Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Talladega

Talladega Superspeedway
Sunday, Oct. 19
2.66-Mile Tri-Oval
2 p.m. ET
Location: Talladega, Alabama
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 34 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

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

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson will make his 400th NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
• The No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team enters this week’s event with a 35-point advantage on the Round of 8 cutline.
• Larson leads all drivers with 1,100 laps led in 2025. It’s his third straight season leading over 1,000 laps and his fourth in five seasons with Hendrick Motorsports.
• The Elk Grove, California, native leads all playoff drivers with the best average finish on superspeedways this year at 9.6. He’s finished 100% of the laps at such tracks.
• Earlier this year at Talladega, the 33-year-old won stage one, finished second in stage two and finished second in the race. With that effort, Larson scored 54 points, the most of any driver.
• Among playoff drivers, Larson has earned the most points in five events at drafting tracks in 2025 (177).

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 18th (Las Vegas)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 6th

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• With two races left in the Round of 8, Chase Elliott is sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, 23 markers below the cutline.
• Elliott’s 30 lead-lap finishes this season are tied with Jeff Gordon in 2014 for the most by a Hendrick Motorsports driver through 33 races.
• In the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway, the 29-year-old finished fifth. His 39 points earned were third most among remaining playoff drivers.
• Elliott is a two-time Talladega winner and finished in the top 15 in six of his last seven races there.
• Only two of the last nine races at Talladega were won by a current playoff driver with Elliott being one of them (October 2022).
• Elliott’s average finish of 14.05 at Talladega ranks second best among active drivers with at least four starts.
• The 2020 Cup Series champion finished in the top 10 in the last three drafting track races including a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in June. It’s the longest active streak in the series.
• Elliott’s 173 points earned on drafting tracks this season ranks second.
• In the Next Gen era, Elliott has the second-most wins on drafting tracks (three).

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 36th (Las Vegas)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 5th

No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet

• After the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8, William Byron is fifth in the playoff standings, 15 points below the cutline.
• At the two remaining tracks in the Round of 8, Byron has a best finish of second at Talladega Superspeedway (twice) and two wins at Martinsville Speedway.
• In 2025, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has run the most laps in the top five (3,459) and in the top 10 (5,071) plus has the best average running position (10.73). He has earned 150 points on drafting tracks, third most by a playoff driver and fourth most overall.
• Byron has five drafting track wins with four coming in the Next Gen era (most of any driver). He accomplished this feat in only 35 starts, sixth fewest all time. His five drafting victories are also tied for the second most by a Hendrick Motorsports driver with Jimmie Johnson, behind only vice chairman and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Jeff Gordon (12).
• At Talladega in the spring race, Byron earned the second-most points (43) among remaining playoff drivers. Currently he has five consecutive finishes of seventh or better at Talladega, including consecutive third-place finishes in his last two starts.
• In 15 events at the Alabama track, Byron has five top-five finishes and seven top 10s with two runner-up results.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 7th (Las Vegas)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 13th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman’s 16 top-10 finishes in 2025 are tied for his most through 33 races in a NASCAR Cup Series season.
• The Tucson, Arizona, native has scored seven top-10 finishes in the last 13 races on drafting tracks.
• Bowman owns two top-five and six top-10 finishes in 19 career starts at Talladega Superspeedway, with a best showing of second in April 2019.
• Ally and Bowman have raised over $725,000 with Best Friends Animal Society since 2021, with weekly donations to local shelters. This week’s goes to the Crossing Paths Animal Rescue in Cleveland, Alabama.

Hendrick Motorsports
 

*Most all time
**Tied for most all time

• Hendrick Motorsports engines have won 23 poles (seven in the NASCAR Cup Series, 16 in the Xfinity Series) and 27 races (seven in Cup, 19 in Xfinity and one in the preseason Clash) in 2025.
• Hendrick Motorsports has led 2,659 laps through 33 events this year, accounting for 31% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and 399 more than any other team. It’s the second time in the last 11 years Hendrick Motorsports has eclipsed the 2,500-laps-led mark through 33 races.
• With 19, the organization leads the series in stage wins. That total is the team’s second most through a season’s first 33 races.
• Hendrick Motorsports has had at least one driver finish in the top 10 in 32 of 33 races in 2025.
• With 106, the organization has registered more lead-lap finishes this season than in any year through the first 33 races.
• Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in wins (14), poles (13), top fives (70), top 10s (107) and laps led (3,105) at Talladega Superspeedway.

 QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on returning to Talladega Superspeedway: “Hopefully we can go to Talladega and do what we’ve done on superspeedways for a while now by scoring stage points and get good finishes by getting to the checkered flag like we have been doing this year. We’ll just try to execute again; have a good points day at Talladega and be in a good position heading into Martinsville (Speedway).”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on Talladega Superspeedway: “I don’t see anyone being a standout. Everybody’s just really close and whoever gets themselves in a good spot and positions themselves well and has some good fortune, you know, is going to have a good day.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on Talladega Superspeedway: “Obviously last weekend didn’t end the way we hoped. We were going to be in a good position for the rest of this round and that shows how quickly things can change. Talladega is where anything and everything can happen and change quickly. We would like to collect stage points but also strategy will be big when it comes to fuel. Plus, you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where your race could end early all because you pushed too hard for stage points. It’s going to be a very fine balance and all we can do is execute and see where the chips fall at the end.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on going to Talladega Superspeedway: “Talladega is unpredictable and all about survival. A lot of it is mental as well. You have to be mentally sharp throughout the whole race and especially towards the end when it gets hectic. We had a decent finish last weekend at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) and hopefully we can keep that momentum going.”