoon. He ran as high as second, but it was either second or third place that ended up being the ceiling. No matter how hard he ran or how close he got, even on the back bumper of Denny Hamlin at the end of the first stage, Wallace never cracked the threshold into the race lead.

“I know, I know,” he said with amusement. “I was trying so hard. I’d get to the leader’s back bumper too late in both stages. Hey that’s just something for us to continue to work on and be better.”

Wallace finished second in both stages. The race’s final caution with three laps to go was a turn of fortune for the No. 23, which was running sixth at the time. By choosing to restart as the third driver on the inside lane, Wallace was fifth for the final two laps, which he maintained.

“We had speed,” he said. “We had a lot of speed and it was fun to run up front and figure out what we needed to be better. I thought we were really good on the long run, but we got behind too early on the last stop and that just kind of set us apart. So, all in all, to come out top five was really good for us.”

Blaney fights back to a top five after early Martinsville miasma

Ryan Blaney took a Ford Mustang Dark Horse he described as not doing anything right less than 60 laps into Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway to a hard-fought fifth-place finish. “I’m proud of the fight back,” Blaney said. “It was going to be a …

Ryan Blaney took a Ford Mustang Dark Horse he described as not doing anything right less than 60 laps into Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway to a hard-fought fifth-place finish.

“I’m proud of the fight back,” Blaney said. “It was going to be a long day for a while, and it ended up not being a terrible day. It was still a long day, but nice to get a good finish.”

Believe it or not, a potential loose wheel, big adjustments and a two-tire call aided Blaney’s team. The reigning series champion started ninth and fell to 11th at the end of the first stage. Blaney fought loose, being unable to put the power down and struggled for rear grip. During this stage, he told his team the car was doing “nothing good, currently.”

At the end of the first stage, Blaney made his pit stop with the rest of the leaders but then returned to pit road because of issues with the lug nut on the left rear. During the second stop, the Penske team took big swings on adjustments for the No. 12 entry.

“I knew it really, really hard to pass,” Blaney said of losing his track position because of the additional pit stop. “In my head, I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be a really tall task to try to get back up there,’ because no one could pass anybody all day. It was super tough. Luckily, I knew we were going to have to get creative, and we did, and that’s just a good job by [crew chief Jonathan Hassler].”

Blaney ended the second stage in the 20th position, but the car started coming around. The creativity came when Hassler called for two tires going into the final stage, which jumped the team into eighth place.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1430]

“I thought it just took a little bit to get back up [there], and the two-tire call was a good call,” Blaney said. “We were able to hang decent and all that. And then I was proud of our pace. Our pace after the green flag stop was really good. We went from 10th and got to fifth and then was all over the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and just kind of used my stuff up getting there, and you get hit traffic and slow down 0.3s.”

Once inside the top 10 with track position, Blaney never fell behind again. It was just a tougher day than anticipated after he dominated and won at Martinsville Speedway in the fall.

“We changed some stuff up a little bit just trying to learn and evolve, and it was a little bit different package, too,” Blaney said. “But I was kind of that way in practice yesterday; felt the same, and we just didn’t adjust enough for the race.

“The temperature was fairly similar to the fall, but a little bit different package, and we tried some new things. Just trying to learn for [this] fall.”

Blaney was running fifth when the final caution came out with three laps to go. The leaders stayed on track, and Blaney chose the outside lane, which put him fourth for the restart. He lost a spot to Bubba Wallace in the final two laps.

“I didn’t think we were very good early and struggled, and then was going to have a loose wheel and had to come back pit road and just kind of weren’t going anywhere,” Blaney said. “Jonathan made a good call to put two tires on it, kind of established us, and then the green flag run, I was pretty good. I drove up from 10th all the way to fifth.

“That [last] restart, I thought I was going to be able to clear the No. 5 (Kyle Larson) and the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) got in there and checked up hard in the middle of [Turns] 1 and 2, and I bumped into him. But overall, really proud of the effort. [It was an] up and down day, and it’s nice to end it with some pace. That’s nice.”

