By Aaron Bearden

A breakdown of Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, the eighth race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. 

Main Takeaway

Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) knew it lead storylines entering its 40th anniversary celebration. 

The organization didn’t know it would dominate the headlines even more leaving it. 

Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway was all about Rick Hendrick and his four teams, each sporting a special ruby red livery to note the occasion. Kyle Larson led the field to green. William Byron led it to the checkered flag. Chase Elliott contended for the win. Even the worst of the bunch, Alex Bowman, ran well throughout the day and finished in the top 10.

Four decades after a Geoff Bodine win at Martinsville saved Hendrick from an early exit from NASCAR – and two decades removed from a heartbreaking day when the company lost seven people in a plane crash – Sunday’s result showcased just how far the program has come. 

Byron, Elliott and Larson all had a chance to win in the closing stages. The trio lined up first through third heading into overtime after John Hunter Nemechek suffered late issues to bring out a yellow. But in the end it was Byron, driving the company’s iconic No. 24 Chevrolet, that survived a bump from Elliott and scored the win. 

Larson followed in second, with Elliott beating Bubba Wallace to the line in third. The result was the first 1-2-3 Cup finish for any organization at Martinsville, earned in front of a host of current a former employees at the exit of Turn 2. 

It felt scripted. Surreal. Even those responsible for the storybook ending. 

“There’s just so many things wrapped up in the emotions of what today meant from just the time spent with Rick and Linda planning for 40th anniversary, talking about all of our drivers who have won, what Martinsville means to this company, planning this day, having all of our folks here,” Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon said afterward.

“Then the day comes, the weekend comes, and you just go, How in the world did it all happen like this? I mean, I know our folks are super talented and they work really, really hard. Kind of glad we got beat kind of bad last year in the fall because I think that really made them go to work and get ready for this event.

“I don’t even know where to begin honestly. There’s so many things that are special. Immediately looked up on the hill and saw all those ruby red shirts just going nuts. Now they’re out there waiting to have a picture with our whole organization. You just cannot plan it any better, script it any better.”

Rick Hendrick wasn’t present at the track, but called in to discuss the occasion afterward. 

Going into the day, Byron didn’t look like he’d be the one to bring HMS a victory. He’d qualified only 18th and Martinsville has been notoriously difficult to pass at in the Next Gen era. But his car allowed Byron to march forward and secure one of the most memorable wins of his young career. 

“Ashley (Ennis, communications managers) was telling me today that the script was written, we were going to win,” Byron said afterward. “I was like, I don’t know how you had that panned out with us starting 18th, can’t pass at this racetrack. 

“It just worked out.”

That’s the thing about storylines in racing. 

Sometimes they get built up only to never come to fruition. But occasionally, when everything goes to plan, they find a way to work out perfectly. 

Sunday was just about perfect for Hendrick Motorsports. 

Good, Bad and Ugly

Good: A strong day for Bubba Wallace

This is supposed to be the year for Bubba Wallace – and on Sunday, it finally looked like it. 

Wallace and the No. 23XI Racing team have been on the rise over the past three years. In 2021 the group quietly built, scoring a breakthrough win at Talladega Superspeedway. The next year Wallace fell just short of making the playoffs, but made a solid owners playoff run in place of the injured Kurt Busch that included a dominant Kansas Speedway win. 

Last year saw Wallace make the playoff on points and survive to the Round of 12. Based on that trajectory, it only seemed naturally to expect wins and a playoff run in 2024. 

The season started to plan, with a pair of top-fives. But Wallace struggled through the ensuing five weeks, with an average finish of 21.6 and no top-10s. He dropped to the playoff bubble and faded from relevancy as spring came around. 

Wallace needed a good run to right the ship. In Martinsville he got it. 

Not only did the two-time Cup winner score a strong top-five in fourth, but he put together a complete weekend. Wallace narrowly missed out on pole, finished second in both opening stages, ran in the top-five for the bulk of the day and delivered a strong result when it counted. 

The three top-fives are the most he’s ever had at this stage of the season. His 15.3 average finish is up slightly from last year’s 15.9 and Wallace is back up to 14th in the championship standings with a little wiggle room on the cutline. 

