Daytona Beach – While Nascar was waiting, then waited a little more, for almost four hours behind Daytona 500, Rick Hendrick returned home in North Carolina.
He didn’t know, he would need to come back early enough.
The 75 -year -old was watched on television like William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, slipped around a last blow accident and obtained his second large consecutive American race while the chronometer approached 22 Hours, the victory made Byron the youngest multi-time champion and solidified Hendrick as the most victorious owner in the history of the race.
Its organization now has 10 Daytona 500 victories, one more than small businesses, which held the record forever.
So Hendrick jumped again on the plane and returned to the center of Florida on Monday morning. He attended the official celebration of the championship at Daytona International Speedway.
And he recalled his first Daytona 500 as a team owner in 1984.
“When I introduced myself and I saw Bud Moore and the Pettys and Junior Johnson and all these idols that I watched on television and on the racetrack, I did not think I should be here,” said Hendrick. “I didn’t feel like I was in this room.”
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Geoff Bodine led the Chevrolet n ° 5 for Hendrick’s then racing operation that day. He finished ninth.
Two years later, Bodine put her Monte Carlo in Victory Lane. Hendrick has claimed nine since, including the last two.
Each of the last six victories of the Daytona 500 team came in two: Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in 2005 and 2006, Matt Kenseth and Johnson in 2012 and 2013, and the rehearsal of Byron.
“And now, to have 10,” said Hendrick, “we were lucky to have big drivers, great team leaders and large teams.”
Gordon, the organization’s vice-president, won three of 10 of these 10 car number as Byron. He spoke to Hendrick by phone after Sunday auditors.
“It blows his mind when he really comes back and thinks about it,” said Gordon at the press conference after the race. “But it is also in his mind that he likes to raise the bar and likes to be n ° 1. It is certainly something he said (beforehand) -” guy, let’s get n ° 10. ” “”
Mission accomplished.
Hendrick shouted the head of the crew of Byron, Rudy Fugle. He praised their chemistry.
“The confidence that these two have in each other are really magical,” he said. “This communication and this confidence cause confidence.”
Then, Rick Hendrick’s mind flew to the future.
“I think there is much more to get for us.”
This article originally appeared in Daytona Beach’s Journal: Daytona 500: The owner of the Rick Hendrick Tops Petty Wins Record team
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