Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Martinsville

PUSHING THROUGH THE PLAYOFFS: Kyle Larson has won the opening race in two of the three rounds of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs (Round of 16 at Darlington Raceway and Round of 8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway). His win at Vegas locked him into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. The driver that won the opening race of the Round of 8 has gone on to win the championship in three of the last five seasons, including Larson in 2021. Looking ahead, the driver of the No. 5 has claimed victories at the remaining two tracks on the schedule (Martinsville Speedway in 2023 and Phoenix in 2021).

CONTENDING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP: The 2021 Cup Series champion returns to Phoenix next weekend where he will contend for his second title in the sport’s top series. Larson won the championship in 2021 in his only year transferring to the final round. Since the start of 2021, the 31-year-old driver has had the most wins in the playoffs (eight) and is ahead in that category by five victories. Throughout the 2023 playoffs, Larson leads the field in average running position (7.08), most laps run in the top five (1,480) and the most laps run in the top 10 (1,762).

MARTINSVILLE MEMORIES: This spring, Larson earned his first victory at Martinsville and Hendrick Motorsports’ 28th Cup Series win at the Ridgeway, Virginia, track. With crew chief Cliff Daniels’ strategy calls setting up the team to have track position late, Larson led the final 30 laps to earn the victory. In his 17 starts on the 0.526-mile short track, Larson has earned one win, four top-five finishes, five top-10s and led 210 laps. In his last two races at Martinsville, he has an average finish of 1.50.

SHORT-TRACK STRENGTH: In 2023, the HendrickCars.com driver has two wins and one runner-up finish in short-track races in the Cup Series. In addition, Larson won the All-Star Race during the series’ historic return to the 0.625-mile track of North Wilkesboro Speedway. Larson has four points-paying short-track wins in the Cup Series (Richmond Raceway in September 2017, Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2021, Richmond and Martinsville in April 2023), with the latter three coming in his time at Hendrick Motorsports. On short tracks in the Next Gen car (since 2022), Larson has led the fifth-most laps (256). 

IN 2023: This season, Larson leads the series in laps led (1,127) and is tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron for the most top-five finishes (14). He is in a six-way tie for the fifth-most top-10 finishes (16). Larson ranks third in the following statistical categories: average running position (11.02), most laps run in the top five (3,664) and most laps run in the top 10 (5,285). He also ranks second-best on restarts, based on information from Racing Insights.

FOUR TIRES FAST: After 34 races this season, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com pit crew has the second-fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 11.068 seconds. The team’s five-man pit crew consists of Blaine Anderson (front-tire changer), R.J. Barnette (tire carrier), Brandon Harder (fueler), Brandon Johnson (jackman) and Calvin Teague (rear-tire changer).

EXTRACURRICULAR: In addition to Larson’s full-time Cup Series schedule, he races late models and sprint cars in his spare time. On Monday, Larson and his brother-in-law Brad Sweet acquired the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series from NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart. Following the inaugural season of the High Limit Sprint Car Series, the mid-week series that Larson and Sweet co-own, the two learned a lot and wanted to further contribute to and grow the sport of sprint car racing. 

WIN A CHEVROLET COLORADO Z71: Want to drive Larson’s 2023 Chevrolet Colorado truck? One lucky winner will win his ride. Fans can donate now to enter a drawing for a chance to take home the Z71 Crew Cab 4WD package with custom features and styling. This special sweepstakes raises funding for the Kyle Larson Foundation’s “DRIVE FOR 5” campaign that supports youth, families and communities in need. The campaign is nearing its fundraising goal of $500,000. Click here to check out this sweet custom ride and enter to win today. The drawing closes on Sunday, Dec. 3, and the winner will be chosen on Monday, Dec. 11. 

WIN AND IN: Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team need to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4 in the owner playoffs. The team’s most recent start at Martinsville marked the return of Elliott to the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 following his leg injury in early March. After qualifying 24th, Elliott and the team rallied to finish 10th – the latest in a three-race streak of top-10s at the track for the group. Elliott and crew are no strangers to victory at the 0.526-mile track as they earned the win in 2020, punching their ticket to the Championship 4 in the Cup Series playoffs. They went on to capture the championship after scoring the victory the very next week at Phoenix Raceway.

