Darlington Raceway
Sunday, Aug. 31
1.366-Mile Egg-Shaped Oval
6 PM ET
Location: Darlington, South Carolina
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 27 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM
5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 6th (Daytona)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: t-1st
No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet
| 2025 | Cup Career | Darlington | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Races | 26 | 392 | 15 |
| Wins | 3 | 32 | 1 |
| Poles | 1 | 22 | 0 |
| Top 5 | 11 | 130 | 7 |
| Top 10 | 16 | 198 | 9 |
| Laps Led | 885 | 10,141 | 1,048 |
| Stage Wins | 9 | 71 | 6 |
| Average Finish | 13.9 | 14.1 | 12.5 |
- Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team enter the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs tied for the top seed with Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. The two sit 26 points above the cut line.
- Six drivers have won the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with Hendrick Motorsports including Larson.
- The 33-year-old Larson has 11 playoff wins, fifth best in the playoff era. Former Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson has the most with 29.
- In the Next Gen car, the Elk Grove, California, native has run 1,042 laps inside the top five at Darlington. That is third most (Byron leads at 1,489). Larson has the most laps led at Darlington in the Next Gen car with 392.
- Darlington is second on Larson’s list of most laps led at a track with 1,048 (Bristol Motor Speedway, 1,762).
9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 10th (Daytona)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 7th
No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
| 2025 | Cup Career | Darlington | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Races | 26 | 348 | 17 |
| Wins | 1 | 20 | 0 |
| Poles | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Top 5 | 7 | 111 | 4 |
| Top 10 | 13 | 184 | 8 |
| Laps Led | 385 | 5,911 | 151 |
| Stage Wins | 1 | 39 | 0 |
| Average Finish | 12.0 | 12.8 | 15.8 |
- Chase Elliott enters the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as the seventh seed. He’s seven points above the cutoff line to advance to the Round of 12.
- This marks the 29-year-old driver’s ninth playoff appearance in 10 Cup Series seasons. He won the championship in 2020.
- Across the seven playoff tracks the series raced on previously in 2025, Elliott has earned the fourth-most points among playoff drivers (240).
- Elliott’s average finish of 11.96 in 2025 leads all drivers.
- In the Next Gen era at Darlington Raceway, Elliott has the sixth-best average finish (11.86). In the spring race at Darlington, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native started 15th and finished eighth. His best finish of third at the 1.366-mile track came in the spring of 2023.
24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 19th (Daytona)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: t-1st
No. 24 All-Pro Chevrolet
| 2025 | Cup Career | Darlington | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Races | 26 | 278 | 14 |
| Wins | 2 | 15 | 1 |
| Poles | 2 | 15 | 2 |
| Top 5 | 9 | 63 | 5 |
| Top 10 | 13 | 117 | 7 |
| Laps Led | 915 | 3,893 | 331 |
| Stage Wins | 7 | 30 | 4 |
| Average Finish | 13.9 | 15.1 | 15.0 |
- After winning the regular season championship, William Byron is tied for first with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson heading into the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Both sit 26 points above the cutline.
- In the first round, two race tracks will be visited for the second time this year (Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway). Byron scored 87 combined points in those events, second most of the playoff drivers. Among the seven repeat tracks in the playoffs, Byron has secured a combined 249 points, third most among drivers qualified for the playoffs.
- The Charlotte, North Carolina, native leads the Cup Series in most statistical categories. He has led the most laps (915) and has run the most laps in the top five (2,896) and top 10 (4,116).
- In the Next Gen era, Byron leads all drivers with four wins in night races.
- In the same time span (2022-present), Byron has led the second-most laps (328) and has the best average finish (9.14) at Darlington. He also has the most laps run in the top five (1,489) and in the top 10 (1,992) at the egg-shaped track. His five career top-five finishes at Darlington are tied for his most at any venue (Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway).
- Earlier this year, Byron won both stages at Darlington while leading 243 laps, his second-most laps led in a Cup Series race, before securing a runner-up finish. Byron visited victory lane in the spring of 2023 at the 1.366-mile oval.