Byron leads home dream Hendrick anniversary win at Martinsville

William Byron has a penchant for milestones, and in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, he got another. Last year Byron picked up the 300th NASCAR Cup Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway. On Sunday, in a race …

William Byron has a penchant for milestones, and in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, he got another.

Last year Byron picked up the 300th NASCAR Cup Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway.

On Sunday, in a race that went to overtime, Byron led an unprecedented 1-2-3 finish for owner Rick Hendrick at the 0.526-mile short track, as the organization celebrated its 40th anniversary in NASCAR’s premier division.

In front of a throng of employees and supporters gathered in tents overlooking Turn 2, Hendrick became the only organization to sweep the podium positions in a Cup race at Martinsville. Byron’s victory was the 29th for Hendrick Motorsports at the track, most for an organization at a single NASCAR venue.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“Just so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” Byron said. “Grew up a big Hendrick fan. To be here for the 40th anniversary, all that goes into just this organization, all the people, it’s all about the people. Just want to thank Mr. Hendrick and (wife) Linda and everyone involved.

“It’s pretty awesome…to win at Martinsville. We’ve been struggling at the short tracks. Just kept inching up on it. I’ve got a great team. They just kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart there at the end like that, but that’s the way it goes.”

An early green-flag pit stop proved the difference for the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, who earned his third victory of the season, his second at Martinsville and the 13th of his career.

With Denny Hamlin in the lead, crew chief Rudy Fugle called Byron to pit road on lap 297 as the first of the lead-lap drivers to get fuel and fresh tires. Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson, the pole winner, and Chase Elliott followed a lap later.

The early stops allowed the Hendrick drivers to leap-frog Hamlin, who pitted on lap 299 and could not advance past the fourth position before caution for John Hunter Nemechek’s accident in Turn 4 on lap 398 of 400 sent the event to overtime.

On lap 310, Byron passed Elliott for the ninth position, and as the drivers ahead of him made pit stops, he worked his way forward, passing Daniel Suarez for the lead on lap 327 before Suarez came to pit road.

Byron led the next 86 laps, and after Elliott was credited with leading lap 413 at the overtime restart, Byron surged ahead for the final two circuits and crossed the finish line 0.550s ahead of Larson.

“Congrats to William,” said Larson, who won the first 80-lap stage wire-to-wire. “He did a really good job. Kind of schooled us all there after that green flag stop. Did a really good job passing all of us. He was able to set a good pace, still get through traffic good.

“My car felt really good. I think we were all kind of the same speed, honestly. Just lost a little bit of track position there in the second stage. Was never able to overcome it.”

Byron held a lead of more than 2s before the fifth and final caution of the race. On the overtime restart, he survived a bump from Elliott, who slipped to third behind Larson at the finish.

Bubba Wallace ran fourth, followed by reigning series champion Ryan Blaney. Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10. Hamlin pitted for fresh tires before the overtime, restarted 10th and came home 11th.

“We were just trying to do anything we could to steal one with our Sport Clips Toyota,” Hamlin said. “The tires didn’t wear enough to matter. We saw that when Joey (Logano) stayed out on those 80-lap lefts and led most of the [second] stage.

“Tires didn’t wear, and we just struggled to pass all day. Once I came out of that cycle, third or fourth, that’s kind of just where I stayed.”

Larson, who led 86 laps, took over the series lead by 14 points over Martin Truex Jr., who finished 18th on Sunday, and by 17 over Hamlin.

The only negative aspect of the Hendrick party was the absence of the team owner, who underwent knee replacement surgery and couldn’t attend. But NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon was there to serve as grand marshal and represent the organization.

“These guys, these three guys, as well as Bowman, they drove their butts off,” Gordon said. “How about that William Byron, the No. 24 car? Every time we have a milestone day or opportunity or moment, he steps up.

“He got number 300. This is going to be a huge win for him and the whole organization.”

RESULTS

Almirola claims emotional Xfinity victory at Martinsville

With a dramatic victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, Aric Almirola removed an asterisk from his career record and collected a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the process. With considerable help-perhaps unintentional-from Joe Gibbs Racing …

With a dramatic victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, Aric Almirola removed an asterisk from his career record and collected a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the process.

