Sunday did not have a memorable outing in store for Rick Hendrick’s team at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Of the four drivers clad in Hendrick Motorsports badging, only Kyle Larson managed a top-10 finish (fourth place). The others fell prey to the passing storm that derailed much of the scheduled timings of the race weekend.
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Chase Elliott started the race from pole position based on NASCAR’s qualifying format since the time trials on Saturday were terminated due to rain. He led the first 41 laps and collected some crucial stage points. He finished third in Stage 1 and ninth in Stage 2. Things took a brash turn in Lap 194 when he made contact with Joey Logano following a restart.
Final in New Hampshire. pic.twitter.com/b692urAXex
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) June 24, 2024
The #9 Hendrick Motorsports crew was able to make some quick repairs and keep him on the lead lap. He finished his race in 18th place. Bowman too managed to pick up stage points having finished 10th in stage 1.
His day came to an early end in just Lap 144 when his car experienced engine issues (36th place, DNF). William Byron finished in 26th place after a largely action-less outing. His hunt for a top-10 finish at the Magic Mile continues.
Kyle Larson salvages the day for Rick Hendrick’s team with a stellar result
The result at Loudon was Larson’s eighth top-5 finish of 2024. He started the race from the 19th spot and slowly worked his way up. He finished Stage 2 in seventh place after which the race was stopped in Lap 219. Following a lengthy delay, it resumed on wet weather tires. Larson continued to pick leaders off and ultimately finished the day in fourth place.
He said, as per hendrickmotorsports.com, “Yeah, it was fun [racing on a damp track] When it’s like that, I think that is why you see a lot of the dirt racers kind of migrate to the front. I just tried to feel it out under caution. It’s not my best bet on the restart to go extremely low, but it worked out and I was able to maintain track position the rest of the race, so I am proud of that.”
He is now tied with Elliott at the top of the points table. Byron sits at seventh place and Bowman follows at 12th. The teammates will next race alongside each other at the Nashville Superspeedway next Sunday.
