Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Watkins Gle

Watkins Glen International
Sunday, May 10
2.45-Mile Road Course
3 p.m. ET
Location: Watkins Glen, New York
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series race (12 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Race: 34th (Texas)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 8th

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson has spent 1,385 laps running inside the top five in 2026, second most among all NASFAR Cup Series drivers.
• The 33-year-old is tied for the Cup lead in stage points through 11 races in 2026 with 91.
• The driver of the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet ranks fourth among nine Cup Series drivers with at least 100 laps led on road courses in the Next Gen car, with 142.
• The Elk Grove, California, native has six road course victories, second among active drivers. Three of those wins have come in the Next Gen car.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 30 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last Race: 1st (Texas)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 3rd

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• Chase Elliott heads to Watkins Glen International fresh off of his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. The 30-year-old driver led 87 laps at Texas Motor Speedway en route to a win.
• In last weekend’s race at Texas, Elliott earned his first stage win of the season in stage two. He also turned the fastest lap of the race with a time of 28.89 seconds.
• This is the first season Elliott has had multiple wins through 11 races. His five top-five finishes are tied with 2020 for his most and his average finish of 8.9 is his best in that same span.
• With his 43rd Cup Series win, Alan Gustafson is now tied for the most victories among active crew chiefs.
• At Watkins Glen International, the 2020 Cup Series champion is fifth all time in laps led (170) and is tied for the fourth-most wins at the track (two).
• Since the beginning of 2025, Elliott has the fourth-best average finish on road courses (9.57).
• Elliott’s seven career Cup wins on road courses rank third all time (Jeff Gordon nine, Tony Stewart eight) and lead active drivers.
• In the Next Gen era on serpentine tracks, Elliott is tied for the most top-five finishes (11), tied for the third-most top 10s (15) and ranks fourth in average finish (10.30).

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 28 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Race: 8th (Texas)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 10th

No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet

• Despite a spin early in last Sunday’s event at Texas Motor Speedway, William Byron and the No. 24 team battled back to finish eighth.
• This weekend at Watkins Glen International, Byron will make his 300th-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series start and his 300th overall. He is only the ninth driver to reach 300 starts with the same team, and the fourth for Hendrick Motorsports (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott).
• In the Next Gen era on road courses, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native is one of nine drivers who have led at least 100 laps (139) and is also tied for the fourth-most wins (two).
• In the last 14 road course races, Byron has two wins, two runner-up finishes, six top fives and nine top 10s. In his Cup Series career at Watkins Glen, the 28-year-old has one win (2023) in seven starts, including two top-five finishes, four top 10s and 66 laps led.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 33 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Race: 3rd (Texas)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 34th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Alex Bowman earned his best qualifying effort of the season (ninth) en route to his second-consecutive third-place finish in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
• The 33-year-old has made nine Cup starts at Watkins Glen International with a best starting position of fourth (2024) and three top-15 finishes. In the last two races at the track (2024 and 2025), Bowman earned points in each of the first two stages, finishing the first stage in second place two years in a row.
• Bowman’s most recent win came at the Chicago Street Course (2024). On road courses, Bowman has earned eight top fives and 17 top 10s to go along with that victory.
• Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team are eligible for the  2026 NASCAR All-Star Race Fan Vote with the winning driver earning entry into the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway on May 17. Fans can vote up to five times per day per unique email address until 9 a.m. ET on race day.  

17 COREY DAY
Age: 20 (November 28, 2005)
Hometown: Clovis, California
Last Race: 37th (Texas)
Crew Chief: Adam Wall
Standings: 4th

• Corey Day is set to make his first career start at Watkins Glen International this weekend in the No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet.
• Day’s road course debut in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series came last fall at the Charlotte ROVAL. Saturday will mark his second such start this season after finishing fifth at Circuit of The Americas.
• The Clovis, California, native enters the weekend with one win, four top-five results and nine top 10s so far in the 2026 NOAPS season.
• The No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports entry last competed at Watkins Glen in 2024 with William Byron finishing 12th.

Hendrick Motorsports

*Most
**Tied for most

• Hendrick Motorsports enters this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International as the facility’s all-time leader in wins (11), poles (eight), and laps led (760). Kyle Larson (2021), William Byron (2023) and Chase Elliott (2024) have combined to win five times in the last seven races at the 2.45-mile road course.
• The team’s 31 road course wins are the most all time by 15. It also leads the Cup Series in road course poles (six), top fives (30), top 10s (44) and average finish (14.41) in the Next Gen era.
• At least one of the organization’s four drivers have finished in the top five in each of the last five Cup events, the longest such streak in the series.
• The Hendrick Motorsports engine department enters the weekend with 567 victories across all three national NASCAR touring series including nine of 12 events in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series this season.
• Hendrick Motorsports remains the premier series’ all-time standard bearer in wins (322), poles (259), top-five finishes (1,334), top 10s (2,281), laps led (86,096) and championships (15).

QUOTABLE
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on Watkins Glen International: “Watkins Glen is a place where we’ve had some good speed over the years. We’ll take what we’ve learned earlier this season at [Circuit of The Americas] with this package and apply it to Watkins Glen. Hopefully this weekend will be a place where we get back on track and leave with the kind of finish we know we’re capable of.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on heading to Watkins Glen International with cooler weather: “I don’t think the race is going to look a lot different. I’d be really surprised if it did. I think the track is already so fast as it is. It was already inside of the window of track position and having to qualify well and all that. And a lot of times, you can have some tracks on the schedule that can change if it gets cooler outside or if it’s warm. It can go from a wide racetrack to one groove, but I think that one in particular was already so far on the side of the fence of pace and line sensitive and just really quick that I don’t see it changing a whole lot.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on Watkins Glen International: “This weekend’s race at Watkins Glen is turning into a bit of a wildcard now. The weather looks cold and wet which creates its own issues. The race is longer than normal, which changes strategy. And then, they added tire barriers in Turn 1 which takes away a possible passing zone. We have a decent notebook for Watkins Glen and road courses in general, but we’ve also only run the new Chevy body at [Circuit of The Americas] so far. Practice and qualifying are going to be pretty crucial to getting things dialed in for Sunday. Then it will be about controling what you can control.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, coming off a top five at Texas Motor Speedway and heading to Watkins Glen International: “It was good to have another solid week with our Ally 48 team and gain some momentum. If there was a track we needed to take momentum to, it would be Watkins Glen. This track has been a challenge but I’m confident in this group; we are continuing to put in work to get better. We’re headed into this weekend with the plan to execute like we’ve been doing.”

Corey Day, driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet, on Watkins Glen International: “I’m looking forward to Watkins Glen and hopefully getting some redemption after this past weekend [at Texas Motor Speedway]. I’m having a lot of fun with the road course prep, and I feel like I’m getting better at it every time I get to do it. It looks like there might be some weather over the weekend, which will make for an interesting race if we end up doing a rain race, but Watkins Glen is pretty historic in NASCAR as far as road courses go so, definitely excited to have the opportunity to go race it in the No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet.”