At the Martinsville race, Byron made a pit stop during the final stage when others hadn’t yet. After everyone finished their stops, he found himself in the lead for the first time.
He started to build a big lead, and it looked like he was going to win easily. But then, with only two laps left, there was a crash, and the race had to go into overtime.
Even with the extra laps, Byron managed to stay in the lead, beating his teammate Kyle Larson to the finish line.
“I just want to thank Chase [Elliott] for racing me clean there. Could get physical at the end,” Byron said. “He gave me a shot, which is expected. We all finish it off.
“Just so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Grew up a big Hendrick fan. To be here for the 40th anniversary, all that goes into just this organization, all the people, it’s all about the people. Just want to thank Mr. Hendrick and (wife) Linda and everyone involved. It’s pretty awesome.
“Badass to win at Martinsville. We’ve been struggling at the short tracks. Just kept inching up on it. I have a great team. They just kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart there at the end like that, but that’s the way it goes.”
It was a special win for Hendrick Motorsports, as it marked 40 years since Geoffrey Bodine won the first Cup race for team owner Rick Hendrick, which helped the team grow into one of the best in NASCAR.
Hendrick couldn’t make it to the race because he recently had surgery on his knee.
It was a great weekend for Hendrick Motorsports in all, with Larson winning the pole on Saturday and all four of the team’s drivers finishing in the top eight. Byron had also won the season-opening Daytona 500.
However, Martinsville has also been a place of sadness for the team. In 2004, a plane carrying Hendrick’s family crashed on the way to the track, killing 10 people, including Hendrick’s son, brother, and two nieces.
Elliott finished third, Bubba Wallace was fourth, and Ryan Blaney came in fifth. This was the first time any team had finished 1-2-3 at Martinsville.
Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top 10.
