‘More meaning’ in Hendrick’s anniversary Martinsville race - Larson

Kyle Larson admits the 40th anniversary race at Martinsville Speedway for Hendrick Motorsports makes it more than another race weekend.

“It gives more meaning to the weekend,” Larson said. “Even though maybe some of us wouldn’t admit it, I would say, yeah, I feel more pressure for (this) weekend because of the meaning and what it would mean to this organization. Rick and Linda [Hendrick] especially.”

The Cook Out 400 (Sunday, 3pm ET, FS1) will center a lot on Hendrick Motorsports, as will the whole weekend. There will be different activities around the facility, such as race cars on display and members of the organization serving as different pre-race dignitaries. All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers will have a ruby red paint scheme (Larson's pictured above).

Larson is not only a former winner at Martinsville Speedway but is the defending race winner. It was his first victory at the Virginia short track.

“It was amazing to win a race there,” Larson said. “I honestly never thought that I would win a race there. So, to have a grandfather clock in my collection is great and I’m happy with one, but I would love more now.”

Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman are also former Martinsville Speedway winners. All four drivers earned their victories after joining Rick Hendrick’s organization. And it was recently, too, as those wins all came within the last seven Martinsville Speedway races.

Elliott triumphed in the fall of 2020, which earned him a spot in the Cup Series championship race a week later. He went on to win the championship.

“I’m certainly proud to have contributed, obviously in a very small way in comparison to Jimmie [Johnson] and Jeff [Gordon],” Elliott said. “But I’m certainly proud of that. I’ve been a part of this family for quite a long time now on the Cup side -- this will be my ninth year, and obviously two years up at JRM. It’s been a fun ride, and certainly proud to have been a part of a small piece of it, but a piece of it nonetheless.”

Bowman was victorious in the fall of 2021, and it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. It was Bowman and Denny Hamlin who ran up front in the final 100 laps, and Bowman was pressuring Hamlin for the race lead going into Turn 3 with seven laps to go. He got to Hamlin’s inside and made contact with the left rear, sending Hamlin spinning.

In overtime, Bowman held off Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. But he then had to deal with an angry Hamlin, who interrupted his celebration on the frontstretch.

Bowman added to Hendrick’s win list at Martinsville in 2021 but a furious Hamlin cut the partying short. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images

“I couldn’t even enjoy that (victory),” Bowman said. “I don’t really like conflict and controversy, so I certainly didn’t mean to crash Denny, but I did. I just messed up, got loose in and crashed the guy. I wasn’t happy with myself in that situation, so it kind of took away from being as excited as I would have been if that didn’t happen.

“But that’s racing and stuff happens. It means a lot to have won there, but, in the moment, it was definitely tough.”

Bowman quipped to Larson’s pressure comment that it’s like that for him on a weekly basis. His last victory, which followed his Martinsville accomplishment, was in the spring of 2022.

“I think any Cup win is a big achievement and in that race, we were the best car and deserved to win,” Bowman said. “I hate that we crashed somebody to do it, but it’s pretty special. When I came to HMS, I struggled there a lot and to get to a place where that’s one of my better racetracks and to be as good as we are there is really cool.”

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It was a season sweep for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville in 2022, Bowman capping it off after Byron had won the spring race. On a cold April night, in a race that took less than three hours to complete, Byron dominated for 212 of 403 laps and his first short-track victory.

Byron was one of three drivers who participated in a Goodyear tire test on a repaved North Wilkesboro Speedway last month. The two days on track left him feeling good about what his team could bring to the short tracks.

“I’m glad we had a good test at (North) Wilkesboro because I think a lot of that stuff will apply to Martinsville,” Byron said. “Going into Martinsville, obviously, the pressure is high to perform, but it hasn’t been a good track for us on the 24 (team) the last two times there, so although we had a win there in ’22, it seems like that was a long time ago.

“Now having a good test at Wilkesboro, feeling like we’ve got a good baseline setup to go there, I feel a lot better about our chances to run up front and compete for a win.”

Hendrick Motorsports has 28 victories at Martinsville Speedway, the most for the organization at any racetrack. It is the winningest organization at Martinsville.

“I just hope one of us four can have a good run, and it would be awesome to win but Martinsville is tough,” Larson said. “But Hendrick Motorsports has had a ton of success there. One of us four should have a good opportunity.”