Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: New Hampshire

New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, Sept. 21
1.058-Mile Oval
2 PM ET
Location: Loudon, New Hampshire
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 30 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 32nd (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: t-2nd

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson will begin the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 12 this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Larson has advanced to the Round of 8 the last two occasions in which he made the Round of 12.
• The No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team enters the second round of the playoffs tied for second place, 24 points above cutoff line.
• Kyle Larson’s average finish of seventh at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Next Gen car is the best of all active drivers with more than one start.
• The Elk Grove, California, native has earned the third-most points at the 1.058-mile oval in the Next Gen era with 117.
• The 33-year-old has the most all-time, runner-up finishes (three) at New Hampshire without scoring a victory.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 38th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 7th

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• Chase Elliott enters the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 12 in seventh place, five markers above the cutline. He has advanced out of the Round of 12 in seven of eight appearances.
• At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Elliott has earned the fourth-most points in the Next Gen era (104).
• Last year at New Hampshire, the 29-year-old driver finished inside the top 10 in the first two stages and led 41 laps.
• Elliott’s best finish at the 1.058-mile oval is second (2022).
• This season on tracks measuring 1 to 1.366 miles in length, Elliott has four top-10 finishes and 250 laps led, with a best result of third at WWT Raceway.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 12th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: t-2nd

No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet

• William Byron enters the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 12 tied for second, 24 points above the cutline. In his last three Round-of-12 appearances, he has advanced to the Round of 8.
• Byron ranks second on speed among the remaining playoff drivers at the next three tracks (New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Charlotte ROVAL).
• Currently, Byron holds the second- and third-best average finish all time in the Round of 12 at 1.67 (2023) and 2.67 (2024).
• So far in 2025, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has led the second most laps (915) and run the most laps in the top five (3,034) as well as the top 10 (4,507). He also has an average running position of 10.77, best in the series by 1.6 positions.
• Byron has long been successful at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with an ARCA Menards Series East pole and win in 2015. He followed it up the next year by dominating the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, starting from the pole and leading 161 of 175 laps en route to his sixth of seven victories in 2016.
• Crew chief Rudy Fugle also had early success at the Magic Mile, where he has one pole award and two wins, including a win with Byron in 2016. Fugle’s drivers had an average starting position of 2.3 and an average finishing position of third at New Hampshire in the Truck Series.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 8th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 13th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman has earned 15 top-10 finishes in 2025, marking his most through 29 races in a season. He has recorded two runner-up finishes this year (Homestead-Miami Speedway, Richmond Raceway).
• Bowman has posted four top-five finishes in the last 14 races and finished 11th or better nine times.
• Bowman’s best result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is ninth (July 2021).
• For this weekend’s race at New Hampshire, the featured Best Friends Animal Society partner is Upper Valley Humane Society in Enfield, New Hampshire.
• 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

*Most all time
**Tied for most all time

• Hendrick Motorsports engines have won 21 poles (seven in the NASCAR Cup Series, 14 in the Xfinity Series) and 25 races (six in Cup, 18 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 2,416 laps through 29 events this year, accounting for 32% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and 462 more than any other team.
• With 17, the organization leads the series in stage wins. That total is the team’s second most through a season’s first 29 races.
• Hendrick Motorsports has had at least one driver finish in the top 10 in 28 of 29 races in 2025.
• The organization is the all-time leader in top-10 finishes at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with 83.
• At least one Hendrick Motorsports driver has visited victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 12 in each of the last five seasons. The company’s seven victories in the Round of 12 during the stage-racing era are the most.

QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on New Hampshire Motor Speedway: “Everyone at (Hendrick Motorsports) has been putting a lot of emphasis on short tracks for a while now, really focusing on improving our performance. The speed we had at (WWT Raceway) was encouraging. I felt we were a top-two-or-three car, maybe even better. That gives us a lot of optimism for the rest of the year, especially at the shorter, flatter tracks like New Hampshire and Phoenix (Raceway).”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on heading to New Hampshire Motor Speedway: “It’s a place that is unique in some ways. I do think probably most similar to Gateway (WWT Raceway). I felt like we had a really solid run. I was proud of our performance at Gateway. I hope that some of, if not all of those things can carry to Loudon, so I’m looking forward to getting up there and giving it our best shot.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on New Hampshire Motor Speedway: “New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) hasn’t been great to me in the Cup Series but in my early years it was one of my best tracks. I’m hoping that what we’ve been learning on tracks similar to this one will help us here as well. I definitely think we’ve made some ground up on this style of track this season. It would be nice to start of this round of the playoffs with a strong start, especially since the rest of the round are good tracks for us.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on going to New Hampshire Motor Speedway: “Unfortunately, we had a mechanical failure there last year while running like top 10. So, that was a bummer. I like New Hampshire but we haven’t had much luck or speed there in the past. Hoping to turn that around this weekend.”