ANOTHER TOP-FIVE FOR NO. 5: Last weekend at Pocono Raceway, Kyle Larson crossed the finish line seventh but was credited with a fifth-place result after the first and second-place finishers were disqualified following post-race technical inspection. The top-five finish was Larson’s ninth in 21 races this season and he trails only Ross Chastain (10) in that statistical category. 

REARVIEW MIRROR: Last year on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Larson led a race-high 28 laps and built a 4.5-second lead before a caution waved with eight laps to go in the scheduled distance of 82 laps. In overtime, he recovered from late-race contact and a trip into the grass to finish third.

KING OF THE ROAD: Larson won three road course events in 2021, the most ever during a NASCAR Cup Series season. Victories at Sonoma Raceway in June, Watkins Glen International in August and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in October were integral during his 10-win championship season.

OLD MAN LARSON: Three drivers have won races in NASCAR’s premier series on their birthday: Cale Yarborough (twice), Kyle Busch (twice) and Matt Kenseth. Larson will celebrate his 30th birthday on Sunday.

THREE FOR KYLE: There have been 10 road course events since the start of the 2021 season and Larson was victorious in three. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet also posted six top-three finishes during that span – the most of any competitor.

ROAD COURSE RINGERS: Only two Hendrick Motorsports drivers have scored more wins on road courses than Larson. On serpentine layouts in the Cup Series, the all-time winningest driver is NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon with nine while Chase Elliott has crossed the line first on seven occasions.

YOUR CAR NEEDS: This weekend, Larson will drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. From the convenience of home, customers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at HendrickCars.com. The website also makes it easy for customers to find one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealership locations nationwide.

VIEW FROM THE TOP: Chase Elliott continues to grow his NASCAR Cup Series point standings lead with only five races left in the regular season. Currently, he has a 105-point advantage over second-place driver Ross Chastain. In addition to leading the regular season standings, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native has the most playoff points with 25, thanks to his five stage wins and series-leading four victories. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has spent a lot of time at the front of the field, leading a series-high 658 laps in 2022, which is also a career-best mark for the 26-year-old through 21 events.

INDY ROAD COURSE REWIND: In the inaugural race for the Cup Series on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021, Elliott drove to a fourth-place result after starting third and leading 14 laps. That same weekend he also competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event and finished fourth.

9 IN 22: The driver of the No. 9 is one of only three Cup Series drivers to finish inside the top 10 in all three road course races this season – Chastain and Austin Cindric are the others. Elliott has garnered fourth, eighth and second-place efforts at Circuit of The Americas, Sonoma Raceway and Road America, respectively. He has earned the third-most points on serpentine tracks in 2022 with 104, trailing only Ryan Blaney (115) and Chastain (106).

ROAD COURSE CONQUEROR: Elliott has proven his road-racing prowess, leading all active drivers with seven wins on road courses. He’s also third on the all-time list with road course victories, trailing only NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight). Elliott has victories across five different road courses, the most in series history. In 22 Cup Series starts on road courses, Elliott has an average finish of 7.45, which is not only the best among active drivers, but ranks second all-time among drivers (five or more starts) behind NASCAR legend Fireball Roberts (nine starts). He is also tied with Kyle Busch for the most laps led on road courses among active drivers with 404.

KEEP IT ROLLING: The 2020 Cup Series champion is currently riding a streak of five consecutive top-two finishes, which in addition to a career-best mark for Elliott is also a series-best in 2022. In his five most recent starts, he's amassed three victories and two runner-up finishes. He also has six consecutive top-10 finishes, which matches a career-best mark, stands as a season-best for the points leader and is presently the longest active streak in the series.

SINGLE DIGITS: Elliott's impressive average finish of 9.95 this season is best among his fellow Cup Series competitors and puts him as the only driver in the single digits. His nearest competitor is Chastain with an average finish of 12.19. 

ALAN THE ACE: Crew chief Alan Gustafson's impressive resume continues to grow as he is currently second for the most wins by an active crew chief with 37 and is only one victory away from tying Rodney Childers. Gustafson leads all active crew chiefs with seven road course victories. 

HOME SWEET INDIANA: No. 9 team engineer Tom Gray hails from Indianapolis. He attended Purdue University and majored in mechanical engineering technology. Gray has worked at Hendrick Motorsports since the spring of 2008 and has been a race engineer for Mark Martin, Gordon, and most recently Elliott. To him, the biggest accomplishments of his racing career so far are winning the Brickyard 400 with Gordon and becoming a NASCAR champion with Elliott.

Chase Elliot enters the race as the betting favorite at +200, and Kyle Larson comes in right behind him at +350. Still, it was the betKansas sportsbook promo codes that assisted bettors in cashing even more significant profits with Elliot on their ticket. 

21 DOWN, 15 TO GO: So far in the 2022 season, William Byron has scored two wins, four top-five finishes, five top-10s, with 611 laps led – the second most by a NASCAR Cup Series driver this season - across 12 of the 21 races. He also has three stage wins and 13 playoff points accumulated – the third-most by any driver. The 24-year-old is also currently ninth in the driver point standings, locked into the Cup Series playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.

HISTORY MAKER: While this is only the second time that the Cup Series has competed on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Byron has made history at IMS before. Taking it back to 2017, Byron made his first trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. While battling for a championship he would earn, Byron became the youngest driver to win a major race at the historic 2.5-mile oval at 19 years, 7 months and 23 days. 