PAPERCLIP PERFORMANCE: Elliott is set to make his 17th Martinsville start in the Cup Series this weekend. The 27-year-old driver made his Cup Series debut for Hendrick Motorsports at the track on March 29, 2015. Since then, he has led a total of 957 laps there – his most laps led at any track – including pacing the field for 185 circuits or more in three of the last six Cup events. Across his 16 Cup starts at Martinsville, he has one win (fall 2020), five top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. He leads all drivers there in stage wins (six) and is also in a three-way tie for the second-most top-10s (six) in the last eight Martinsville races. Elliott’s 10 top-10 finishes at Martinsville are tied for his most at a single track (with Kansas Speedway and Michigan International Speedway). Since the start of 2020, the driver of the No. 9 has earned the most points (306) at the Virginia short track.

GOING BACK TO ‘22: Last season, Elliott was one of only six drivers, including teammate William Byron, to finish in the top 10 in both Martinsville Cup Series races. In the spring 2022 race, Elliott and the No. 9 team started from the pole and swept the first two stages. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native led 185 laps during the race, including the 10,000th lap led by a Hendrick Motorsports driver at Martinsville – the only track to see a team lead over 10,000 laps at one venue. Elliott ultimately took the checkered flag in the 10th position after the race was sent into overtime. In the fall, the driver of the No. 9 started the race in second and finished second in each of the first two stages, leading 54 laps en route to a 10th-place result. 
 
SHORT-TRACK STATS: On Sunday, Elliott will make his 45th short-track start in the Cup Series. In those races, he has garnered one win (Martinsville 2020), 14 top-five finishes, 23 top-10s, two pole awards and 1,491 laps led. His 240 laps led on short tracks in the Next Gen car (since 2022) are seventh-most in the series. This season in three Cup starts on short tracks, Elliott has two top-10 results – 10th at Martinsville and seventh at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the spring Richmond Raceway race, which Elliott missed due to his injury, Josh Berry filled in as the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, earning a runner-up finish. 

AG’S PAPERCLIP PAST: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 38th Martinsville Cup Series race from atop the pit box. In his previous 37 Cup Series starts at the track, he has three wins, 15 top-five finishes, 27 top-10s and 1,934 laps led at the venue. Gustafson most recently visited victory lane at the Virginia short track with Elliott in November 2020 to solidify the No. 9 team’s spot in the Championship 4. The veteran crew chief’s other two wins came with NASCAR Hall of Famer and team vice chairman Jeff Gordon in October 2013 and November 2015.

GET UP AND GO: NAPA Auto Parts is on board the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 this weekend at Martinsville. The Atlanta-based company has been Elliott’s primary partner for 11 of his 16 Cup Series starts at the short track, including his 2020 victory. This season marks NAPA’s 10th year partnering with the five-time National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver, dating back to his first season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Get a closer look at the 2023 paint scheme here.

CAREER SEASON: Heading into the Round of 8 finale for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, William Byron continues to add to his already impressive 2023 season stats. After 34 races, Byron leads the series in wins (six), stage wins (eight), average finishing position (11.12) and top-10 finishes (20). He is tied for the most top-five finishes with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (14). In addition, he has also led a single-season career-best 921 laps – second to Larson (1,127). Byron ranks second for the season in average running position (9.96), laps run in the top five (3,783) and laps run in the top 10 (5,382). 

PLAYOFF OUTLOOK: Byron enters Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway leading the points standings. He is the highest driver without a win in this round, 30 points above the elimination line to advance to the Championship 4. So far in the playoffs, Byron has the fourth-best average finish (5.50) all-time through the first eight races of the elimination-style playoffs. He also has victories at both of the remaining tracks: Martinsville (2022) and Phoenix Raceway (2023). The 25-year-old driver is looking to advance to his first Championship 4 at the Cup Series level. No matter what any other competitor does on Sunday, Byron and the No. 24 team need just 36 points to lock themselves in for the championship fight.