48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 36th (Daytona)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 16th
No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
| 2025 | Cup Career | Darlington | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Races | 26 | 351 | 15 |
| Wins | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Poles | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Top 5 | 6 | 46 | 1 |
| Top 10 | 14 | 110 | 4 |
| Laps Led | 160 | 1,528 | 42 |
| Stage Wins | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Average Finish | 16.4 | 19.1 | 19.8 |
- Bowman enters the weekend with 14 top-10 finishes in 2025, tied with Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney for second most in the NASCAR Cup Series and the most he’s recorded through 26 races in a season. His six top-five finishes are tied for his career best and his 1,634 laps run in the top five are his most ever.
- Bowman has qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in seven seasons (2018–22, 2024–25), with a career-best finish of sixth in 2020.
- The 32-year-old has earned two poles in 2025, making him one of just five drivers with multiple poles this season.
- For this weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway, the featured Best Friends Animal Society partner is the Kershaw County Humane Society in Camden, South Carolina.
- Ally and HENDRICKCARS.COM are teaming up again to give fans the chance to win prizes with this year’s “Open Road Sweepstakes.” Fans can win VIP experiences at various races throughout the season and one lucky winner will hit the open road in a Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss with an Airstream camper. Fans can stop by the Ally Fan Zone to enter the sweepstakes in-person and check out the camper. Fans can also enter at ally.com/sweepstakes/nascar.
Hendrick Motorsports
| 2025 | All-Time | Darlington | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Races | 26 | 1,407 | 69 |
| Wins | 6 | 318* | 16* |
| Poles | 5 | 258* | 9 |
| Top 5 | 33 | 1,312* | 58* |
| Top 10 | 56* | 2,243* | 97* |
| Laps Led | 2,345* | 84,657* | 4,259* |
| Stage Wins | 17* | 132 | 8 |
*Most all time
**Tied for most all time
- With Kyle Larson finishing sixth and Chase Elliott 10th at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday, Hendrick Motorsports remains the only organization to place at least one car in the top 10 of every event in 2025. That streak goes back 34 races to last season, the longest run of any team in the Next Gen era.
- The Hendrick Motorsports engine shop reached 550 national series victories last Friday night. The organization’s engines have won 18 poles (seven in the NASCAR Cup Series, 11 in the Xfinity Series) and 22 races (six in Cup, 15 in Xfinity and one in the preseason Clash) in 2025 and have powered teams to 40 points paying Cup Series victories in the Next Gen era, the most of any organization.
- Hendrick Motorsports has led 2,337 laps through 26 events this year, accounting for 36% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and 1,148 more than any other team.
- With 17, the organization leads the series in stage wins. That total is the second most through a season’s first 26 races all time.
- All four of Hendrick Motorsports’ drivers qualified for the Cup Series playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years and the seventh time overall. With Larson and William Byron tied for the top spot, it’s the fifth consecutive year that one of the team’s drivers enters the postseason atop the standings.
- Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in Darlington wins (16) and victories in the Southern 500 (12). The team has won at least one Southern 500 in each of the last five decades. Overall, the organization has piled up the most top-five finishes (58), top 10s (97) and has led the most laps (4,259) at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval.
QUOTABLE /
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on heading to Darlington Raceway: “I think we’ve been kind of quietly getting better here lately with the five team. We get to go to one of our better tracks at Darlington [Raceway] and hopefully can get some momentum for our final 10 weeks. It’s a fun time of year; I’m excited about the opportunity to race for another championship and wouldn’t want to do it with any other group. So, looking forward to doing it with Hendrick Motorsports, HENDRICKCARS.COM and see if we can get Chevy a win.”
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on playoff experience being an advantage: “I think experience is good. I think it’s universal. I think it helps probably more from a mental standpoint of just having been there before and understanding what that’s like, winning and losing. So, yeah, I think it’s good, regardless of what you’re trying to do.”
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs: “I mean, I think Gateway’s been tough for us sometimes, so I think just trying to get a handle on that. Kyle (Larson) did a test there, so hopefully we’ll have some good information there. And then Bristol’s pretty status quo. I mean, nothing’s really changed there a lot. The tires been pretty similar the last few fall races, and Darlington is pretty similar. It looks like weather’s similar to what it was in the spring.”
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on the resilience of his team: “I just think our team is kind of scrappy in a sense. Like, I think everything we’ve gone through in the last couple of years and all the noise and obviously, the end of the playoffs last year … kind of everything that we’ve gone through this year – I almost didn’t race Mexico. Our team just continues to press through those situations, which I think is a really good thing. Definitely has a lot of fight.”
