Bowman leads Hendrick Motorsports’ first-ever 1-2-3-4 finish

Sunday’s Drydene 400 at Dover marked the first time in Hendrick Motorsports’ 38-year history that the organization scored a 1-2-3-4 finish in a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Alex Bowman led the charge Sunday as he earned his second win of 2021 and sixth career Cup win. Bowman led twice for 98 laps and passed teammate Kyle Larson for the final lead change with 97 laps to go.

Larson finished second after leading four times for 263 laps. Larson finished ahead of Chase Elliott and William Byron, who finished third and fourth, respectively, to round out the 1-2-3-4 finish.

Elliott did not lead any laps while Byron led 21 laps early on in Sunday’s race.

Byron’s Top 10 finish is also his 11th consecutive Top 10 of the season, which continues the longest Top 10 finish streak for a Hendrick Motorsports driver since Jeff Gordon earned 10 consecutive Top 10s in 2007.

Sunday was also the first time since Roush-Fenway Racing finished 1-2-3-4 in the 2005 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway that an organization accomplished such a feat.

“The feeling is unbelievable. That was the longest 100 laps I’ve ever seen in a race because you want to see it so bad,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “It’s one of those things on your bucket list that you want to see happen. I’m so proud of the guys.”

From 1993 to 2001, Hendrick Motorsports fielded three full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series. In the 1997 Daytona 500, HMS swept the top three finishing positions with Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven.

Since 2002, Hendrick Motorsports has fielded four full-time entries. In 2009, HMS finished 1-2-3 in NASCAR Cup Series points with Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon.

The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (2:30 p.m. ET; TV: FS1, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info