The 2024 NASCAR season marked the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsport (HMS). Just started with five full-time employees in 1984, HMS has come a long way to become the most successful squad of the series. Rick Hendrick’s squad has won 339 races, and 16 driver championships through all three series.

HMS is also known for producing some great drivers and cars. Over the time they have been piloted by drivers like Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Among them, Jeff Gordon has been a most successful driver for HMS, with 93 wins in his iconic number 24 car.

Rick Hendrick prodigy William Byron now carries the legacy of the iconic No. 24 car. He has arguably been the best driver for HMS in the next-generation era. Byron has won 11 races since the start of the Next-Gen era, but his most iconic win came at the Daytona 500 this year. This victory was not only his first crown jewel win, but also drew bold praise from Gordon.

A memorable win for HMS

Hendrick Motorsports and William Byron entered the 2024 Daytona 500 with a milestone in mind. However, the week didn’t start well for Byron, as a crash with Kyle Busch pushed him out of Thursday’s practice. Poor weather conditions cancelled the Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s race.

When everything felt like a setback, Byron had some other plans. On Monday, Byron consistently performed well by being inside the top 10 in both stages. However, the table turned in the final stage when a crash pushed Byron ahead in the pack. He eventually won the race after a hard wheel-to-wheel fight with Ross Chastain.

After the race, Gordon praised Byron and called him a superstar. He had said, “He was already a superstar. He just went to another level of being a superstar.” Gordon’s comments also displayed how high Byron is ranked in his team. In the 2023 season, Byron made it to Championship 4 with six race wins.

Byron kicked off a milestone season with a memorable win, which very few saw coming. This also ended HMS’s nine-year-long dry spell at the track. They had their last Daytona 500 win in 2014 with Earnhardt Jr. Speaking about it, team owner Rick Hendrick had said, “You couldn’t write the script any better: 24 in ’24. When we thought about coming down here the first time (in 1984) we didn’t think we should be here and felt so out of place.”

William Byron’s meteoric journey in NASCAR

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William Byron is set to enter his seventh season with Hendrick Motorsports. He is one of the most popular young drivers in NASCAR. After dominating at the grassroots levels, Byron got his first big opportunity in 2015 when Kyle Busch Motorsports allowed him to drive in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

In the 2016 season, Byron delivered some amazing performances. He won seven races, joint most wins in a season, and finished in the top 5 on eleven occasions. However, he had heartbreak when an engine failure eliminated him from the championship battle. Despite this setback, Byron earned a Rookie of the Year award before moving to Xfinity with Hendrick Motorsports.

Byron continued his dominance in the Xfinity Series, too. He won back-to-back races at Lowa and Daytona and earned three wins within the first five races. With a win at Phoenix, Byron ended his rookie season as champion. Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports graduated him to the NASCAR Cup Series as he got the iconic number 24 car. In 2018, he started his journey in NASCAR’s premier series and since then has been a fan favorite. With some amazing performances under his belt, will Byron be able to fill the big shoes of Jeff Gordon?