Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Michigan

Michigan International Speedway
Sunday, June 7
2-Mile D-Shaped Oval
3 p.m. ET
Location: Brooklyn, Michigan
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 15 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Race: 23rd (Nashville)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 6th

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson has spent nearly half of all laps run in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season in the top five (47.8%), ranking second.
• The 33-year-old is tied for the second-most stage points earned in 2026 with 122, just one point shy of the series lead.
• Larson’s three wins at Michigan International Speedway are tied for his most victories at any track and are also tied for the most among active drivers.
• The Elk Grove, California, native has recorded a top-seven finish in five of his last six starts at the 2-mile track, including four top-five results.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 30 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last Race: 7th (Nashville)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 4th

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• With his seventh-place run at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend, Chase Elliott moved up to fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
• This season, the 30-year-old has the third-best average finish (11.86), has spent the eighth-most laps in the top five (813) and led the sixth-most laps (199).
• Michigan International Speedway is one of Elliott’s best tracks where he has yet to win. He has three runner-up finishes and only two finishes outside the top 15 in 15 starts at the 2-mile facility.
• Elliott’s 10.8 average finish at Michigan ranks second among active drivers with at least three starts and is sixth all time.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 28 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Race: 30th (Nashville)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 11th

No. 24 Axalta Solar Boost Chevrolet

• So far in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron has an average finish of 16.5, second best among Hendrick Motorsports drivers. He also has run 46.61% of laps this season in the top 10 (1,792).
• In 11 starts at Michigan International Speedway, Byron has two top-five finishes and three top 10s. He has finished runner up twice (2021 and 2024) with both coming in the last five races.
• The 28-year-old has led 118 laps at Michigan in the Next Gen era, most of any driver in the Cup Series.
• Byron is hoping to turn his luck around at the 2-mile oval. He was leading in 2024 but ultimately finished in the runner-up position with an overtime restart. Last year, he led 98 laps and was running second in the closing laps before running out of fuel.
• For the second time this season, Byron will have Axalta Solar Boost on his No. 24 Chevrolet.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 33 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Race: 33rd (Nashville)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 32nd

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman made his 300th Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series start last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, seventh most among those who have driven for the team.
• In the last two races, Bowman has advanced two positions in NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, ranking him 32nd after missing four races earlier this season.
• This weekend at Michigan International Speedway, the Ally 48 team will debut a fresh paint scheme on Bowman’s Chevrolet. This scheme adapts Ally’s recent rebrand, featuring new colors and modifications to the logo.
• In his Cup Series career at Michigan, Bowman has earned three top 10s, including his best finish of ninth at the track in 2022. He also earned a pole in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series at the 2-mile oval.

17 COREY DAY
Age: 20 (November 28, 2005)
Hometown: Clovis, California
Last Race: 6th (Nashville)
Crew Chief: Adam Wall
Standings: 3rd

• Qualifying for last week’s NASCAR O’Reilly Series event at Nashville Superspeedway was canceled for the second consecutive weekend. Per NASCAR’s metric, Corey Day was awarded the third starting position and he went on to finish sixth.
• The Clovis, California, native currently ranks third in the NOAPS points standings.
• Through 16 starts this season, the 20-year-old has recorded two wins, one pole, six top-five finishes and 12 top-10 finishes.
• Day’s next NOAPS race will be Saturday, June 13, at Pocono Raceway.

Hendrick Motorsports
 

*Most
**Tied for most

• Hendrick Motorsports enters this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway with the most poles (11), top-10 finishes (113) and laps led (2,886) in the venue’s history.
• The organization has registered at least one top-10 finish in each of the last 20 races at Michigan, the fourth-longest active streak for the company at any track.
• The Hendrick Motorsports engine department enters the weekend with 572 victories across all three national NASCAR touring series including 13 of 16 events in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series this season.
• Hendrick Motorsports remains the Cup Series’ all-time standard bearer in wins (322), poles (259), top-five finishes (1,335), top 10s (2,284), laps led (86,169) and championships (15).

QUOTABLE
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on Michigan International Speedway: “I am motivated everywhere but it’s going on several years since I have won at Michigan, so I would love to find victory lane again. I feel like every time I’ve gone to Michigan, we’ve been really good. I’ve been close to winning a couple different times, just haven’t done it. So hopefully we can go back and get into victory lane.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on the importance of winning for Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway: “I would love to [win], for sure. It’s not that they are pressuring you more. In my experience, at least for me, Chevy has been a great partner of mine and I’ve had the opportunity to work with them for the past 10 plus years of my career. It’s the only OEM I’ve been a part of in the NASCAR side of things. And anytime you have a good relationship with a partner, if they’re good to you, you want to go and do good for them, and that’s kind of been the relationship there. So, I just want to go do well for those guys because they’ve been good to me throughout the course of my career. I don’t need extra motivation past that.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on trying to break through at Michigan International Speedway: “This season has just been tough so far. We’ve had a lot of races where we’re running well and something happens out of our control. That happened in Nashville. Hopefully though we can get the momentum back at Michigan (International Speedway). We’ve been so close to getting a win there and it’s not for lack of effort. Maybe this is the time we get it done.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on heading to Michigan with a new paint scheme: “New look to our Ally Chevrolet this weekend in Michigan; excited to get Ally’s new colors on the track and on our No. 48 for the rest of the season. This year has been tough for our team. My guys work so hard and deserve better results than we’ve been getting. Showing up every week, controlling what we can control and executing to the best of our ability, that’s our focus.”

Corey Day, driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet, on last week’s race at Nashville Superspeedway: “Overall Nashville was a good day. I didn’t get to qualify but started off third in my No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet. First stage went really well until we had a slow pit stop, lost a couple positions there and noticed some weaknesses in our car dealing with traffic afterwards. It’s a pretty good thing to be mad at finishing sixth, it’s a good problem to have. Definitely looking at the glass half-full instead of half-empty. Grateful for my guys and we’ll keep it going into Pocono.”