MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Geoff Bodine and Jeff Gordon participated in the pre-race festivities ahead of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Gordon and Bodine served as co-grand marshals for the race and gave the command to fire engines. The duo took parade laps ahead of the green flag for the 400-lap event at the 0.526-mile track.
The spring race at Martinsville is a 40th anniversary celebration of Hendrick Motorsports' first win in the Cup Series. Each of the organization's four entries is sporting ruby red paint schemes in honor of that milestone win. The four drivers are wearing red firesuits. All of this comes at a track where the squad has won 29 times after William Byron's win on Sunday. Additionally, the team has led 10,852 laps — both marks are series records for one team at one venue. Photos of all 28 wins (prior to today) are featured in the pedestrian tunnel at the track.
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"We would not be here today celebrating 40 years today if it wasn't for this guy winning this race in April 1984," said Gordon, who is now the vice chairman for Hendrick Motorsports, pointing to Bodine. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Geoff. I can't thank you enough."
Bodine scored the team's inaugural victory on April 29, 1984, in a race that the team nearly did not run because team owner Rick Hendrick was preparing to shut the doors. However, that victory kept things going and the rest is history.
Today, Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest Cup Series team, with 305 victories in the sport's top series. The company is also atop the all-time list for Cup Series championships (14), poles (249) and laps led (80,453). Last month at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott led the 80,000th lap in the Cup Series for the team.
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"What a special day," Bodine said during a media availability before Sunday's race. "It is so important in life what you say and do. If Rick Hendrick hadn't let us … he told us the week before that we weren't coming here.
"Harry (Hyde, crew chief) convinced Rick. The car was ready. A Randy Dorton engine was in it and he said you might have to buy a few tires. Harry said, 'Bodine won some races up there and we might have a chance.'"
The win was one of seven Bodine earned in his six seasons driving for the team from 1984 to 1989 in the No. 5 Chevrolet. Bodine even reunited with the original No. 5 pit crew at Martinsville.
Gordon's Martinsville record is more than impressive. The NASCAR Hall of Famer's nine wins at the Virginia short track are tied for the most in team history and the third-most in the venue's Cup Series history with Jimmie Johnson. In 2015, his final full-time season, Gordon's emotional victory in the playoff race locked him into the Championship 4 and marked his final Cup Series win. In his 25-year career with Hendrick Motorsports, Gordon won four Cup Series championships (including the team's first in 1995) and an organizational-high 93 races. He is the leader in nearly every significant statistic in team history.
RELATED: Gordon's success key part of Martinsville legacy for Hendrick Motorsports
The weekend is additionally special to Hendrick Motorsports as over 1,500 employees, friends and family of the race team and Hendrick Automotive Group are in attendance as part of a company outing to celebrate the organization's 40th anniversary.
"We started planning this several months ago, maybe even a year ago, within Hendrick (Motorsports) talking about our 40th anniversary and how we are going to celebrate it," Gordon said. "We made this decision because of our discussions with Clay (Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway) and his team. We decided that we are going to bring our employees up here as well as family and friends. They all just showed up on several buses and are up there off turn two, having the time of their life.
"This is the perfect timing to do this because of the history here with Geoff's win and Martinsville in general for Hendrick Motorsports. Clay, you and your staff have gone above and beyond. I've never seen our folks enjoying themselves more with their families than when I left there.
"No matter what happens on the track today, of course, yesterday was a good start (with Kyle Larson's pole). The cars look amazing, drivers looking sharp and seeing all those uniforms in ruby red. In my opinion and I think Rick would say the same thing, it has been a win for us no matter what because we get to celebrate all the accomplishments."
