Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Phoenix

Phoenix Raceway
Sunday, Nov. 2
1-Mile Oval
3 p.m. ET
Location: Avondale, Arizona
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 36 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 5th (Martinsville)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: t-1st

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson has advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 for the third time in four years. The Elk Grove, California, native is the only past champion in the 2025 Championship 4.
• Among the Championship 4 drivers, Larson finished the best in 11 races this season, more than Denny Hamlin (10), William Byron (8), or Chase Briscoe (6).
• Through 35 races in 2025, Larson’s 14 top fives and 21 top 10s rank second among all drivers.
• Larson’s 10 top-five finishes at Phoenix are his most at any track. His 14 top 10s are tied for his most at a track with Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• The 33-year-old has earned four top-five finishes in his last five appearances at Phoenix Raceway.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 3rd (Martinsville)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 9th

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway where Chase Elliott scored a victory and the championship in 2020.
• Elliott is riding a streak of two consecutive top-10 finishes on the desert oval, placing eighth in this race last November and 10th in March.
• No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is tied for the second-most wins at Phoenix all-time with four. Each win came with a different driver (Kyle Busch, Elliott, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin).
• This season in seven starts on tracks measuring 1 to 1.366 miles in length, Elliott has five top-10 finishes and 253 laps led, with a best result of third at WWT Raceway.
• In 2025, Elliott is tied for the fourth-most top-10 finishes with 18. His average finish of 12.69 ranks third.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 1st (Martinsville)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: t-1st

No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet

• William Byron had the perfect weekend at Martinsville Speedway, winning the pole, sweeping both stages, leading the most laps, turning in the fastest lap of the race and coming home with the checkered flag. His win in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 locked him into this week’s Championship 4.
• This is Byron’s third consecutive appearance in the Championship 4 where he finished third in each of the last two seasons. His streak is tied for the second longest behind Kyle Busch (5).
• With 304 laps led in Martinsville, Byron has now led the most laps of any driver this season with a career-high 1,278.
• The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has run the most laps in the top five (3,964) and in the top 10 (5,635) this season, plus has the best average running position (10.84).
• Byron won at Phoenix Raceway in the spring of 2023. He also has nine top-10 finishes there, tied for his most at any track. He has an average finish of 10.8 across 15 starts at the desert track, third best among active drivers.
• In the Next Gen era, Byron has run the most laps in the top five (1,618) and the top 10 (1,975) at Phoenix. He has also finished in the top 10 in 19 consecutive stages at the Arizona track, tied for the most in NASCAR history with Martin Truex Jr. (Richmond Raceway).

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 23rd (Martinsville)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 13th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, has recorded 16 top-10 finishes in 2025, tied for his second most through 35 races in a NASCAR Cup Series season.
• The Tucson, Arizona, native has three career top-10 finishes at Phoenix Raceway, including a seventh-place result in March. His best finish at the 1-mile track came in November 2016, when he placed sixth after earning his first career pole.
• Bowman has led 196 laps at Phoenix, his second-highest total at any track (Charlotte Motor Speedway, 228).
• Bowman made one NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Phoenix in 2025, finishing second and leading 50 laps in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet.
• 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 Heart of Infinity Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Hendrick Motorsports

*Most all time
**Tied for most all time

• Corey Day will make his 11th career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Phoenix Raceway. The 19-year-old driver from Clovis, California, has earned two top-10 finishes in his last five Xfinity Series starts, including a career-best fourth earlier this month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Hendrick Motorsports engines have powered 28 total victories and 24 pole positions across NASCAR’s top two series this season. Across the Cup and Xfinity Series, the organization’s motors will power five of the eight remaining drivers including JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil.
• Through 35 races in 2025, Hendrick Motorsports has led 32% of all Cup Series laps (2,973 in total) and recorded at least one top-10 finish in 33 events.
• Hendrick Motorsports’ 21 stage wins this season are its second-highest total through 35 races, trailing only its team record of 25 during the 2021 Cup Series campaign.
• This weekend at Phoenix, the team will look to win its 15th Cup Series championship on the 30th anniversary of its first, won by current company vice chairman Jeff Gordon in 1995.
• The organization is the all-time leader in wins (13), poles (16), top fives (59), top 10s (109) and laps led (3,653) at Phoenix.
• This year marks the sixth straight season at least one Hendrick Motorsports driver (Kyle Larson and William Byron) will compete in the Championship 4. That’s the longest such streak in the series. The company is seeking its 15th premier series title in the last 31 seasons.

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Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on his mindset going into the Championship 4: “I would say this is probably the best I’ve felt about what we’re bringing for the Championship 4 compared to any other year. Everyone at Hendrick Motorsports went to work on getting our flat short track program better. We went to Gateway, and we were super strong and New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) we were really good, and Phoenix (Raceway) is somewhat similar to those places, so I feel like we’ll have a better opportunity to win a championship than we’ve ever had in the Next Gen era. That motivates me and gets me excited.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on heading to Phoenix Raceway: “I’m looking forward to Phoenix and seeing where we stack up. We’ve made really good progress on similar tracks throughout the season. Like Gateway, I was really proud of how we ran there. Honestly, I’m proud of how strong we’ve been at a lot of tracks in the later part of this year. We’ve put in a lot of effort. We just came up short. Hopefully William (Byron) or Kyle (Larson) is able to get it done this weekend.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on his third straight trip to the Championship 4: “As a team I think we’ve just been battle tested. Nothing has come easy, but we have always had the speed and the preparation, just not able to always have the outcome. We can only control what we control and I believe in my team when it comes to that. Martinsville showed that. We’ve been here before, so it feels almost more routine this time to be in this position.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on Phoenix Raceway: “We had good speed at Phoenix earlier this year and came home seventh. The track is really unique with the dogleg and how the corners are shaped so it always puts on a great race. Our goal this weekend is to finish out the year with a strong result and build on that for the 2026 season.”