William Byron took the lead with 73 laps to go and held on after a second straight race ended in overtime, outrunning teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for the win.
Byron, the first of the contenders to pit under a green flag with 104 laps to go, moved to the front 31 laps later and was never threatened after getting the jump at the start of overtime. It was his second victory on the 0.526-mile, paper-clip-shaped oval.
He stayed out when John Hunter Nemechek crashed in turn three with three laps to go, as did Elliott and Larson, running second and third, and they produced the first 1-2-3 finish for any team in Martinsville’s long history hosting stock car races.
Larson rallied to finish second, Elliott third, Bubba Wallace fourth and Ryan Blaney, last fall’s winner here, fifth. The fourth Hendrick driver, Alex Bowman, finished eighth.
The race featured long green flag runs, with two of the five cautions pre-planned at the end of stages one and two. There were 13 lead changes among eight drivers.
The victory was the 29th for Hendrick at NASCAR’s smallest, oldest track, a record for an organization at any venue. Geoff Bodine had the first win at Martinsville on April 29, 1984. It convinced team owner Rick Hendrick not to fold his fledgling team.
All four Hendrick cars featured ruby red paint schemes, marking the anniversary.
The Hendrick organization hosted more than 1,000 current and former employees for the race, but the owner was not able to attend, having recently undergone knee replacement surgery.
Larson, the defending race winner and pole-sitter, led all 80 laps in the first stage. Joey Logano gambled by taking right side tires only during pit stops after the stage and led the first 83 laps of green-flag racing in the second stage before Denny Hamlin passed him to win the stage.
Hamlin, a five-time winner at Martinsville, finished 11th.
The series moves across the country to Texas Motor Speedway, where the drivers hope the repaved track will have cured some to allow for more passing since the repave.