With considerable help—perhaps unintentional—from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed after an overtime restart, Almirola grabbed the lead from Sam Mayer and won the DUDE Wipes 250 under caution when Riley Herbst, pole winner Brandon Jones and Ryan Ellis wrecked in Turn 2 on the final lap.

 

The victory was Almirola’s first since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition and rejoining Joe Gibbs Racing this season. The record book will show that the driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota has five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins to his credit, but Almirola has always considered his first one tainted.

In 2007, he won the pole at the Milwaukee Mile and started the race but turned the car over to Denny Hamlin, who was late in his commute from a Cup date at Sonoma Raceway. Hamlin won the race, but Almirola got credit for the victory as the driver of record.

“Man, this is so awesome,” Almirola said. “To win for Joe Gibbs Racing… I’ve had an asterisk next to a win for Coach (Joe Gibbs) for 17 years, and this is so awesome to finally put a real win banner up inside the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Coach for calling me and giving me this opportunity to have some fun and still scratch the itch of racing but still get to spend a lot of time with our family.”

Though Almirola led 148 of 251 laps, the outcome was in doubt until he took command after the final restart. Race runner-up Sam Mayer held the lead at that point, but when Almirola’s JGR teammate Sheldon Creed took Almirola and Mayer three-wide in Turn 2 on the penultimate lap, contact slowed Mayer’s progress and allowed Almirola to break clear for the lead.

“Man, those restarts here are just ruthless,” said Mayer, who wrested the top spot from Almirola on lap 243, moments before a five-car pileup on the frontstretch caused the 10th caution of the race.

“Painful. Obviously, the No. 20 was really, really good today. It was good that I was able to keep up and be as fast as them and pass all those JGR cars there at the end and march up to the front. That’s the first time I’ve done that here…

“But at the end of the day, we needed a ‘W,’ and I got one I feel like stolen from me there a little bit.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Mayer’s pass on lap 243 was one of four lead changes over the final 12 laps. On lap 239, JGR’s Chandler Smith, who started from the back of the field after crashing in practice on Friday, muscled past Almirola, who returned the favor by moving his teammate into the top lane for a pass on lap 241.

“Chandler, I felt like used me up pretty good, so when I got back to him, I was going to make sure he knew it,” Almirola said. “From there the race was on. Mayer did a great job of getting to me and moving me out of the way.

“And then on that restart I knew it was going to be tough. I was really thankful to be able to hold on to it. They drilled me in the left rear, and I was able to hold on to it and get a good run off (Turn) 2.”

Smith ran third, followed by Carson Kvapil, who finished fourth in his Xfinity Series debut. Justin Allgaier came home fifth after starting from the rear. Creed, Sammy Smith, Cole Custer, Sunoco rookie Jesse Love and Josh Williams completed the top 10.

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was 11th in his first trip to Martinsville.

Almirola won the Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers. Since he is not competing at Texas next weekend, the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in Fort Worth are Mayer, Smith, Allgaier and Creed.

RESULTS

Larson rockets to Martinsville pole, barely edging Wallace

Kyle Larson barely nipped Bubba Wallace for the pole in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying Saturday evening at Martinsville Speedway. Larson, the final driver to make a qualifying lap, won the pole in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at 96.034mph …

Kyle Larson barely nipped Bubba Wallace for the pole in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying Saturday evening at Martinsville Speedway.

Larson, the final driver to make a qualifying lap, won the pole in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at 96.034mph (19.718s). It’s his second pole at Martinsville Speedway, where he won a year ago.

Hendrick Motorsports is chasing its 29th victory at Martinsville Speedway in its 40th anniversary race.

Wallace will start second. The fastest lap for the 23XI Racing driver was 96.029mph (19.719s).

Chase Elliott qualified third (95.869mph), Martin Truex Jr., fourth (95.864mph) and Chase Briscoe, fifth (95.830mph). It’s the best qualifying effort for Briscoe this season.

Joey Logano qualified sixth (95.811mph), Josh Berry, seventh (95.806mph), Denny Hamlin, eighth (95.738mph), Ryan Blaney, ninth (95.559mph) and Alex Bowman, 10th (95.487mph).

