When Rick Hendrick oversaw his first Daytona 500 as a team owner in 1984, he wasn’t sure he belonged there. Seeing the likes of Bud Moore, Junior Johnson and the Pettys on the track left him feeling out of place. “I didn’t feel like I should be in that room,” he said. 40 years later, he saw William Byron clinch his second Daytona 500 title in a row and earn Hendrick a place in history as the winningest owner of the Great American Race. Rick Hendrick, however, also took a piece of history with him.

Back in 1984, Hendrick’s NASCAR journey began with little more than a dream and a gamble. His fledgling team, then known as All-Star Racing, had just a handful of employees and a single car driven by Geoff Bodine. It was Bodine, who drove the No. 5 Chevrolet that year at Daytona 500 and finished ninth. Two years later, Bodine drove a Monte Carlo to Victory Lane at Daytona for the first time for HMS and the team never looked back.

Rick Hendrick watched on TV as Byron bypassed a last-lap crash to become just the fifth driver to win the race back to back. In the process, he also became the youngest driver to win multiple Daytona 500s, breaking the record held by Jeff Gordon, who is now Byron’s boss as vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. But before the race, Byron’s winning car from 2024, which was on ceremonial display for a year was returned to its rightful owner.

With 301 Cup Series wins and 14 championships under his belt, Hendrick has long been the standard bearer of excellence in stock car racing.  On Sunday, the HMS team packed up Byron’s No. 24 from last year’s Daytona 500 win, loaded it into their hauler and took it back to Charlotte, where it will reside at the Hendrick Motorsports Museum.

Steven Taranto of CBS Sports noted the development which left him a little surprised, posting on X, “I’ve never seen this before: William Byron’s team has now loaded the 2024 Daytona 500 winning car into their hauler. It’ll now head back to Charlotte and a new, more permanent home (likely the Hendrick Motorsports Museum).”

Byron’s 2024 win marked Hendrick’s first Daytona 500 victory in a decade, making it a monumental moment for the team and it will forever be a part of HMS’ legacy.

The museum houses some of the most famous machines in NASCAR history, from Jimmie Johnson’s first win at Auto Club Speedway to Terry Labonte’s last win at Darlington in 2003 to Jeff Gordon’s very own flaming DuPont from 2005. By keeping Byron’s car alongside Gordon’s, HMS solidifies its legacy as the most dominant and historically significant team in modern stock car racing.

Byron’s 2024 car also featured a throwback to Gordon’s 2005 scheme with a white body and red flames. While Gordon’s car was dropped in black with blue and yellow flames, Byron’s machine gave a more modern twist to the scheme. This year, Byron’s No. 24 car was a breathtaking nod to Jeff Gordon’s iconic 2005 Daytona 500-winning Chevrolet, draped in the legendary flaming DuPont scheme.

As for Rick Hendrick, the 75-year-old owner had flown home to North Carolina as NASCAR waited to get the race underway on Sunday with rains forcing delays. However, once Byron crossed the finish line, he knew he had to be back and subsequently joined the celebration at Daytona International Speedway. Speaking after the win he said, “When I showed up and I saw Bud Moore and the Pettys and Junior Johnson and all those idols I watched on TV and at the racetrack, I didn’t think I should be here. And now, to have 10 of these, we’ve been so fortunate to have great drivers, great crew chiefs, and great teams.”

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The team’s VC Jeff Gordon has three of those 10 wins to his name. After Byron’s win on Sunday, he spoke to Hendrick over the phone and during the post-race press conference spoke about the mentality of their owner.

“It blows his mind when he really goes back and thinks about it. But it was also on his mind that he likes to raise the bar and likes to be No. 1. So it was certainly something that he said (beforehand) — ‘Man, let’s go get No. 10,’ ” Gordon said.

Since Geoff Bodine drove the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick to the victory lane at Daytona in 1986, HMS has racked up nine more wins. Notably, each of HMS’ last six Daytona 500 wins have come in pairs: Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson won in 2005 and 2006 respectively followed by Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2013 and 2014, and now Byron’s double.

Rick Hendrick now owns the record for most Daytona 500 wins by a team owner, surpassing Petty Enterprised 9 wins.

Regardless of what happens next, one thing is certain: Hendrick Motorsports has once again found a way to cement itself in the history books. Rick Hendrick didn’t just take home a race-winning car—he took control of the narrative.

William Byron’s journey to success started with a promise to Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson has won nearly everything there is to win in NASCAR, but following a top-three finish in the 2025 Daytona 500, his feelings weren’t about himself. They were about a young driver who would show up at his doorstep as a wide-eyed youngster on Halloween—William Byron. “I’ve known William for a long time,” Johnson recalled. “He would trick-or-treat at my house when he was maybe five or six years old, coming through with a little pillow sack.”

“I remember one time he said, ‘I’m gonna be your teammate someday’. I’m like ‘Yeah sure kid’.” That same kid, who once idolized Johnson, now holds back-to-back Daytona 500 trophies, already equaling Johnson’s tally for his career. The duo also were teammates from 2018 to 2020 until Johnson retired from full-time racing.

Byron’s ascension through the ranks has been nothing but phenomenal. From his initial Cup Series victory at Daytona in August 2020 with Chad Knaus as his mentor to now being the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s. This is the stuff dreams are made of. “To see the success he’s had and these big trophies is amazing,” Johnson said with pride.

With the Daytona 500 out of the way and a playoff berth secured, Byron can look to progressing toward the next step in his HMS career. Winning the coveted Cup Series Championship. Do you think William Byron can end Penske’s run of domination in the Next-Gen car?