There’s still more ground to make up. But considering the No. 23 team’s recent struggles, the group did well to get back on track at Martinsville. 

Bad: A race devoid of storylines

If you’re reading, this, you’ve probably spent most of the hours since the conclusion of Sunday’s race reading about Hendrick Motorsports and not much else. 

Frankly, that’s because there weren’t many other stories to take from the 415-lap race. 

NASCAR short track races used to be among the sport’s signature events. But in the Next Gen era, tracks like Martinsville have proven to be difficult for passing. 

Overtakes were difficult to pull off again Sunday. And with a field that made few mistakes and was intensely close in speed, that meant there was little in the way of drama. 

Not every race can be winner. 

Good: No restart troubles

After Richmond Raceway was headlined by controversy over Denny Hamlin jumping the final restart, there was no restart discussion to be had in Martinsville. 

The Cook Out 400 played out similarly to Richmond, in the sense that a driver (Byron) seemingly had the race locked up before a surprising late caution sent the event to overtime. But there were no pit stops from the leaders to give someone else a chance to steal the lead.

And when the time to fire off for overtime came, Byron didn’t gas up until he was within the restart zone. 

“I didn’t want to jump because I knew I would be the first example made,” Byron admitted afterward. 

No example necessary this week.

Notes

  • Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 team made a late gamble to take tires and hope either that others would join him or enough cautions would allow him to move forward. It didn’t pay off. Hamlin dropped from a sure top-five before the final caution to an 11th-place finish. Sometimes gambles don’t pay off. 
  • Kyle Larson eclipsed 8,000 laps led in his Cup Series career on Sunday, reaching 8010 in total. Of those laps, 59.88% (4,797) have been led in the 116 out of 339 races (34.22%) Larson’s ran with Hendrick Motorsports.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports are now up to seven victories in eight races and have claimed 12 of 16 stages. It’s getting more difficult to imagine any other teams making a serious playoff challenge this fall as the two organizations continue to rack up playoff points. 
  • After starting the year with four finishes of 28th or worse in the opening five races, Joey Logano’s notched finishes of 11th, second and sixth in the past three weeks. The two-time champ has lifted himself into the provisional playoff field and looks more like the contender he’s expected to be. 
  • I always enjoy the stats that Trey Ryan shares on X. Here’s a fun nugget about lead lap finishers:

Race Results

  1. William Byron
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Chase Elliott
  4. Bubba Wallace
  5. Ryan Blaney
  6. Joey Logano
  7. Tyler Reddick
  8. Alex Bowman
  9. Ryan Preece
  10. Chase Briscoe
  11. Denny Hamlin
  12. Erik Jones
  13. Todd Gilliland
  14. Ross Chastain
  15. Chris Buescher
  16. Kyle Busch
  17. Carson Hocevar
  18. Martin Truex Jr.
  19. Ty Gibbs
  20. Noah Gragson
  21. Michael McDowell
  22. Daniel Suarez
  23. Austin Cindric
  24. Brad Keselowski
  25. Josh Berry
  26. Kaz Grala
  27. Josh Williams
  28. Daniel Hemric
  29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  30. Justin Haley
  31. Zane Smith
  32. Corey LaJoie
  33. Harrison Burton
  34. Austin Dillon
  35. Christopher Bell
  36. John Hunter Nemechek
  37. David Starr

Stage 1

  1. Kyle Larson
  2. Bubba Wallace
  3. Chase Elliott
  4. Chase Briscoe
  5. Martin Truex Jr.
  6. Joey Logano
  7. Denny Hamlin
  8. William Byron
  9. Josh Berry
  10. Kyle Busch

Stage 2

  1. Denny Hamlin
  2. Bubba Wallace
  3. Kyle Larson
  4. Chase Elliott
  5. Joey Logano
  6. Alex Bowman
  7. Chase Briscoe
  8. William Byron
  9. Ross Chastain
  10. Josh Berry

–

To see the current playoff picture, check out our weekly Playoff Points update.

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