Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Daytona

A TURKEY: At Watkins Glen International, Kyle Larson swept the weekend on the 2.45-mile road course. On Saturday, the Elk Grove, California, native drove the No. 88 HendrickCars.com JR Motorsports entry to victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event. Larson then led the final five laps in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race to win in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Dating back to last year, the 2021 Cup Series champion now has three consecutive wins at the New York track.

18 AND LIFE TO GO: Last weekend’s Cup Series win was Larson’s 18th which now ranks him 47th on the all-time Cup Series victory list. The 2021 Cup Series champion is now tied with Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant, Kasey Kahne, Geoff Bodine and Ryan Newman in that statistical category.

COMETH FOR THE ICEMAN: Larson’s win last weekend at Watkins Glen marked his 12th with Hendrick Motorsports. He now sits tied for fourth with the “Iceman” Terry Labonte for most Cup Series wins for the 14-time Cup Series champion organization. Jeff Gordon (93) tops the list followed by Jimmie Johnson (83) and Chase Elliott (17).

TEN TO FIVE: Larson’s second win of the season marked his 10th top-five finish of 2022. One of those top-five finishes was a fourth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in April – his best Cup Series result at a superspeedway. The 30-year-old driver is tied for the most top-five finishes this season with Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Elliott.

OH SO CLOSE: In 2017, Larson led the field with one lap to go in the DAYTONA 500. However, his Chevrolet ran out of fuel on the final lap and he coasted to a 12th-place finish. In 16 starts at the 2.5-mile track, Larson has five top-10s.

WINNER AT DAYTONA: In July 2018, Larson won the Xfinity Series race at Daytona. The 2014 Cup Series rookie-of-the-year led a race-high 40 laps en route to victory.

YOUR CAR NEEDS: This weekend, Larson will drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. 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.

REGULAR SEASON CHAMP: This past weekend at Watkins Glen International, Chase Elliott clinched his first NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Championship with one race remaining before the playoffs get underway. With that honor comes 15 coveted playoff points that will be added to the 25 he has already accumulated (plus any playoff points he earns in the regular season finale) at the start of the playoffs. This will mark Elliott’s seventh consecutive playoff appearance as he has earned a spot in every full-time season he has raced in the series. The Hendrick Motorsports driver heads to Daytona International Speedway with a 134-point lead over teammate Kyle Larson.

DAYTONA STATS: In 13 Cup Series starts at Daytona, Elliott has two top-five finishes – both being runner-up results – four top-10s and three poles. At the 2.5-mile superspeedway, he has led 126 laps, including 36 laps last August. While the Dawsonville, Georgia, native is still looking to capture his first points-paying Cup Series win on Daytona’s oval, he does have two Duel victories (2017 and 2018) and also won a Cup Series event on the track’s road course in 2020.

ACTIVE STREAK: Elliott’s four top-10 finishes have come in the four most recent events on the Daytona oval. That is currently the longest active streak at the track and the longest by a Hendrick Motorsports driver there since Jimmie Johnson had five straight top-10 finishes between 2004 and 2006.

STARRING ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS: In four starts in 2022 on superspeedways and similar tracks, Elliott is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all four events. The 2020 Cup Series champion scored a victory on the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway just last month, which uses the superspeedway rules package, leading 96 laps. In addition to his win, he finished 10th in the DAYTONA 500, sixth in the Atlanta spring race and seventh at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 9 has earned the most points across those three tracks this season with 178.

GREAT EIGHT: Across Elliott’s last eight Cup Series starts at Daytona and Talladega, he has finished with a series-high six top-10 results. Two of those finishes were runner-up results, which is tied with Bubba Wallace for the most. His average finish during that span also tops the series among drivers with more than two starts (9.5).

NOT YOUR AVERAGE ALAN: Alan Gustafson leads all active crew chiefs with 11 superspeedway poles, including five at Daytona. He has one points-paying win on traditional superspeedways coming in April of 2019 at Talladega with Elliott. The duo also scored a victory at Atlanta earlier this year, a 1.54-mile track that races more like a superspeedway now. Daytona’s oval is the site of two Duel victories for the No. 9 pit boss – both with Elliott in 2017 and 2018.

RETURNING HOME: Gustafson will make his return home to the “World Center of Racing” this weekend. Gustafson grew up in Ormond Beach, Florida, just down the road from the legendary track. After graduating from Seabreeze High School, Gustafson enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to study mechanical engineering. This marks his 18th season as a crew chief and his seventh year with Elliott. 

RACEDAY APPEARANCE: On Saturday, Elliott will stop by the Team Chevy stage for a Q&A at 4:45 p.m. ET.

A SHOC RETURNS: This weekend, A SHOC Energy is back as the primary sponsor of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for its second and final race of the 2022 season. Earlier this year, the performance energy drink brand was on board for the spring Richmond Raceway event where Elliott and the No. 9 team earned a 14th-place result. Get a glimpse of all the angles of the 2022 A SHOC paint scheme here.

