Hendrick Motorsports delivered a statement performance at Martinsville, where William Byron dominated by leading 304 of 500 laps to punch his ticket to the Championship 4, while teammate Kyle Larson advanced on points. With both drivers bound for Phoenix, the organization now turns its attention to the finale, though history shows short tracks haven’t been its strongest suit.
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After falling short in each of the last three NASCAR Cup Series Championship races to Team Penske at Phoenix Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports knew its flat-track program needed a serious overhaul. Progress has been evident this year, most notably when three HMS cars finished inside the top 10 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a feat the team hadn’t achieved in nearly a decade.
Momentum carried over to the Round of 16 at World Wide Technology Raceway, where Chase Elliott led the Hendrick contingent with a third-place finish and Larson paced 52 laps before fading to 12th. At Richmond Raceway, Larson clawed his way from 30th on the grid to finish sixth and lead nine laps, while Byron came home 12th after starting 14th.
Alex Bowman showed muscle on the short track, charging from ninth to finish runner-up, though Elliott’s race unraveled after an early accident left him 38th.
These consistent strides have been years in the making. Dating back to 2024, Hendrick’s engineering group zeroed in on short-track weaknesses, fine-tuning setups to mirror Phoenix-like conditions at venues such as Gateway and Loudon. The focus now is to build on those gains and polish every detail before the title decider.
Larson acknowledged as much after Martinsville. “I thought we were really strong. Obviously, this is nothing like Phoenix, but this has probably really been the only short track I think we’ve been good at, as an organization. So, yeah, like I mentioned, at Gateway, we were really strong. Loudon and we were strong.”
“Richmond is a tough track for us, but you know, I feel like we were a little bit better there than normal. So, we have made gains, and now we just got to go there next week, and hopefully it all clicks,” he continued.
If the numbers tell the story, Hendrick’s odds are promising. At Phoenix, Larson has logged five top-10s and four top-fives in his last seven starts, while Byron has matched him with five top-10s and three top-fives over the same stretch.
With both drivers carrying their momentum from Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports looks ready to go toe-to-toe with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the title race in the desert on November 2.
