What Happened?
A Hendrick homecoming held true when William Byron held off his teammates to take the checkered flag in a special race at a special track for Hendrick Motorsports. While Byron earned the win, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott secured the Hendrick 1-2-3, the first time an organization has ever swept the podium in Martinsville Speedway’s 76-year history.
Byron already has three triumphs this season, with two victories in the past three races. The second win at Martinsville for Byron, his victory donuts culminated a major celebration of Team Hendrick’s illustrious 40 years of racing.
What Really Happened?
To all the Hendrick haters, I’m sorry. There was no chance that anyone other than a Hendrick Motorsports driver would wind up in victory lane today.
Everyone knows the significance of Martinsville in the Hendrick history. The site of first triumph, unbearable loss, victorious sendoffs and so much more. Hendrick chose this track to run its four ruby red paint schemes for a reason.
When Rick Hendrick has eyes on a milestone, you might as well hand the trophy over when the green flag drops.
Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano all tried their best at points to break up the quartet, but a Hendrick trio seemed destined for history as the three led the parade in the waning laps.
The nerves of the late caution confirmed a win. Surely Mr. H thought back to the spring of 2012, when Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were destined to duel for win No. 200 at The Paperclip. A late caution destroyed that hope when a third-place Bowyer dive bomb took out the duo.
The message this overtime? Don’t mess this up.
Controlling the top three spots, pitting likely never even crossed the mind of the crew chiefs. A three-car buffer would surely cushion any chaos and deliver a victory to one of the three.
Even Elliott suppressed his desperation to snap his winless streak in a major way, racing his teammate with restraint, seeing ruby instead of red and taking care of Byron on the final lap.
For whatever reason, this driver lineup never fails to deliver milestone victories.
Elliott clutched late in 2020 to win the championship. Alex Bowman triumphed in Hendrick’s top four Dover Motor Speedway sweep in 2021. Larson delivered record-breaking win No. 265 at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few weeks later.
Now, Byron has become Mr. Milestone, winning No. 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, taking the Daytona 500 to kick off the 40th season and driving the ruby red car into victory lane today.
When a milestone moment hangs in the balance, Hendrick Motorsports never fails to live up to the moment, and defeat was never in the picture today.
Who Stood Out?
Enough about Hendrick Motorsports. The top of the running order shows drivers known for their Martinsville skill. The two drivers that stood out the most needed their top-10 runs in the worst way.
A ninth-place finish gives Ryan Preece a glimmer of hope after a miserable start to the season. Last year’s polesitter entered the race 31st in points. Today, he finally shook off the bad luck plaguing him this year, and quietly snuck into the single digits in overtime after pitting for fresh tires. Just behind Preece, Chase Briscoe started inside the top 10 and ran there for the entire day, an overall solid showing.
Todd Gilliland deserves a nod after finishing 13th. He actually ran 10th when the final caution came out, sliding behind cars with newer tires in overtime.
Who Fell Flat?
Short track ace Josh Berry fell flat today after showing serious speed at Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway. The No. 4 team finished 25th instead, and never really contended inside the top 15.
Until this weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing looked unstoppable at the short tracks. Outside of Hamlin, the other three Toyotas felt flat, especially Christopher Bell. Two of the three cautions for cause flew at Bell’s expense (though one was technically for debris), while Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs finished 18th and 19th.
Better Than Last Time?
The Martinsville race last spring had to have been one of the worst races at The Paperclip in recent, heck, even in distant memory. This race certainly outperformed the race last spring. However, the short tracks continue to pose a problem.
The Martinsville tire certainly improved from year one of the Next Gen. We saw it lay rubber last fall, and this year it produced decent falloff. Guys finally had to move around, and for the first time in a while, you could see drivers fighting their cars when they went to the throttle.
Still, the tire didn’t wear as much as it could have, and I don’t think it would completely solve the issue. We saw more bumper tag than in past years, but guys looked like they couldn’t finish the pass once they moved their competitor up. Blame the shifting or blame horsepower, but the car still needs a lot of work.
To say more would be too repetitive. We are seeing improvements, though.
Paint Scheme of the Race
The ruby red glistened beautifully under the Virginia sun, but Larson’s special scheme wins best of the bunch. It looks like a more natural inverse of his primary car, something I appreciated about his scheme specifically.
Elliott’s helmet had a nice design as well.
Outside of the Hendrick stable, Berry’s gold scheme celebrating the Mobil 1 50th anniversary was plain but beautiful.
What’s Next?
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Texas, this time for oval racing at Texas Motor Speedway. The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 begins Sunday, April 14 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!