NASCAR: William Byron extends a Hendrick Motorsports record
By Asher Fair
With his win, William Byron made the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season the 36th consecutive season to feature a Hendrick Motorsports victory.
William Byron led 102 laps of Sunday’s 267-lap Dixie Vodka 400 NASCAR Cup Series race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida to secure his first win of the 2021 season and the second win of his career.
Hendrick Motorsports entered the Cup Series in 1984, and the only winless season they have had since then was the 1985 season, when Geoffrey Bodine competed in 28 races, Brett Bodine competed in one and the late Dick Brooks competed in one.
Ever since then, they have found victory lane at least once each season, and thanks to Byron’s win, they have now done so in 36 consecutive seasons.
That extends the all-time record. Two other active streaks are within a few seasons of Hendrick Motorsports’ record.
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Team Penske entered the 2021 season on a streak of 30 consecutive winning seasons. They entered the Cup Series in 1972, but they did not compete at all from 1981 to 1989. They have won in every season since their return but have not yet won in 2021 through three races.
Joe Gibbs Racing entered the 2021 season on a streak of 28 consecutive winning seasons after entering the Cup Series in 1992, their lone winless campaign. They extended that streak to 29 with Christopher Bell’s victory at the Daytona International Speedway road course in the season’s second race.
Rick Hendrick’s team also have a chance to break the all-time wins record this season, and Byron’s win moved them one win closer.
Entering the 2021 season, Hendrick Motorsports had recorded 263 wins in 4,273 entries going back to when they entered the sport in 1984.
The record belongs to Petty Enterprises, which recorded 268 wins in 2,817 entries. Their most recent win came at Martinsville Speedway in 1999 with the late John Andretti behind the wheel.
Hendrick’s team now sit just four wins shy of the record that they seem poised to break following a seven-win season, their winningest season since they won nine races in 2015. The 2020 season saw them win the title with Chase Elliott, their first championship since Jimmie Johnson’s record-tying seventh in 2016.
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How many more times will Hendrick Motorsports win throughout the remaining 33 races on the 2021 schedule?