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Axalta/Service King Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media at the Daytona International Speedway media center on Friday, Aug. 26, at 3:30 p.m. local time.

POINTS, POINTS, POINTS: Heading into the final race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, William Byron has secured 13 playoff points – tied for the fourth-most by a driver so far this season with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. 

UP FRONT: Byron continues to hold the statistic of leading the second-most laps this season with 611 behind teammate Chase Elliott, who has led 688. The laps led by Byron are not only his most in a single Cup Series season but have come across 12 races – tied for the seventh-most races led by a driver this year with Ross Chastain.

SUPER ON SUPERSPEEDWAYS: Saturday’s race at Daytona International Speedway will be Byron’s 19th superspeedway start in the Cup Series. In his previous 18 starts, Byron has scored one win (Daytona, August 2020), two runner-up finishes, four top-fives, and four top-10s with 187 laps led. In fact, two of Byron’s four top-five finishes have come in the summer race at Daytona – including his first Cup Series win.

BACK AT THE BEACH: During his time in the Cup Series, Byron has nine starts at Daytona. In that time, he has collected one win, two top-five finishes, two top-10s, and led 93 laps. However, his stats don’t accurately depict Byron’s success at the 2.5-mile oval. Not only is this the venue where he collected his first pole award (2019 DAYTONA 500) and his first Cup Series win, but he also won the Duel qualifying race in 2020 and was in position to capture the win during the summer race in 2019 before weather ended the event early, leaving Byron with a runner-up finish. Byron’s success here doesn’t end in the premiere series. During his 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship campaign, Byron qualified third in the July race, leading 29 laps to score the victory, becoming the youngest driver with a Xfinity Series win at the venue at 19 years, seven months and one day. 

RUDY RETURNS: Saturday’s race will mark crew chief Rudy Fugle’s fourth Cup Series start at the 2.5-mile oval. In his three previous starts, all with Byron and the No. 24 team, they have started on the front row two times, showing speed across all three events prior to unfortunately being caught up in on-track incidents before the checkered flag. Aside from those three Cup starts, the Livonia, New York, native has nine other oval starts at Daytona, with seven coming in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and two in the Xfinity Series. Fugle has one runner-up result, one top-five finish and two top-10s across those races. Of those Truck Series starts, one was with Byron where the duo qualified and finished 13th.

BEACH BUMS: Returning to Daytona for the second time this season, two crew members on the No. 24 team will be making their way back home for Saturday’s race. Engineer Brandon McSwain grew up approximately 100 miles from the “World Center of Racing” in Auburndale, Florida. While just a few miles down the road from where McSwain grew up, engine tuner Ben Proctor calls Lakeland, Florida, home. 

RACEDAY APPEARANCE: On Saturday, Byron will stop by the Team Chevy stage for a Q&A at 4:10 p.m. ET before appearing at the NASCAR Live! stage at 4:30 p.m. ET.

AT IT AGAIN WITH AXALTA: Heading to Daytona for the second time in the 2022 season, Axalta will be back on board Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Saturday’s race with co-branding from Service King. Now in its 30th year of partnership with Hendrick Motorsports, this is Axalta’s fifth season as a primary partner on Byron’s No. 24. 

DAYTONA DÉJÀ VU: Alex Bowman will return to Daytona International Speedway this Saturday for the final race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season. In this year’s DAYTONA 500, Bowman qualified on the front row for the fifth consecutive year and garnered Hendrick Motorsports’ eighth 1-2 start at the season opener. The No. 48 driver has three top-10 finishes across his 12 starts at the superspeedway and matched his career-best finish of seventh place in last year’s regular season finale at Daytona.

2022 RECAP: With one race left in the Cup Series regular season, Bowman has tallied one win (Las Vegas Motor Speedway), three top-five finishes and 10 top-10s thus far – locking himself into the Cup Series playoffs for the fifth consecutive year with Hendrick Motorsports. 

IN GOOD COMPANY: Since the start of the 2021 Cup Series season, the 29-year-old’s five wins trail only two drivers and both happen to be his teammates – 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott (six) and 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson (12). 

IVES’ SUPERSPEEDWAY SUCCESS: Crew chief Greg Ives has an impressive background on superspeedways, finding success throughout his career on top of the box. In the Cup Series, the Bark River, Michigan, native has tallied four pole positions – three of those coming at Daytona – two points-paying wins (Talladega Superspeedway in May 2015 and Daytona in July 2015 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and two victories in the Daytona Duel qualifying races (2015 and 2016 with Earnhardt).  In addition, Ives led Regan Smith to a NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Talladega in May 2013.

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BEST FRIEND: Each week of the season, Bowman and primary sponsor Ally have joined forces to contribute $4,800 to Best Friends Animal Society. If Bowman wins, the donation increases to $10,000. To date, a total of $130,000 has been donated to Best Friends Animal Society and its network partners in each race market the Cup Series visits.

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