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Outside the top 10 sat Kyle Busch in 11th and Ross Chastain, 12th. Brad Keselowski qualified 13th, Austin Cindric, 14th, and Ty Gibbs, 15th.

The fourth Hendrick Motorsports driver, William Byron, qualified 18th. Byron’s fastest lap was 94.946mph.

Christopher Bell qualified 20th, Noah Gragson, 26th, Austin Dillon, 28th, and John Hunter Nemechek, 29th. Corey LaJoie, who was fastest in practice, qualified 32nd.

Josh Williams qualified 33rd in the No. 16 for Kaulig Racing. David Starr starts last, 37th.

NEXT: Cook Out 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

RESULTS

LaJoie paces Cup Series practice at Martinsville

Corey LaJoie was fastest overall in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway with a lap of 94.585mph (20.020s). The Spire Motorsports driver laid down his best time on his third lap of practice and ran a total of 44 laps. Bubba …

Corey LaJoie was fastest overall in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway with a lap of 94.585mph (20.020s). The Spire Motorsports driver laid down his best time on his third lap of practice and ran a total of 44 laps.

Bubba Wallace was second fastest at 94.383mph and Ryan Preece was third at 94.265mph. Alex Bowman was fourth at 94.195mph and Martin Truex Jr. was fifth at 94.181mph.

William Byron ran sixth fastest at 94.092mph, Todd Gilliland was seventh at 94.017mph, Austin Cindric, eighth at 94.008mph, Ryan Blaney, ninth at 93.994mph and Christopher Bell, 10th at 93.980mph.

Blaney is the most recent winner at Martinsville. A triumph in the fall race propelled him into the title race where he claimed his first championship.

Kyle Larson, the defending spring race winner, was 16th fastest. Larson’s lap was 93.738mph.

A week removed from his second victory of the season, Denny Hamlin was 18th fastest. Hamlin ran 93.706mph.

Austin Dillon was 20th fastest at 93.636mph. Dillon enters Martinsville with Justin Alexander once again his crew chief after Alexander replaced Keith Rodden earlier this week.

There were no incidents in practice.

There are 37 drivers entered in the Cook Out 400. In addition to the 36 charter teams, David Starr is entered in the No. 66 for MBM Motorsports.

RESULTS

NASCAR debut a long time coming for Waters

An opportunity a year in the making comes to fruition on Friday night at Martinsville Speedway when Cam Waters makes his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck series with ThorSport Racing. Waters visited the same track a year ago, which further …

An opportunity a year in the making comes to fruition on Friday night at Martinsville Speedway when Cam Waters makes his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck series with ThorSport Racing.

Waters visited the same track a year ago, which further sparked his interest in a sport he’s followed for a long time. A Ford Mustang driver in Australian Supercars for Tickford Racing, Waters will be in ThorSport Racing’s No. 66 Ford F-150 at Martinsville Speedway. He is the third Australian Supercars driver to enter a NASCAR race in less than a year, even though no one knew Waters had been working on this deal long before Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki arrived on the scene.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time,” Waters said. “Shane [van Gisbergen] was super lucky with how his stuff came together and I was super happy for him and how Chicago went was obviously amazing. For me, it’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and it’s just great to finally be able to pull something together and do this race.”

Unlike van Gisbergen and Kostecki who made their debuts in a Cup series car, Waters is doing so in a truck. NASCAR took inspiration for its Next Gen car from sports cars and Australian Supercars, but Waters felt the truck is the best way to learn and said he prefers truck racing.

“I went to Martinsville 12 months ago and I’ve done a lot of dirt oval stuff, small stuff in Australia,” Waters said, “so for me, I wanted to experience oval racing and the truck was probably the perfect opportunity to come over here and do a short oval and get racing.”

Waters didn’t deny he’d like to come to NASCAR full-time one day, but noted he has a “pretty cool thing” going in Australia. NASCAR will be a different experience when it comes to oval pavement racing but Waters has a background in sprint cars, late models and modifieds on dirt ovals. While he’ll have a better answer after the weekend, Waters anticipates that his sprint car experience of having to search for grip and trying different lanes will translate to his NASCAR debut.

