CONCORD, N.C. – Hendrick Motorsports is off to a fast start as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.
The season started in a big way with a victory in the 2024 DAYTONA 500, which saw William Byron and Alex Bowman finish 1-2. In March, Kyle Larson won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Byron reached victory lane at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). In the team's 40th anniversary race at Martinsville Speedway, Byron headlined a 1-2-3 sweep, in which all four cars placed inside the top-eight positions.
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Rick and Linda Hendrick were unable to attend the Martinsville race as Mr. Hendrick recovers from knee replacement surgery, so the team brought victory lane to them.
The organization has shown plenty of versatility and adaptability on the varying track layouts of the NASCAR Cup Series. The 2024 victories have come on a superspeedway (Daytona International Speedway), a 1.5-mile track (Las Vegas), a road course (COTA) and a short track (Martinsville).
With those triumphs, Hendrick Motorsports has won at least four races in the season's first eight events for the sixth time in team history. In the previous five occurrences, the team went on to win double-digit races.
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Seasons in which Hendrick Motorsports has won at least four of the first eight NASCAR Cup Series races
1995: Won four of the first eight (went on to win 10 races and Jeff Gordon won the championship)
1996: Won four of the first eight (went on to win 12 races and Terry Labonte won the championship)
1997: Won four of the first eight (went on to win 11 races and Gordon won the championship)
2007: Won five of the first eight (went on to win 18 races and Jimmie Johnson won the championship)
2022: Won four of the first eight (went on to win 11 races)
2024: Won four of the first eight
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"I'd like to win as many races as we can," said Rick Hendrick, the team owner with the most victories in the Cup Series (305), about the 2024 season. "Hopefully, some of the things we are finding on our short-track program that we saw at Richmond (Raceway) and Martinsville (Speedway) will help us."
"I'm not looking too far down the road. We are taking it one week and one race at a time. I hope we don't come out too strong with momentum and then some of the other teams pick it up at the end. The way it works is you better be on your game every week and bring your best stuff every week because that's the only way you will get better."
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In addition to Byron and Larson's early-season victories, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman are coming on strong after both drivers missed time last year due to injury. Elliott had back-to-back top-five finishes and is coming off a season-best third-place finish at Martinsville. Bowman finished eighth at the paperclip-shaped track and has three top-10 results in his last four races.
"It's just so good to see Alex and Chase back and running well," Hendrick said.
In addition, all four drivers are in the top 10 in the points standings. Larson leads the standings with a 14-point advantage. Byron is in fourth, Elliott holds sixth, and Bowman is in 10th.
The last two weekends have seen significant gains with the short-track package. In those two races, the team has one win, both pole positions, five top-five finishes, seven top-10s and 387 laps led. Dating back to the race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has two wins (both by Byron), three pole positions, nine top-five finishes, 12 top-10s and 456 laps led in the last four races. In the opening quartet of races (from the DAYTONA 500 to Phoenix Raceway), Hendrick Motorsports earned two wins, three top-five finishes, four top-10s and 240 laps led.
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"The reason all four cars are running so well right now is that the crew chiefs and drivers are working well together," Hendrick said. "You have Chad (Knaus, vice president of competition) in there. They share and do things together and it just makes us stronger. When you put four smart people up against one or two, they are going to win."
Next up for Hendrick Motorsports is Texas Motor Speedway, the site of the organization's 300th Cup Series win. The team has won two of the last three races at the 1.5-mile track.
