Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Richmond

Richmond Raceway
Saturday, Aug. 16
0.75-Mile D-Shaped Oval
7:30 PM ET
Location: Richmond, Virginia
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 25 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 39th (Watkins Glen)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: t-4th

No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson finished seventh or better in all but two of the last 12 NASCAR Cup Series short-track races (both finishes outside the top seven came at Iowa Speedway).
• The Elk Grove, California, native has led the second-most laps (265) at Richmond Raceway in the Next Gen car behind Martin Truex Jr. (382).
• Larson has scored the fourth-most points on short tracks in 2025 with 109.
• The 33-year-old sits tied for fourth in the regular season points standings, just four markers behind third place and 85 points behind leader and Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 26th (Watkins Glen)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 2nd
 

No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet

• With just two races left in the regular season, Chase Elliott is second in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, 42 markers behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.
• Elliott’s average finish of 10.96 is the best of all drivers in 2025 and his third best in a season after 24 races.
• This is second straight year that the 29-year-old has completed all but one lap entering the 25th race of the season.
• This weekend, the Cup Series heads to Richmond Raceway where Elliott has a streak of two top-10 finishes, tied for second longest. Last year, he placed fifth in the spring and ninth in the summer. He also started inside the top five in both events.
• In the stage racing era, Richmond is Elliott’s third best oval based on average finish (9.64). He has four top-five finishes in his last eight races there.
• Elliott is the most recent Cup Series winner in a night race, claiming victory at his home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway back in June.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 4th (Watkins Glen)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 1st

No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet

• William Byron captured another top-five finish this past weekend at Watkins Glen International, extending his lead in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season points standings to 42 over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. This is the 19th week he’s led the standings and he’s been no worse than second. Two races remain in the regular season.
• The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is leading in several statistical categories including: laps led (910), points (812), laps spent in the top five (2,849), laps spent in the top 10 (3,884) and average running position (10.05).
• Byron has two wins in the last eight short track races, tied for the most.
• In the Next Gen era, Byron has won four night races, most of any driver.
• At Richmond Raceway, Byron has led 239, laps all coming in the Next Gen era. That accounts for Byron’s fourth-most laps led at any track and the fourth-most laps led at Richmond with this generation car.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 20th (Watkins Glen)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 9th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• With only two races remaining in the regular season, Alex Bowman is 15th in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, holding a 60-point cushion above the cutline.
• Through 24 races in 2025, Bowman has 13 top-10 finishes, his most ever at this point in a season. He has five top-five finishes and is one of only five drivers with multiple poles, scoring two.
• The Tucson, Arizona, native will make his 350th career Cup Series start this weekend at Richmond Raceway.
• In 17 Cup starts at Richmond, Bowman has one win (April 2021), four top 10s and one top five.
• Bowman’s eight career victories have each come at a different track: Chicagoland Speedway (2019), Auto Club Speedway (2020), Richmond (2021), Dover Motor Speedway (2021), Pocono Raceway (2021), Martinsville Speedway (2021), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2022) and the Chicago Street Course (2024).
• For this weekend’s race at Richmond, the featured Best Friends Animal Society partner is the Henrico Humane Society in Allen, Virginia.
• 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

• With William Byron’s fourth-place run at Watkins Glen International last Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports remains the only organization to place at least one car in the top 10 of every event in 2025. That streak goes back 32 races to last season, the longest such run of any team in the Next Gen era.
• The Hendrick Motorsports engine shop stands at 549 national series victories, just one short of an unprecedented 550. The organization’s engines have won 18 poles (seven in the NASCAR Cup Series, 11 in the Xfinity Series) and 22 races (six in Cup, 15 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 2,328 laps through 24 events this year, accounting for 39% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and more than any other team by 1,141.
• With 16, the organization leads the series in stage wins and is tied for the most through a season’s first 24 races all time.
• Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in poles (19), top-five finishes (69), top 10s (128) and laps led (4,643) at Richmond Raceway.

QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on gathering needed momentum for the playoffs: “The last couple of months we haven’t scored as many points as we want but through that, I feel like we’re a much tougher team. We’ve been through a lot and seen a lot of different things and circumstances over the past two, two and half months and I think that can prepare you for the playoffs. I think we have some great tracks for us in the playoffs and I feel if we do a solid job the next two weeks and we execute, we head into the playoffs with some momentum and get to those tracks that we run good at and gain some points again and hopefully get a win or two along the way and just another way to help your playoff out.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on going back to Richmond Raceway: “Richmond is a track that has always been difficult for me to get a hold of and be consistently good time after time because the window to hit it right is just so small. I feel like there are very few guys that are consistently successful there. Last year, I do feel like we put together a couple pretty decent finishes, so hopefully we can continue that this weekend.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on any similarities between Iowa Speedway and Richmond Raceway: “Yeah, I mean you hope so, but they’re very different. Like Iowa, with the repave and just the conditions there versus Richmond being really slick old asphalt and slow mid-corner, it’s going to be a lot different at Richmond. So yeah, you hope some stuff translates, but Richmond’s kind of its own beast, really.

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on Richmond Raceway: “Richmond’s always a place I enjoy racing. It’s such a unique short track because you have to balance speed with saving your tires over a long run. We’ve had some strong runs there before, and with the playoff picture so tight right now, every point matters.”