Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Charlotte ROVAL

Charlotte ROVAL

Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024
2.28-Mile Road Course
2 PM ET
Location: Concord, North Carolina
TV: Fox logo
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 32 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM logo

5 KYLE LARSON
 Age: 32 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 4th (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 3rd (-22)

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Kyle Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series with 12 top-five finishes this season. He has run a series-high 4,091 laps in the top five through 31 events in 2024 while his 10.28 average running position is a series-best.
• The 32-year-old driver is the only competitor to have eclipsed the 1,000-laps-led barrier in 2024 with 1,552, 634 more than any other driver. His 12 stage wins are two more than anyone else.
• Larson is 52 markers ahead of the elimination line entering the final race in the Round of 12. He has 15 more playoff points than any other driver.
• Earlier this year at Sonoma Raceway, the 2021 Cup champion led 19 laps to capture his fifth career victory on road courses. Larson trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott (seven) in that category among active drivers.
• In 2021, Larson led the final eight laps en route to victory at the Charlotte ROVAL. The No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team overcame an alternator belt issue during the race to secure its third road course triumph of that year – the most ever during a season in NASCAR’s premier series.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
 
Age: 28 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 29th (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 8th (-61)

No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Chase Elliott heads into the final race of the Round of 12 eighth in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, 13 points above the elimination line. He reached the Round of 8 in six of his seven playoff appearances. The 2020 premier series champion is tied for the most wins in elimination races among current playoff drivers with five.
• Elliott has two Cup Series victories on the Charlotte ROVAL (2019 and 2020) and is the only repeat winner. He has the most laps led at the track (109) and is tied for the third-most top 10s (four). Elliott’s average finish of 8.17 on the ROVAL ranks third among competitors with at least four starts and leads drivers that have made all six starts.
• Elliott’s seven road course victories lead active Cup Series drivers and rank third all-time. He also has the best average finish (9.26) among active drivers with at least four road course starts and is tied for the most stage wins (eight).
• In the Next Gen era, the 28-year-old is tied for the most top-five finishes on road courses (seven) and has the second-best average finish (11).
• The Hendrick Motorsports driver has earned the fourth-most points (144) among playoff drivers across the first five postseason events.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
 Age: 26 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 3rd (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 1st

 No. 24 Valvoline Confetti Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• After qualifying 16th at Talladega Superspeedway, William Byron finished stage one in third and stage two in fifth before going on to finish Sunday’s race in the third position.
• With Byron’s solid run, he collected enough points to clinch his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native leads the playoff standings, 74 points above the cutoff point.
• So far in the 2024 playoffs, Byron has accumulated 52 stage points – second most – and 172 total points – third most.
• At the Charlotte ROVAL, Byron has an average finish of 12.5 across six starts. Three of those finishes were within the top 10, tied for the fifth most. His 80 laps led are second most and he’s earned 181 points along the way.
• In the Next Gen Era, the 26-year-old driver has two wins on road courses (tied for second) and has a 14.25 average finish.
• In 2024, Byron is tied for fourth with 10 top-five finishes and has 16 top 10s, good enough for third most.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
 Age: 31 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 16th (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 5th (-48)

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Alex Bowman survived a late 28-car incident to finish 16th at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday. The Ally Racing driver climbed to fifth in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, 48 markers behind the leader and 26 to the good entering the last event of the Round of 12 at the Charlotte ROVAL.
• So far in the playoffs, Bowman has earned 13 more points than any other driver (189). He has also acquired the most stage points in the postseason (58). He averaged 25.6 points per race in the regular season but is averaging 37.8 in the playoffs. The 12.2 points-per-race improvement over the first five playoff races is the third-largest by any driver in the stage era. He has advanced to the Round of 12 in all six postseason appearances and the Round of 8 once (2020).
• Bowman is scheduled to make his 250th NASCAR Cup Series start for Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday. The 31-year-old has a best finish of second (2019) at the 2.28-mile road course.
• This season, Bowman has earned the most points on road courses (146), 16 more than the second-place competitor, including a win at the Chicago Street Course in July. Bowman has the longest active top-10 streak at the ROVAL with five (he did not compete in 2022) and his career average finish of 6.4 is best all time.
• With five races remaining, Bowman has seven top-five finishes, his most in a season since 2021 (eight). His 15 top-10 finishes are more than he had in all of 2023.
• For four years, Bowman and Ally have teamed up to support Best Friends Animal Society and its vast network of partners. Every race weekend, the pair donates $4,800 to help homeless pets. This weekend, the charitable donation will go to no-kill animal shelter Lincoln County Animal Services, located in Lincolnton, North Carolina.

Hendrick Motorsports

*Most
**Tied for most

• Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last six road course events with three different drivers.
• The organization has combined to win half of the six events held at the Charlotte ROVAL. A Hendrick Motorsports driver led the most laps in five of those six races.
• All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers will race on Sunday with pink window nets in support of the Erik Jones Foundation’s Window of Hope initiative in support of breast cancer awareness. After the race, each driver will autograph the net and they will be auctioned off Oct. 14 – 21 here. The proceeds will be used to aid early detection and care for breast cancer patients.
• This marks the fourth time all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers made the Round of 12 (2014, 2021, 2022, 2024), the most times any team has advanced four drivers through the opening round.
• Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane 59 times in playoff races, 22 more than any other team. The organization’s 10 wins in 2024 are the most by four over any other team.
• Of the seven drivers to have at least 15 top-10 finishes this season, four drive for Hendrick Motorsports.
• All four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top seven in terms of average time for a four-tire pit stop. The No. 9 over-the-wall squad of Chase Elliott leads the organization and is second in the Cup Series at 10.89 seconds.

 
QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on changes made to the Charlotte ROVAL: “I was able to turn some laps (on the newly configured) ROVAL in the simulator last week. The changes to the track create another passing zone but could also create chaos if drivers make late moves there. With our finish at Talladega, we’re in a much better points position entering this race than years past, but we still have to execute and put together a solid race this weekend.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on changes made to the Charlotte ROVAL: “I kind of look at it like it’s a new race track, truthfully. That section of the track is going to change the entire flow of the lap there, so I’ve been kind of approaching it as a new track with my preparation. I’ve spent some time in the simulator, just trying to really memorize the track and where the little bumps are. Typically those track scans are pretty good. I think that’s probably one of the best things about the simulator is that a driver can go and get familiar with the track layout; surface content, roughness, so on and so forth. It’s really about all I feel like I can do until we get some time on-track.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the importance of running well at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his home track: “I always enjoy racing at Charlotte. It’s nice being at home for the weekend but it’s also nice to have so many friends and family there to watch as well. I’ve been fighting hard to get a win at my home track. I thought we had a shot at the Coca-Cola 600 this year but weather shortened that. Hopefully we can get it done this time instead. I know it would mean a lot to the company as well since the track is literally in Hendrick Motorsports’ backyard. It should hopefully be a good weekend.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the changes to the Charlotte ROVAL and final race of the Round of 12: “This weekend on-track at the ROVAL will look a little different with the re-pave. turn seven looks a little bit like you’re making a U-turn on a one-way street, so it’s going to be a little more chaotic for sure. We don’t know how much the sim(ulator) is close to real life until you actually go do it, so we’ll see. The 48 is currently sitting good in playoff points, but certainly not close enough for comfort. Our Ally Racing team has been really locked-in throughout the playoffs and we’re going to show up ready to perform in efforts to secure a spot in the Round of 8.”