After completing 312 laps in the hot deserts of Arizona, the NASCAR Cup Series heroes will fly to Bristol for their next race. While every single one of them will vie to conquer the Last Great Colosseum, the ones wearing the colors of Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) will have a clear advantage, for their past at the venue favors them.
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Over the last three races at Bristol’s 0.533-mile short oval, HMS has been the only team to have three drivers finish in the top five in multiple races. In the 2021 Bass Pro Shops Night race, Kyle Larson emerged as the winner, with William Byron and Alex Bowman squeezing into the top five. In the 2022 edition of the same event, Chase Elliott, Byron, and Larson found themselves on the list.
All three of these races were held as part of the respective year’s playoffs. The coming race, however, will be NASCAR’s return to the track’s concrete banks and the first spring race there since 2020.
On the same note, HMS has the most top-five (seven) and top-ten finishes (nine) at Bristol.
Kyle Larson is Rick Hendrick’s best driver going to the sixth race of the ongoing season. He is the only one of the current quartet to post a win there and already has his 2024 playoff spot fixed. He has a high finishing average of 2.7 and has scored 145 points in the last three races.
He has also led 870 laps at the track thus far in his career, making it one of his best.
The chances of other Hendrick Motorsports stars heading into Bristol
William Byron has been HMS’s second-best driver. He finished in 3rd place in both 2021 and 2022. He holds an average finish rate of 5.0 in the last three races and has scored 120 points in them. Despite his mastery, Byron hasn’t led a lap on the short track yet.
With each passing race, Chase Elliott’s winless streak keeps extending. The 2020 Cup Series champion has now gone 35 races without a win. The last three Bristol races have given him an average finish rate of 11.3 and a points tally of 99. Notably, he won an All-Star exhibition race at the track in 2020.
Bowman’s best record at Bristol is the fifth-place finish that came in 2021. Over nine starts at the track, he has two top-fives and three top-tens. After a tough race at Phoenix, HMS will be looking to get back to winning ways over the coming weekend.
