Byron leads 1-2-3 NASCAR finish for Hendrick Motorsports

William Byron said he had nightmares coming to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, remembering his last visit when he struggled to a 13th-place finish.

He not only overcame those fears, he put a cherry on top of the weekend when Hendrick Motorsports celebrated the anniversary of its first win 40 years ago by picking up No. 305.

“It was one of the worst experiences as a team, but one of the best experiences to realize the resilience that our team has. And I think that that showed today,” Byron said of last October’s penultimate race of the season.

This Sunday was different. Electing to stay out on old tires for the two-lap overtime finish, Byron won for the third time this season in eight races and led an historic 1-2-3 finish for Hendrick.

“It’s awesome and it’s way bigger than me,” Byron said.

Byron took the lead with 73 laps to go and held on after a second straight race ended in overtime, outrunning teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for the win.

Byron, the first of the contenders to pit under a green flag with 104 laps to go, moved to the front 31 laps later and was never threatened after getting the jump at the start of overtime. It was his second victory on the 0.526-mile, paper-clip shaped oval.

“It was a great call. It didn’t get us the track position right away, but we had a little bit more heat in our tires,” Byron said of the call to pit, which ultimately gave him the lead. “So, seemed like I fired off a little bit faster than those guys and was able to get ahead of them.”

He stayed out when John Hunter Nemechek crashed in turn three with three laps to go, as did Elliott and Larson, running second and third, and they produced the first 1-2-3 finish for any team in Martinsville’s long history hosting stock car races.

Larson rallied to finish second, Elliott third, Bubba Wallace fourth and Ryan Blaney, last fall’s winner here, fifth. The fourth Hendrick driver, Alex Bowman, finished eighth.

“This is a huge win for the organization,” four-time Hendrick series champion Jeff Gordon, now the vice chairman of the organization, said.

The race featured long green flag runs, with two of the five cautions pre-planned at the end of stages one and two. There were 13 lead changes among eight drivers.

The victory was the 29th for Hendrick at NASCAR’S smallest, oldest track, a record for an organization at any venue.

John Force wins delayed, relocated Winternationals

Funny Car legend John Force picked up his first victory in two years, powering past Matt Hagan of Tony Stewart Racing to win the postponed Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, which was completed on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at Firebird Motorsports Park in Phoenix.

Justin Ashley (Top Fuel) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) also won the postponed Pomona race on Saturday at Firebird Motorsports Park.

Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, went 4.033-seconds at 318.24 mph in his 11,000-horsepower PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS, slipping past Hagan’s 4.048 to claim his 156th career victory and first since April of 2022. Force now has eight Winternationals wins to his credit and this marked another special one in his iconic career.

“I’m just facing the truth in life, that, you know, time’s running out, and I’m trying to hang on,” Force said. “This morning, I was talking about, ‘You know, maybe this is it, maybe I should just walk out the gate and go to the casino,’ and then all sudden you win and your weight and your personality just changes.

“I was mad, mad at myself (for losing in the Mission Challenge earlier in the day), and I started saying, ‘You just need to get out of the seat, you’re just too old for this stuff’ or ‘Get out there and fight the fight.’ And I did and things went right, and I got the win, so I’m excited.”

In Top Fuel, Justin Ashley kept his Winternationals winning streak alive, even in a new location, winning the NHRA Winternationals for the third straight year and defeating Tony Schumacher on a holeshot with a pass of 3.802 at 330.15 in his 11,000-horsepower Scag Power Equipment dragster. Ashley posted a reaction time of .023 to hold off Schumacher’s run of 3.772 at 326.00. It is Ashley’s 12th career victory, and certainly one of the more unique ones in his young career.

“It’s very special. Even though is not in Pomona, the NHRA Winternationals is a very prestigious race so to win it once is extraordinary. To win in three times in a row is an incredible blessing,” Ashley said.

In Pro Stock, Glenn defended his Winternationals victory with a second straight win, coming on a holeshot against reigning world champion Erica Enders. Glenn went 6.537 at 209.14 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro, using an .024 reaction time to hold off Enders’ 6.531 at 209.52. It’s the ninth career win for Glenn.

• In Sunday’s NHRA Arizona Nationals, Austin Prock raced to his first career Funny Car win, beating Alexis Dejoria in the final round. Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won titles at the third of 20 races in 2024 NHRA season.

Formula One

Max Verstappen’s recordbreaking dominance in Formula 1 resumed Sunday with his victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, leading almost the entire race on a sunny day in central Japan.

Verstappen basically led from start to finish at Suzuka except briefly after a pit stop. He was followed across the finish line by Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez — 12.5 seconds behind — and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari. Sainz was 20 seconds off the pace.