Upon arriving in the United States late last week, Waters spent time at the ThorSport Racing shop in Sandusky, Ohio, for a seat fitting. It was a race shop that he was blown away by for its size. A road trip to Charlotte brought him to the Ford tech center for simulator work.

“I think Friday night, if we can keep the truck clean and take in as much as I can, I think that’d be good,” Waters said. “I’ve kind of got no expectations. I don’t really know how I’m going to go. It’s going to be kind of jumping in the deep end, so to speak, with the limited practice and not being able to drive the truck beforehand. Right now, this is the only thing we’ve got set in stone.

“It’s kind of hard with my schedule in Australia. I’m going after a championship over there. This race fit in pretty perfectly between AGP and Telpo to fit in a race. I really just need to get through this weekend and see how we go and go home, go to New Zealand, and try to win some races over there to get my Supercar championship back on track.”

Waters will be on track at Martinsville for practice on Friday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, FS1) followed by qualifying. The green flag is set for after 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1).

Hendrick’s milestone at Martinsville – the track that saved the team

Rick Hendrick had no plans to be at Martinsville Speedway for the Cup Series race at the track on April 29, 1984. The first-year NASCAR team owner had already decided that his organization wasn’t fit to make it in the sport. Hendrick didn’t have the …

Rick Hendrick had no plans to be at Martinsville Speedway for the Cup Series race at the track on April 29, 1984. The first-year NASCAR team owner had already decided that his organization wasn’t fit to make it in the sport. Hendrick didn’t have the funding to keep going no matter how he did the math and was making plans to shut the doors of what was then called All-Star Racing in the early weeks of April.

But when Hendrick told driver Geoff Bodine and crew chief Harry Hyde, the duo asked for more time. The race at Martinsville was approaching, and Bodine loved the Virginia short track, where he’d won in modified and late models. If given the chance, Bodine and Hyde were confident they could make something happen in the Cup Series car.

The team went to Martinsville. Bodine won the race and, ironically, Hendrick wasn’t there because he and his wife Linda were at a church event in North Carolina.

Martinsville 1984 was a timely breakthrough for Geoff Bodine and what would evolve into one of NASCAR’s greatest teams ever. Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports

It can be said with sincerity that the rest was history for Hendrick. The operation not only kept going for the rest of the ’84 season, in which Bodine won twice more, but today is the winningest organization in NASCAR Cup Series history with 304 victories and 14 championships.

“There’s a lot of stories around this place; that one has been pretty prevalent,” longtime Hendrick crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “(Rick) has been pretty vocal about that. I think he’s always used that as good perspective. The message I always took away from that is if he would have quit and not gone to that last race, this doesn’t exist. So, when you use that on a weekly basis and say, yeah, you race a lot of races and it becomes monotonous, but you never know what race is going to be the paramount one or the most important of your season. Or, in this case, the history of the company.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that story a lot. Probably since I started.”

Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports will celebrate its 40th anniversary at Martinsville Speedway. All four drivers will run ruby red (the color of a 40th anniversary) paint schemes, Bodine and Jeff Gordon will serve as co-grand marshals, and Rick Hendrick will be the pace car driver. There will be plenty of that activation and acknowledgment of the milestone around the weekend (Bodine’s car will be on display) as it becomes a Hendrick Motorsports takeover.

How it all started is now well-known around the NASCAR industry. And for those within the walls of Hendrick Motorsports, no matter when they joined the company.

“I’ve heard the story a lot, for sure,” Alex Bowman said. “Ever since I’ve been here, it’s something that gets talked about quite often. It’s special to win there with HMS and just to kind of learn the history of this company and to build that relationship with Rick … and see the highs and lows of the company at that place. It’s definitely an important place in this company’s history.

“To have the 40th-anniversary race (there), I think it’s a really special place for it. It’s going to be really cool.”

Bowman joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2016 as the substitute driver for an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. He turned it into a full-time ride in 2018 and in 2021, Bowman won at Martinsville for the first time driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

After Bodine got that first Martinsville victory there have been 27 more since then. It’s where Hendrick Motorsports has won the most of any racetrack (Dover is the second-closet at 22 victories).