DIME PIECE: Over the last 10 races of the season, Byron leads the series in points (413), top-five finishes (six), top-10s (nine) and average finish (5.30). In that stretch, he is tied for the most wins (two) and runner-up finishes (two).

MARTINSVILLE MINUTES: Despite his young age, Byron’s time at Martinsville goes back to when he attended his first Cup Series race at the paperclip-shaped track in 2006 as a fan. Since then, he has moved through the NASCAR ranks and is poised to make his 12th Cup Series start at the 0.526-mile track. Of his 11 Cup Series starts at the half-mile short track, Byron has one win (April 2022), four top-five finishes (tied for his most at a track), six top-10s and 221 laps led (tied for his third-most at a track).

THE FUGLE FILES: This Sunday’s race will mark crew chief Rudy Fugle’s sixth in the Cup Series at Martinsville. In his first five Cup Series starts at the 0.526-mile short track, Fugle has one win (2022), three top-five finishes and four top-10s with the No. 24 team. Aside from his Cup Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has 14 races at the Virginia venue under his belt, all in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In those 14 races, Fugle has accumulated one win (March 2019), six top-five finishes and 12 top-10s. Two of those previous starts were with Byron in 2016, where the duo started seventh in both races and raced to a third-place result in the spring and an eighth-place finish in the fall. 

PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 34 races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew remains in the top spot with the fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 10.940 seconds. On Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the No. 24 team had the fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 9.986 seconds. The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler).

WELCOME PODS: Last week, Hendrick Motorsports announced that PODS Enterprises LLC, the industry leader in portable moving and storage solutions, will join Byron and the No. 24 team as the primary sponsor for this weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville. PODS has assisted with more than six million moves with locations serving 46 states and was recently recognized on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Customer Service 2024 in the “Moving Services” category. For a closer look at Byron’s No. 24 PODS Chevy, click here. 

FOND MEMORIES: This Sunday, Alex Bowman returns to Martinsville Speedway, a track where he has previously won. The 30-year-old driver captured the victory in the 2021 penultimate race – his fourth win in his career-best season in the NASCAR Cup Series. In that race, Bowman finished eighth in the first stage and second in stage two before leading the final eight circuits en route to victory. His win is one of four victories for Hendrick Motorsports in the last six races at the 0.526-mile short track.

SHORT-TRACK SURGES: Bowman is no slouch at short tracks. The Tucson, Arizona, native has two wins (Richmond Raceway and Martinsville both in 2021). He has also finished fourth this year in the exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and eighth at Richmond in the spring. 

SET FOR THE RESTART: Bowman is tied as the sixth-best driver on restarts in 2023, according to data from Racing Insights. That mark is the second-best among the Hendrick Motorsports quartet, as teammate Kyle Larson is second in this statistical category. 

THE BOYS OF FALL: The No. 48 pit crew currently holds the 10th-best four-tire pit stop average in 2023, clocking in at 11.369 seconds. The over-the-wall crew is made up of Andrew Bridgeforth (rear-tire changer), Jacob Conley (fueler), Brandon Grier (tire carrier), Allen Holman (jackman), and Donnie Tasser (front-tire changer).   

SAVE THEM ALL: Bowman and his primary partner Ally are teaming up this year to bring back the Best Friends Animal Society donation effort. This week, the duo will make charitable contributions to the SPCA of Martinsville and Henry County, which serves the local community in Martinsville, Virginia. Bowman and Ally will donate $4,800 to Best Friends and the SPCA of Martinsville and Henry County. Ally will increase its donation to $10,000 if the No. 48 team wins on Sunday. Bowman and Ally have won at the 0.526-mile oval, donating $10,000 to the Pittsylvania Pet Center in Chatham, Virginia. 

SHINING BRIGHT IN THE DAYTIME: For the race at Martinsville, the No. 48 Ally Chevy will adorn its “day” scheme. This scheme hosts a white base with bright plum, grapefruit and seafoam stripes down the sides. Check out all the angles of the ride here. 

*Most **Most (tie)