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Hendrick Motorsports has made NASCAR Cup Series once again. The championship-winning organization became the first in series history to lead 10,000 laps at a single track.
Chase Elliott was the driver that took the team to the precipice of history. He started on the pole at Martinsville Speedway on April 9 and led all 80 laps of Stage 1. Once he completed the 28th lap of the Cup Series race, FOX Sports’ Mike Joy announced that the organization had just made history. Though Elliott continued to focus on overtaking cars and securing the Stage 1 win.
Hendrick Motorsports just became the first Cup Series team to ever lead 10,000 laps at a single track.
Elliott entered the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 with previous success at Martinsville Speedway. He had a win from the 2020 playoffs, as well as 718 total laps led. This run of success includes the 2021 playoff race when he led 289 of the 500 laps after starting second overall next to teammate Kyle Larson.
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2 NASCAR Legends Accounted for More Than 6,000 Laps Led
GettyJeff Gordon (center) and Jimmie Johnson (right) combined for thousands of laps led at Martinsville.
There are numerous HMS drivers that helped the championship-winning organization make Cup Series history. However, two, in particular, played a major role by combining for 6,711 laps led at the short track while securing the most wins in organization history.
Jeff Gordon, who won four championships during his time at HMS, made 47 starts at Martinsville Speedway during his Cup Series career. He led a total of 3,779 laps while completing every single race. Gordon also won nine races and finished inside the top 10 in more than 80% of his starts. This includes the 2016 season when he replaced Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 for eight races and turned in a sixth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway.
Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson experienced similar levels of success at Martinsville Speedway. He also reached Victory Lane nine times while finishing all but two of the 38 races he started. Johnson led a total of 2,932 laps during his time in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Darrell Waltrip, who will be in the FOX Sports booth at Bristol Motor Speedway, has a unique history at Martinsville. He made eight starts at the short track for Hendrick Motorsports, and he won four of them. However, only 574 of his 3,617 laps led at the track were in an HMS machine.
Hendrick Motorsports Leads in Another Category
GettyGeoffrey Bodine won the first Cup Series race in Hendrick Motorsports history.
The 10,000 laps led is not the only historic mark that Hendrick Motorsports has set at Martinsville. The organization also leads the Cup Series with 26 total wins at the Virginia short track, including the elimination races in both 2020 and 2021.
Rick Hendrick‘s first Cup Series win as an owner actually took place at Martinsville Speedway. Geoffrey Bodine led 55 of the scheduled 500 laps on April 29, 1984, and he held off Ron Bouchard to capture the Sovran Bank 500.
Bodine only made 12 Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway for Hendrick Motorsports, and he posted one of his four career wins at the short track. He was able to contend on multiple occasions while leading a total of 845 laps in a Hendrick Motorsports machine.
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Hendrick Motorsports Makes NASCAR History With Jaw-Dropping Stat