Gordon won at Martinsville nine times during his Hall of Fame career, including his final Cup Series victory in the fall of 2015. He also had some classic battles with teammate Jimmie Johnson there. Johnson also won at Martinsville nine times in his Hall of Fame career.

Martinsville hosted many of the legendary duels between Hendrick teammates Johnson and Gordon, like this one in 2004. Robert LeSieur/Motorsport Images

The four current Hendrick Motorsports drivers have one win each at Martinsville Speedway. It’s only fitting that each one of those victories came as a Hendrick Motorsports driver (Chase Elliott 2020; Alex Bowman 2021; William Byron 2022; Kyle Larson 2023).

“I’ve certainly learned more about (Bodine’s win) as we’ve talked about the 40th (anniversary) and all those things,” Elliott said. “The coolest thing that I’ve learned about it is just how close Rick was to being done. From me reading between the lines, I think he was pretty close to pulling the plug.

“He was kind of over it and things weren’t going well — they weren’t running as well as they wanted to run, and he just didn’t think he wanted to keep spending money on it. I think that win was the thing that propelled and motivated them to keep going. So, I’m glad they won for all of our sake.”

Today, Bodine’s winning car resides in the museum on the Hendrick Motorsports campus. Byron, who moved into the Cup Series driving a Hendrick Motorsports car in 2018, has seen it there, and the importance of the car comes up whenever milestones are talked about within the company. He said it gets talked about more and more over the years.

The history of Hendrick Motorsports will forever be tied to Martinsville Speedway and the spring 1984 race. All of the success that’s followed — in NASCAR and at Martinsville — started from a race that a driver and crew chief had to advocate to compete in.

However, the story of Hendrick Motorsports cannot be told without including the darkest day in its history. One that is also tied to Martinsville Speedway.

Rick Hendrick lost family, friends and employees on Oct. 24, 2004, when the company’s Beechcraft Super King Air 200 crashed into Bull Mountain in Virginia on the way to the racetrack. There were no survivors.

On the plane were Hendrick’s son Ricky, nieces Kimberly and Jennifer, brother John, team general manager Jeff Turner, engine builder Randy Dorton, pilots Dick Tracy and Liz Morrison, Tony Stewart’s pilot Scott Latham and DuPont executive Joe Jackson. NASCAR informed the Hendrick Motorsports teams of the crash when the race concluded, which was won by Jimmie Johnson. There was no post-race celebration.

“I think I was aware of it all both on the good side and the tragic side of what Martinsville has meant to Hendrick Motorsports and their family,” Larson said. “But once I got here, you get to firsthand see how important that place is almost more than any other racetrack on the circuit. I think you understand that there’s not more pressure when you go there, but the meaning behind winning there just means more to this organization than I think it would to any other team and rightfully so.

“I’m excited to get there. Hendrick is taking over the facility, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully one of us four (drivers) can have a really good race and win there on a special day.”

Sunday’s celebration event will be the 375th race for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville Speedway.

“There’s a lot of emotions that come with Martinsville for the boss and rightfully so,” Elliott said. “I couldn’t imagine. It’s been a place that has had a lot of highs and certainly the lowest of lows. I think now, you just try to honor the folks that we lost as best we can and try to carry forward things as they would want them to be.”

Pressure of expectations ‘up to 10’ – Bowman

The question to Alex Bowman was about the pressure to deliver for Hendrick Motorsports in its 40th-anniversary race next month at Martinsville Speedway. Bowman’s answer, however, centered on more than just one race. “It’s really important for the …

The question to Alex Bowman was about the pressure to deliver for Hendrick Motorsports in its 40th-anniversary race next month at Martinsville Speedway. Bowman’s answer, however, centered on more than just one race.

“It’s really important for the company,” Bowman said Tuesday during a media event promoting the April 7 event. “It means a lot to everybody here, and I want to win that race. But that’s every week for me right now, with how things have gone. So, yeah, pressure is up to 10 at every moment.”

