2024 Cook Out 400: William Byron Honors Rick Hendrick’s 40-Year NASCAR Legacy Amidst HMS’ Historic Martinsville Finish

It is no secret how Toyota has enjoyed a good time at the short tracks this season. However, with the 2024 Cook Out 400 at Martinsville, Chevrolet dramatically wrote the headlines. William Byron cruised to a memorable victory. It was not just his third victory of the campaign but a significant one in the history of Hendrick Motorsports.

The legendary Cup Series giants are celebrating their 40th anniversary this week. While Byron handed the team the perfect gift, even his teammates weren’t far behind.

William Byron continues his on-track dominance in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series

After registering his third victory of the season, William Byron continued his stellar form in the 2024 campaign. In a season where the likes of Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and some other big names have found it difficult to succeed, Byron has made it look effortlessly easy.

On Sunday, Kyle Larson started the race with the pole position. The Hendrick Motorsports driver who was competing in his 19th race at Martinsville, dominated in the early phase of the race without slipping up his lead. Even his teammate William Byron registered an impressive start as he rose to P9 on the 45th lap after starting P18.

Interestingly, for the first 50 laps, there was no change in the top five. Kyle Larson dominated the proceedings followed by Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, and Martin Truex Jr. At the same time, Byron’s impressive run continued as he jumped to P8 in the 59th lap.

Eventually, Larson ended up as the Stage 1 winner despite a strong fight from Bubba Wallace. On the other hand, the first stage proved to be disappointing for the defending champion, Ryan Blaney. After starting P9, the Team Penske driver finished Stage 1 at P12. The car’s technical issues played a crucial role in the #12 driver’s on-track struggles on Sunday.

While Blaney struggled, the HMS drivers continued their dominance at the end of Stage 1. With Kyle Larson leading all 80 laps, and his teammates Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman finishing third, eighth, and 11th respectively, Rick Hendrick couldn’t have asked for more. The stage victory was Larson’s first-ever at Martinsville.

While Stage 1 didn’t offer much change in the lineup, the second stage changed the dynamics. After many drivers opted to pit early in Stage 2, Joey Logano took the lead after the restart. On the other hand, things weren’t going right for Christopher Bell.

In the 110th lap, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was found on the pit road with a right tire issue. This resulted in a caution and Bell losing three laps. Even Ryan Blaney had to pit for the second time in Stage 2 because of a left rear lug issue and other desired adjustments.

While that was the case with a few cars, Hendrick Motorsports continued looking impressive on the 0.526-mile oval. In the 122nd lap, all of their four cars ran fourth to seventh. Unfortunately for them, Logano looked good with his two-tire pit strategy as he caught the tail end of the field in the 149th lap.

However, the star of the Stage 2 turned out to be Denny Hamlin. With two wins already this season, he looked in great form. While he looked dangerous when he passed Bubba Wallace in the 163rd lap, it only got better when he surpassed leader Joey Logano in the 170th lap.

Eventually, Hamlin successfully kept his lead and won Stage 2. Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano followed him in the top five. Logano’s two-tire strategy didn’t work out well at the end of the second stage as he struggled to keep up the pace.

The stage win was Denny Hamlin’s seventh career stage win at the Martinsville Speedway. While Hamlin showed great skills to be victorious in Stage 2, he struggled to keep the lead after the pit stop restart in Stage 3. Chase Elliott, who has won once at Martinsville, passed Hamlin just moments into the final stage.

While it was good news for the Elliott fans, Christopher Bell fans struggled with his fortunes on Sunday. In the 203rd lap, Bell spun in Turn 4 running P36. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a caution. Most certainly, the #20 team had a day to forget at Martinsville on Sunday.

On the other hand, the battle for the lead continued strongly. Despite multiple attempts from Hamlin to pass Elliott, the Hendrick Motorsports driver stayed strong to preserve his lead. However, things changed with 142 laps left in the race. Surprisingly, only Hamlin looked impressive for Joe Gibbs Racing as his teammates struggled to even compete in the top ten.

Having said that, after the green flag pit stop in the 297th lap, the narrative changed once again. William Byron was in command with 70 laps remaining in the race. Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson followed him showcasing utter dominance from Hendrick Motorsports. Prior to the race, HMS registered 28 Cup Series wins at Martinsville.

Byron, who has been in scintillating form this season, looked uncatchable with his lead. However, things got tricky for him when the race went into overtime after a caution was raised with John Hunter Nemechek reporting a failure. Fortunately, Byron kept his nerve and ensured a well-deserved victory at Martinsville on Sunday.

The win was the #24 driver’s second victory at the 0.526-mile track. Interestingly, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson finished second and third, registering an incredible finish for Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday. Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney followed them to make it to the top five.

While the race lacked as much energy as the other races earlier in the season, it turned out to be a milestone moment for Hendrick Motorsports. They got a 1-2-3 finish on Sunday, something no other team has ever achieved at Martinsville Speedway.

READ MORE: The Reason Behind William Byron’s Unprecedented Success in the Last Two Seasons

The Cup Series giants now have 29 victories at the 0.526-mile track with nine different drivers heading to victory lane. Understandably, William Byron looked ecstatic after this achievement.

William Byron steps up once again for Hendrick Motorsports as he shines bright at Martinsville Speedway

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What Hendrick Motorsports is to NASCAR isn’t something that can be explained in a few words. Having been part of the sport for 40 long years speaks volumes of the team’s greatness. Undoubtedly, William Byron did a huge favor by winning at the sport’s oldest venue to celebrate HMS’ 40th anniversary.

Interestingly, this was the 305th victory for Rick Hendrick’s team. It was certainly a pity how Mr. Rick and Mrs. Linda Hendrick couldn’t attend the race on Sunday. However, Byron didn’t miss out on giving his regards to them after the race. He said, “I just want to thank Chase for racing me clean there, it could get really physical at the end, but he gave me a shot, which is expected but we all finished it off. “

Further, Byron said, “So just so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, grew up a big Hendrick Motorsports fan, and to be here for the 40th anniversary and all that goes into just this organization – all the people, it’s all about the people. Just wanna thank Mr Hendrick, Linda, and everyone involved.”

Without a doubt, this win would remain in the memory of the HMS faithful for a long time. In addition to the multiple records Byron broke on Sunday, he became the first driver to win three out of the first eight races after Kyle Busch achieved it in 2017. Now, it remains to be seen how the #24 driver takes it from here in the coming races.

READ MORE: William Byron Drops More Hints at Collaboration with Nearly $14 Billion Worth Sponsor And Fans Can’t Hold Back