DAYTONA BEACH — As NASCAR waited, after which waited some extra, throughout practically 4 hours of Sunday, flew house to North Carolina.
Little did he know, he’d have to return quickly sufficient.
The 75-year-old watched on TV as , driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, slid round a last-lap crash and secured his second straight because the clock neared 10 p.m. The victory made Byron the youngest multi-time champ and solidified Hendrick because the winningest proprietor in race historical past.
His group now possesses 10 Daytona 500 wins, yet another than , which held the document for simply wanting eternally.
So Hendrick hopped within the aircraft once more and boogeyed again to Central Florida Monday morning. He attended the formal championship celebration at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
And he reminisced about his first Daytona 500 as a crew proprietor in 1984.
“Once I confirmed up and I noticed Bud Moore and the Pettys and Junior Johnson and all these idols I watched on TV and on the racetrack, I did not suppose I must be right here,” Hendrick stated. “I did not really feel like I must be in that room.”
Geoff Bodine drove the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick’s then-All-Star Racing operation that day. He completed ninth.
Two years later, Bodine put his Monte Carlo in Victory Lane. Hendrick has claimed 9 since, together with the final two.
Every of the crew’s final six Daytona 500 wins have are available in pairs: Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in 2005 and 2006, Matt Kenseth and Johnson in 2012 and 2013, and Byron’s repeat.
“And now, to have 10 of those,” Hendrick stated, “we have been so lucky to have nice drivers, nice crew chiefs and nice groups.”
Gordon, the group’s vice chairman, received three of these 10 himself, with the identical automobile quantity as Byron. He spoke to Hendrick by cellphone after Sunday’s checkers.
“It blows his thoughts when he actually goes again and thinks about it,” Gordon stated on the post-race press convention. “But it surely was additionally on his thoughts that he likes to boost the bar and likes to be No. 1. So it was definitely one thing that he stated (beforehand) — ‘Man, let’s go get No. 10.’ ”
Mission completed.
Hendrick shouted out Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle. He lauded their chemistry.
“The arrogance these two have in one another is admittedly magical,” he stated. “That communication and belief breeds confidence.”
Then, Rick Hendrick’s thoughts flew towards the long run.
“I feel there’s much more on the market for us to get.”