WHAT’S IN A NUMBER?: Byron would love to kiss the bricks again this weekend, and if he does, he will add to the already lengthy legacy the No. 24 has at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dating back to 1994, Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 before going on to win the crown jewel event four more times – the most by a car number at IMS. On Sunday, the Cup Series will compete on the Indianapolis Road Course for the second time and Byron has the chance to extend the history of the No. 24 if he were to capture the checkered flag. A win would also bring the No. 24 closer to the total win mark set by a car number in the Cup Series – currently fifth with 97 wins behind the No. 3 with 100 wins and the No. 2 with 101 wins.

ROAD RESULTS: During his Cup Series career, Byron has been working to step up his road course racing skills. In the last seven road course races to hold qualifying, Byron has won the pole for three of them (Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL 2019, Road America and Indianapolis Road Course 2021). He also has five top-10 finishes in the last 13 road course races. In the three road course races this year, Byron finished 12th at Circuit of The Americas, ninth at Sonoma Raceway, and 16th at Road America.

FUGLE FILES: Along with the rest of the Cup Series field, crew chief Rudy Fugle made his first start at the Indianapolis Road Course in last year’s inaugural event. Fugle and the No. 24 team captured the pole position for the race and remained within the top-five for most of the event. However, in the closing laps, corner curbing came up, resulting in an on-track incident that collected Byron and left him with a 33rd-place finish. In total, Fugle has ten Cup Series starts on road courses, three starts in the Xfinity Series and seven in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In those seven Truck Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has one win (Erik Jones, 2015), three top-five finishes, and five top-10s. One of those seven truck starts was also with Byron where the duo raced to a 10th-place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2016.

CAN HE DO IT AGAIN?: This Saturday, Byron will climb behind the wheel of the No. 24 Super Late Model for Wilson Motorsports for the ARCA/CRA Super Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park for the Circle City 100. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is coming off his sixth straight win in a late model – a victory in his first-ever start at the Slinger Nationals. In addition to that win, Byron has two victories at New Smyrna Speedway, one at Hickory Motor Speedway, one at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and one at Berlin Raceway this year.

BACK HOME AGAIN IN INDIANA: Traveling to Indianapolis for this Sunday’s Cup Series race, one crew member of the No. 24 team calls Indianapolis Motor Speedway their home track. Joining the team for the 2022 season, engineer Ryan Kelly hails from Avon, Indiana, just over 10 miles away from the track. An engineering graduate of Purdue University of Indianapolis, Kelly interned at Andretti Autosport, collecting two Indy 500 wins, before transitioning to his role in NASCAR. 

WELCOME, ACRONIS: On Tuesday, it was announced that Acronis would extend its partnership with Hendrick Motorsports through 2025. The extension features two primary races with Byron and the No. 24 team, including this Sunday at the Indianapolis Road Course as well as the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway in September. With its unique combination of automation and integration, Acronis offers complete cyber protection. Its solutions safeguard data, applications, systems and productivity against loss, theft and downtime – from cyberattacks and hardware failures to natural disasters and human error. Hendrick Motorsports protects its data, applications, systems and overall racing operations by utilizing Acronis for cyber protection, security, backup, anti-ransomware and disaster recovery. For a better look at Byron’s No. 24 Acronis Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, click here.

DOUBLE DOWN: Alex Bowman will pull double duty at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. He will run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry on Saturday and the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday. While this is the first time Bowman will get behind the wheel of the No. 17 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports, he is no stranger to extra seat time, running for Spire Motorsports at Circuit of The Americas in March and Sonoma Raceway in June in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

TURNING LEFT AND RIGHT: Bowman has the ninth-best average finish of active drivers on road courses in the Cup Series, with an average finish of 14.91 after 22 starts. The No. 48 driver matched his career-best road course result with a second-place showing at COTA in March – this finish came after making laps the day before in the Truck Series. His other road course runner-up finish came at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in 2019.

POWER OF THE POINTS: In the season’s three races that have featured left and right turns, the Tucson, Arizona, native has scored 97 points. That total is good for sixth-best among the field in Sunday’s race and second only to Chase Elliott in the Hendrick Motorsports quartet.

IVES ON THE ROAD: In his eight years atop the pit box, Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Ally Racing team, has made 24 starts on road courses in the Cup Series. In those appearances, he has tallied three top-five finishes, 11 top-10s and has an average finish of 12th. The Bark River, Michigan, native also has five starts as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series, garnering two top-five results and three top-10s. 

BEST FRIENDS: Through 21 races this season, Bowman and primary sponsor Ally have donated a total of $110,800 to Best Friends Animal Society and their network partners in the race markets the Cup Series has visited. This Sunday, the No. 48 Ally Chevy will have the Humane Society of Indianapolis on the decklid to support the network partner for the race at Indianapolis. 

FIVE TO GO: With just five races left in the 2022 Cup Series regular season, Bowman is currently scored 11th in the points standings, 10 markers ahead of 12th place. The 29-year-old driver has one win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, three top-five finishes, nine top-10s, and an average finish of 15.19. 

HOME SWEET HOME: No. 48 team car chief Ty Sipes hails from Bloomfield, Indiana, which is located approximately one hour and 45 minutes southwest of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Growing up on a small hobby farm, Sipes gained experience racing at local tracks. In 2010, he started working on a small sprint car team traveling in the USAC Series. He earned his mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University in 2012 and later got an opportunity to work with Kasey Kahne’s World of Outlaws sprint car team. He joined Hendrick Motorsports during the latter part of the 2014 season and got his first NASCAR Cup Series win at his home state track in 2017 on the No. 5 team of Kahne.

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