CONCORD, N.C. – The crown jewel races carry extra prestige and honor. Those four races are considered the DAYTONA 500, the Coca-Cola 600, the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400, which returns to the oval of Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since 2020.
Kyle Larson is the only current Hendrick Motorsports driver to notch wins in those races with a victory in the 2021 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (which was the historic 269th NASCAR Cup Series win for the company) and a win in the 2023 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The latter triumph was also the 500th national series win for the Hendrick Motorsports engine department.
HendrickMotorsports.com sat down with Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Larson to ask which crown jewel event they would most like to win in 2024.
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Elliott: "The one that is more meaningful to me is the Brickyard because I was old enough when my dad won (in 2002) to just very vaguely remember a few little things about it. To be in the photos and whatnot I thought was cool. That one really hits closest to home for me. The (Coca-Cola) 600 would be great to win. Being partners with Coca-Cola now would make that even more special. We’ve had a couple of really good opportunities to win that race and didn’t. I would love to check the box on all of them. Any race win is a big deal but certainly those are a little bigger."
Byron: "The Coca-Cola 600 because it’s my home race. I finished second there last year. That’s a big deal to win that race. It would just be cool to celebrate with my family and have that moment. That one sticks out to me. The Southern 500 is up there too because that was a really important race and track for me growing up. I went to a lot of races with my dad there."
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Larson: "The Brickyard 400 and the DAYTONA 500 are the only crown jewels I haven’t been able to win in NASCAR. I love winning races but I love winning the big races. I would love to check those off and add them to the resume."
Bowman: "Winning the DAYTONA 500 would be a dream come true. It’s a long race and it’s hard to get to the end. Winning that race would be awesome."
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In addition, all four drivers mentioned that they considered the Bristol Night Race a crown jewel event and one of the most fun races of the year.
"Bristol (Motor Speedway) is a special place," Bowman said. "For me, growing up when I was a kid watching the sport, the Bristol Night Race was one of the biggest races of the year. To me, it still is. Just a cool place to win at."