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
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com