Kyle Larson couldn’t believe what he saw in front of him during overtime on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. “I was surprised, honestly, how physical it looked up in front of me,” Larson said. “I was very shocked and selfishly was hoping they were …
Kyle Larson couldn’t believe what he saw in front of him during overtime on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
“I was surprised, honestly, how physical it looked up in front of me,” Larson said. “I was very shocked and selfishly was hoping they were going to wash up the track some more and let me get into the battle a little bit.
“But I think we all understood what this day meant for the company and we were going to race hard but fairly, and that’s what we saw.”
The drivers Larson was referring to were two of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Hendrick Motorsports was celebrating its 40th anniversary and, in storybook fashion, was in a position to have one of its drivers cap it off in victory lane.
William Byron and Chase Elliott made up the front row for the final restart in the Cook Out 400 with Larson behind them in third. Byron finally shook off Elliott’s challenge coming to the white flag and drove to victory. Larson also managed to put the driver of the No. 9 behind him.
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“I thought for sure I may have a shot,” Larson said. “I didn’t know how aggressive those two were going to be in front of me and they were really aggressive. I thought if it got crazy, I could have an opening to squeeze by, but I was (only) able to get one spot.
“So, I’m happy to finish second (and) happy to have a 1-2-3 for Hendrick.”
Considering how they dominated the race and the storylines, it was fitting that the day ended with a Hendrick Motorsports podium sweep. Byron led a race-high 88 laps on his way to winning, while Larson won the pole, led 86 laps, and won the first stage.
Larson led every lap in the first stage but lost control of the race when Joey Logano took two tires and beat everyone off pit road. On older tires, Logano led 84 laps and Larson, once in traffic, never got back to the lead the rest of the afternoon.
“I had a bad restart there,” Larson said. “I was really tight for a handful of laps and fell back to fourth. I wasn’t surprised that Joey hung on because we’ve seen it work in the past, and Joey is probably the best at doing that – fighting to stay up there on older tires. So, I was surprised, but I was hoping that we were going to have a better restart and then a better pit stop that next time.
“But just being around this corner (on pit road), I think it’s hard for the pit crew to see when I’m coming, and they were a little bit late coming (off the wall). So, we were just a little bit slow then and didn’t gain a position there that next time. So, yeah, I just kind of hung out there the rest of the race.
“It’s tough. It’s really tough to pass. But William did a good job. There was guys who could pass … but for the rest of us, it was really difficult.”
Elliott led 64 laps and Alex Bowman also ran in the top 10 and finished eighth.
“It was a solid day for us, for sure,” Elliott said. “It was nice to lead laps; certainly fell off a little more than I wanted to there at the end of those runs. I just struggled with traffic a little more than I should have. But I thought our car was close. The pit stops were really good. Most of the restarts went well.
“That last one, I had hurt the rear tires so bad on that run before I was really worried about getting going and having enough grip to make it work. But nonetheless, I’m happy for William, happy for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.
“It’s really special to have all of our folks here or a lot of them and their families. I hate Rick and Linda couldn’t be here today, but certainly happy and proud to be a part of the organization and ultimately their family.”
Byron and Elliott were side-by-side through Turns 1 and 2 on the restart. Byron cleared Elliott off the corner, but Elliott admittedly tried to “root” Byron off the bottom in Turn 3 but couldn’t get the power down to complete the move. On the final lap, Elliott drove hard into Turn 1 and tried to diamond the corner but couldn’t make that stick either.
“I felt pretty good that one of us was going to win the race unless we crashed each other,” Elliott said. “Which I wasn’t going to crash him. I wasn’t worried about me crashing him, I don’t know about the rest of them. But I wasn’t worried about that.
“I gave him a shot, tried to win the race and it didn’t work out. But one of us won it and the ifs ands, buts, don’t really matter at this point. William was able to get it done, and we got a nice 1-2-3 for HMS.”
Sunday was the 29th victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville Speedway. The day started with Jeff Gordon and Geoff Bodine giving the command. Bodine, of course, won at Martinsville Speedway in April 1984, which kept Rick Hendrick from shuttering the team.
“It was a huge, huge day for Hendrick Motorsports and I’m just really, really happy for the Hendrick family, everybody who’s been involved in this company from the beginning,” Larson said. “There were 1,500 people here off Turn 2 from Hendrick Motorsports and their families today. So, I knew us four guys were going to have a shot at a good run but I didn’t know that we’d run 1-2-3, so that’s really special.
“I’m happy. I’m happy for William. He did a really good job executing that green flag cycle and carving his way through the guys in front of him to get the lead. So, he deserved to win, and he did a great job.”