Hendrick Motorsports will be the center of attention at Martinsville, where Geoff Bodine’s victory in the spring of 1984 kept Rick Hendrick from closing down his first-year operation because it was taking more money and resources than Hendrick had anticipated. But the victory, the first for Hendrick in the NASCAR Cup Series, kept the company afloat and Bodine went on to win twice more that season.

The rest, as they say, is history. Hendrick Motorsports is now the winningest organization in the Cup Series.

All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers will all have special ruby red paint schemes at Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Gordon and Bodine are the co-grand marshals. Rick Hendrick is driving the pace car ahead of the Cook Out 400.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

While Bowman is a former Martinsville Speedway winner, another one is sorely needed for the No. 48 team.

“It’s more just wanting to win and wanting to get back to performing how I know we can,” Bowman said. “Selfishly, I don’t really care what other people think. I don’t want only to win races because I drive for Hendrick Motorsports, I want to win races for me. I want the trophies for me.

“I don’t really give a (expletive) about the rest of it. Running how we have has been so frustrating. I’ve worked super hard and done everything that I can to get back to where we need to be. So, I don’t feel outside pressure, it’s just me wanting to win for me.”

It’s not a matter of Bowman thinking about job security.

“No, definitely not,” Bowman said. “Mr. Hendrick and [primary sponsor] Ally have made it super clear that they have faith in me. I don’t think the outside sometimes sees the whole picture of everything that’s going on. We’ve fought a lot of different things, and I think we’re all doing everything we can to get better.”

Bowman has not won since the 2022 spring race in Las Vegas. This time a year ago, Bowman was leading the Cup Series point standings and looked poised to win sooner rather than later. But then Bowman broke his back in a sprint car crash in late April and the season was derailed. The team never showed the same strength from early in the season when Bowman returned.

Through the first five races of the 2024 season, Bowman is 12th in the standings with two top-10 finishes. Bowman’s crew chief, Blake Harris, has a sentiment similar to that of his driver. As the leader of the race team, Harris has focused on making sure everyone resets each weekend and accept that sometimes a race will fall their way and sometimes it won’t.

“Last year, it was obvious with the things we had to fight,” Harris said. “But this year we go to Las Vegas, one of his stronger tracks and I’m like, ‘Man, we’re going to go execute and have a good day.’ We had a not-great stop there in the middle of the race that set us back and we didn’t qualify well. We had to come up through the field twice, and it was just like a gut punch, one after another.

“We go to Phoenix and drive up to eighth; the cautions fell and we go back to 20th again and it’s like, ‘Man, what do we have to do to get momentum?’ Then we take a race that’s complete chaos (Bristol), qualify 29th, have everything in front of us not to have a great day, and we were able to overcome that and drive up inside the top 10 and get a top five out of it.”

“It’s frustrating,” Harris continued. “I want to sit on the pole and win every race and we haven’t been able to do that. We’ve got to continue to grow and execute with our group and not let the frustration carry over to the next week because we’re fully capable. We had a really good race car last weekend and regardless of how bad on paper Phoenix or Vegas looked or us, nothing held us back from being able to go compete at Bristol at the level that we did. I think we can do that every week.”

Bowman and crew chief Harris acknowledge the frustration of having under-delivered thus far, but both feel success has been hovering just out of reach. Rusty Jarrett/Motorsport Images

Harris was paired with Bowman in 2022 when signed by Hendrick Motorsports. It was his second year being a Cup Series crew chief and with a smile, he admitted he would have scripted his first few seasons differently. However, he’s still grateful for the opportunity, the resources and the people behind the team. And, in the combination of himself and Bowman.

“I love working with him,” Harris said. “No, it hasn’t gone the way we’ve wanted, but we’ve had opportunities to win races. We might not be where we want to be every week, but we’ve had plenty of times we’ve been in the mix, and things just haven’t fallen our way. When it does click and it does go our way, I think it’ll be fine, and we can get on a roll.”

Bowman is eager for the team’s capabilities to turn into consistent results — at Martinsville Speedway and elsewhere.

“We’re doing all we can to get back to where we need to be, but the potential is definitely there,” Bowman said. “I think Blake and I work well together, and everybody gives us all the tools we need to be successful. It’s just been a rough go of it. There’s no reason why we can’t turn it around.”