Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Bristol

TENNESSEE TITAN: Last September on the .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson led a race-high 175 laps en route to his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory on the Tennessee track. The win, which was his sixth of a 10-victory championship season, was his first of two consecutive playoff elimination race wins.

AFTER FURTHER REVIEW: Larson finished eighth on Sunday in the 400-mile event at Kansas Speedway – his 14th top-10 in 28 Cup Series races this season. He has also garnered 10 top-five finishes which is tied for the series lead with Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

THIRD AND 12: Heading into the final Round of 16 race, Larson is currently eighth in the driver point standings. He is 31 markers behind the leader and 27 markers ahead of the cutoff position entering the elimination event. No matter how the other competitors finish in the two stages or the race, the defending race winner will advance to the Round of 12 if he secures at least 29 points in the race scheduled for 500 laps.

FANTASY STATS: Along with last year’s win, Larson has three top-five finishes and eight top-10s in 13 starts on the Bristol concrete track. He has led 816 circuits around the high-banked short track – second most for the 30-year-old driver and trailing only Dover Motor Speedway (899 laps led) in that statistical category.

NICKEL BACK: In 12 playoff starts while driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, the Elk Grove, California, native has visited victory lane in five of those events. He trails three drivers in that statistical category for the 14-time championship organization. Elliott has six playoff wins while Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon has seven. Larson trails seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson by 24.

DOUBLE-DIGIT FAVORITE: With 12 wins since the beginning of 2021, Larson is the only double-digit winner over that span. The 30-year-old driver has six more than Elliott and seven more than Alex Bowman – his Hendrick Motorsports teammates that rank second and third during that timeframe.

AWAY UNIFORMS: This weekend, Larson will drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and wear his blue “away” uniform. 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 94 dealership locations nationwide and provides the complete home and away schedule.

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media at the Bristol Motor Speedway media center on Friday, Sept. 16 at 3:30 p.m. local time. 

COVER FOUR DEFENSE: After a solid run at Kansas Speedway allowed him to gain 14 points on the cutoff line from the previous week, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team currently sit 28 points above the elimination line. Elliott is seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings heading into this weekend’s Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway. No matter what other playoff drivers do, Elliott will advance to the Round of 12 if he scores at least 28 points. This is his seventh consecutive playoff appearance. The previous two seasons he advanced to the Championship 4, earning a Cup Series title in 2020.

TENNESSEE SLOBBERKNOCKER: This Saturday, Elliott will make his 12th Bristol Cup Series start on the track’s concrete oval. The 26-year-old driver has three top-five finishes – a best effort of third – five top-10s and 439 laps led at “The Last Great Colosseum” – his third-most at active tracks on the Cup Series circuit. Elliott tops the category of the longest active streak of races led on the concrete surface with six. He’s led 423 laps in that span, which is the most of any driver. While the driver of the No. 9 is winless in Cup Series points races at Bristol, Elliott and the team captured the NASCAR All-Star Race win there in 2020.

DUAL-THREAT QUARTERBACK: This weekend also marks Elliott’s 250th Cup Series start, all of which have been with Hendrick Motorsports. So far in his career, he’s earned 17 wins, 84 top-five finishes, 134 top-10s and led 4,762 laps. He garnered top rookie honors in 2016 and captured the Cup Series championship in 2020. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native is also the reigning NMPA Most Popular Driver Award winner, an honor he’s received for four consecutive years.

FORCED FUMBLE: Last fall at Bristol, Elliott led 129 of 500 laps, finishing inside the top five in each of the first two stages. In the final stage, the 2020 Cup Series champion had a tire go down, forcing him to pit under the green flag late in the race. The unscheduled stop relegated him to a 25th-place finish, which was still good enough for Elliott to advance to the Round of 12.

MAN IN MOTION: Elliott will make his 40th short-track start in the Cup Series this Saturday at Bristol. In those previous 39 races, he has garnered one win (Martinsville Speedway 2020), 13 top-five finishes, 19 top-10s and led 1,437 laps. Elliott currently leads the field with 604 laps led over the last five short-track races. This season across three paved short-track starts, he has one top-five finish, two top-10s, the fifth-most points on that track type and 186 laps led, earning a best effort of fifth last month at Richmond Raceway. He also scored the pole earlier this year at Martinsville.

THE GUNNER: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 33rd Bristol Cup Series race on Saturday night. In his previous 32 starts at the track, the Ormond Beach, Florida, native has one win (Kyle Busch in 2007), nine top-five finishes and 16 top-10s with 1,039 laps led. This season marks Gustafson’s 15th playoff appearance, second to only Hendrick Motorsports’ Chad Knaus. The duo is also 1-2 in most wins by crew chiefs in the playoffs – Knaus with 29 and Gustafson with 12. Six of Gustafson’s playoff victories have come with Elliott.

