CONCORD, N.C. – Throughout its 39 years of racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsports has a strong track record at Martinsville Speedway.
PHOTOS: See every Hendrick Motorsports win at Martinsville
The organization’s first win came on April 29, 1984, at the Virginia venue by Geoff Bodine. The victory was the first of a series-best 27 wins at the .526-mile track, which is the top mark by one team at any particular track.
The most recent of those wins came on April 9, 2022, when driver William Byron drove the No. 24 to victory lane. This particular race saw Hendrick Motorsports lead 98.5% of the laps run (Byron led 212 circuits and Chase Elliott led 185 laps), which is the highest percentage ever led in a race by the 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization based on data from Racing Insights.
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Byron will have crew chief Rudy Fugle back on the pit box for the first time since the pair’s win at Phoenix Raceway last month. Fugle, along with Cliff Daniels (No. 5), Alan Gustafson (No. 9) and Blake Harris (No. 48) are back after serving four-race suspensions following penalties from the Phoenix race weekend.
Since teaming with Fugle in the Cup Series prior to the start of the 2021 season, the 25-year-old driver has never finished outside the top-seven positions at Martinsville. While his stats are highlighted by the 2022 win, he has three top-five finishes, four top-10s and an average finish of 4.3 in those four starts. It is his second-best track by average finish – with only the concrete layout of Bristol Motor Speedway better at 3.0 – with Fugle. Byron says the success comes down to their racing upbringings.
"Both of our roots are in short tracks," Byron said of his success with Fugle at the paperclip-shaped track. "For us, it just fits our style. We have always grown up at those small style racetracks. Martinsville is right up that alley.
"It is a rhythm track. You have to use the brake and the throttle together, figure out how to modulate all those things inside the car and manage your tires. There’s a lot of elements at Martinsville."
Three different Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won three of the last five races at the Virginia-based track. Elliott won in the fall 2020 playoff race en route to his championship. Alex Bowman capped off a four-win season in 2021 with a win in the October race and Byron won last spring. Kyle Larson, who is the most recent short-track winner with his victory earlier this month at Richmond Raceway, has yet to get to victory lane at Martinsville.
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However, the organization’s mojo and success at Martinsville has rubbed off a bit on the 30-year-old driver. Since coming to the organization in 2021, he has two top-five finishes and 145 laps led in four starts at the track. To put that in context, he had just one top-five finish, two top-10s and 35 laps led in his previous 12 starts there. Last fall’s race saw Larson finish a career-best second. He is looking to build off of that result.
"Martinsville has been a place that I struggle at pretty regularly," Larson said. "I feel like last year we had two good races at Martinsville, so I feel like its potentially in our future of winning a race. If I did, that would probably be the all-time biggest win of my life because anytime you can accomplish something that’s difficult to you, or you don’t think that you can accomplish, it would mean a lot."
This Sunday’s 400-lap race will utilize the rules package that has been put in place for short ovals and road courses. Hendrick Motorsports has won two of the three races to feature that rules package – Phoenix and Richmond.
Tune in to watch the short-track action on Sunday, April 16, at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