DOWN, SET, HOOT HOOT: Hooters is back on board the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 this weekend for its second of three races in 2022 Saturday night at Bristol. In conjunction with the race, Elliott will stop by the Johnson City, Tennessee, Hooters (2288 North Roan Street) for an autograph session from 11 a.m.- 12 p.m. local time on Friday. Hooters will also be the primary partner for the No. 9 team next month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Get a look at all of the angles of the 2022 Hooters paint scheme here.

WING FORMATION: Fans can visit Hooters on Mondays after Cup Series races this season and ask their server for free fried pickles when Elliott finishes in the top 10. If he wins, customers receive free boneless wings with any 10-wing purchase. Get more details at hooters.com/racing.

COVERING THE POINT SPREAD: With two races complete and one to go in the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, William Byron sits second in the standings and is 48 points above the cutoff line heading into Bristol Motor Speedway. His sixth-place effort at Kansas Speedway saw him gain 16 points on the elimination line. No matter what other playoff drivers do, the 24-year-old will advance to the Round of 12 if he scores at least eight points in Saturday night’s race.

DRIVING THE FIELD: Byron continues to hold the statistic of leading the second-most laps so far this season with 671 behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, who has led 719. Those 671 laps led by Byron are not only his most in a single Cup Series season but have come across 15 races.

SECOND AND TEN: In the first two playoff races, only five drivers have finished in the top 10 in both races. Byron is one of those five drivers with an eighth-place finish at Darlington Raceway and a sixth-place effort in Kansas. The others to accomplish this are his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman as well as Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace.

ALL-PRO: With the Cup Series taking on its fourth paved short track of the 2022 season, Byron has momentum on his side. In the three previous paved short-track races this year, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has collected 133 points – the most of any driver. In the last five short-track races, Byron has one win, four top-five finishes with 334 laps led – the second-most laps led in the last five races on that track type behind teammate Elliott. In fact, Byron is the only driver to finish in the top five in four of the last five short-track races. 

BATTLE IN THE TRENCHES: This weekend, Byron will make his eighth Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has a best qualifying effort of second at “The Last Great Colosseum,” lining up alongside teammate Elliott in April 2019. In his seven starts at Bristol, the fifth-year Cup Series driver has a track-best finish of third coming in last year’s fall race which helped lock him into the next round of the playoffs. 

CALLING AN AUDIBLE: Saturday night’s race will mark crew chief Rudy Fugle’s second Cup Series start on pavement at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” In last year’s showing, Fugle and the No. 24 team qualified 14th and went on to score a third-place finish in the playoff elimination race. In nine other NASCAR national series starts (seven in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series), Fugle has one win at the .533-mile track, coming in the summer of 2013 with Kyle Busch. His drivers have collected three top-five finishes, along with six top-10s in his Truck Series starts atop the pit box. 

DEFENSE! DEFENSE!: Earlier this year it was announced that Acronis would extend its partnership with Hendrick Motorsports through 2025. The extension included two primary races with Byron and the No. 24 team, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course earlier this season as well as Saturday night’s race at Bristol. 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.

LAST DRIVE: Last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Alex Bowman took home his fourth top-five finish of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, crossing the finish line in fourth. The No. 48 driver finished the first stage in 17th and won the second stage, leading a season-high 107 laps at the 1.5-mile venue. 

PICK SIX: Bowman’s top-five performance at Kansas bumped the 29-year-old driver’s playoff ranking to sixth, gaining 20 points on the cutoff line and moving up four positions with one race to go in the Round of 16. He is 30 points above the elimination line heading to Bristol Motor Speedway. No matter what other playoff drivers do, if Bowman earns at least 26 points on Saturday night, he will lock himself into the next round.

ALL-OUT BLITZ: As the Cup Series heads to Bristol this Saturday, Bowman has 11 starts at the .533-mile venue. In those appearances, the Tucson, Arizona, native has two top-five finishes and three top-10s. His most recent result on the concrete layout of “The Last Great Colosseum” was a fifth-place result in September 2021.

IN THE RED ZONE: Bowman is one of five Cup Series drivers to finish in the top 10 in the first two races in the Round of 16. The driver of the No. 48 is joined by teammate William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace as the lone drivers to do this.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL: In the last 10 races at short tracks in the Cup Series, Bowman has taken home hardware with wins at Richmond Raceway (April 2021) and the penultimate race of the 2021 postseason at Martinsville Speedway. In addition to Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick also have two short-track wins over this stretch. 

FOUR-THREE FORMATION: Crew chief Greg Ives celebrated his 43rd birthday on Tuesday. The veteran crew chief has tallied a total of 10 wins, 50 top-five finishes and 107 top-10s across his eight-year career atop the pit box in the Cup Series. Ives has called the shots for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Bowman in NASCAR’s premier series. Last month, the Michigan native announced he would be stepping down from his crew chief duties at season’s end and transitioning to a different role at Hendrick Motorsports.  

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