Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Daytona

Daytona International Speedway
Saturday, Aug. 23
2.5-Mile Superspeedway
7:30 PM ET
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 26 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
 Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 6th (Richmond)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 4th

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson is tied for the most top-five finishes with 11 and leads the NASCAR Cup Series in top 10s with 15.
• Larson is fourth in the regular season points standings, just seven markers out of third place and 12 behind second-place Chase Elliott.
• The No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team ranks first in pit road rankings, which accounts for pit stop speed, consistency, and ability to gain positions on pit road.
• Heading into the final race before the playoffs at Daytona International Speedway, the 33-year-old still has a mathematical chance to secure the No. 1 seed for the Cup Series playoffs, which begin at Darlington Raceway.
• In his last five drafting track races, Larson has recorded one runner-up finish, three top fives and two stage wins. His average finish in those events is 9.2.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 38th (Richmond)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 2nd

No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

• With just one race remaining in the regular season, Chase Elliott is second in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, the highest position in which he can possibly finish. He is five points ahead of third.
• Elliott’s average finish of 12.05 in 2025 leads all drivers.
• The 29-year-old driver has finished second twice at Daytona International Speedway (August 2020 and February 2021).
• Throughout his Cup career, Elliott has led 556 laps on drafting-style tracks, including 41 at Atlanta Motor Speedway en route to his most recent victory in June.
• In the Next Gen era, Elliott has an average finish of 13.62 on drafting tracks, tops among active drivers with more than five starts.
• Elliott has the second-most drafting track wins in the Next Gen with three – Atlanta (2022 and 2025) and Talladega Superspeedway (2022).

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 12th (Richmond)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 1st

No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet

• With his 12th-place finish at Richmond Raceway, William Byron locked up the NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship and 15 playoff points. This is his first regular season title.
• The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is having a stellar 2025, leading in most statistical categories including laps led (910), points (839), laps run in the top five (2,877), laps run in the top 10 (4,068) and average running position (10.16).
• Byron has won four night races in the Next Gen era as well as four races on drafting tracks. Both are most of any driver.
• The 27-year-old has three Cup Series wins at Daytona International Speedway, including back-to-back DAYTONA 500 victories. Three wins are his most at any track. It’s also the site of his first Cup Series win (August 2020) and he is the only repeat winner in the last 12 races at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 2nd (Richmond)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 9th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman enters Daytona International Speedway sitting 16th in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, holding a 60-point cushion above the cutline.
• Bowman is coming off a runner-up finish at Richmond Raceway, which tied his season-best result from Homestead-Miami Speedway. Over the last 10 races, he has posted eight finishes of 11th or better, including four top fives.
• The Tucson, Arizona, native is one of just five drivers with multiple poles in 2025 (Homestead-Miami, Bristol Motor Speedway).
• Bowman has made 18 career Cup starts at Daytona. He has collected three poles, two top fives and seven top 10s with a career-best result of second in the 2024 DAYTONA 500.
• For the Best Friends Society programming, Ally and Bowman will be partnering with Southeast Volusia Humane Society located in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, as their selected shelter for this weekend.
• 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 Alex Bowman finishing second and Kyle Larson sixth at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, 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 33 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 2,337 laps through 25 events this year, accounting for 37% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and more than any other team by 1,150.
• With 16, the organization leads the series in stage wins. That total is the second-most through a season’s first 25 races all time.
• Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in wins (17), poles (23), top-five finishes (64), top 10s (114), and laps led (2,331) at Daytona International Speedway. With William Byron winning the season-opening DAYTONA 500, the organization has a chance to sweep both races at the historic 2.5-mile superspeedway for the third time. The previous occurrences came in 1986 (Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond) and in 2013 (Jimmie Johnson won both). Johnson remains the last driver to both events at Daytona in the same year.
• In the Next Gen era, no team has more wins on drafting tracks than Hendrick Motorsports (seven).

QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on heading to Daytona International Speedway: “Yeah, there’s one more race until the playoffs start. Anybody has a shot to win at Daytona (International Speedway), so hopefully we can go there and have a good race, a good points day and get ready for the playoffs.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on the summer race at Daytona International Speedway: “The summer Daytona race, even as a kid growing up, I thought it was an incredible atmosphere for Daytona. The 500 is the 500, it’s different. I think there’s a lot to appreciate there. But just for a fun race to go to at the beach, all those things, I think (the summer race is) a great stop on our schedule and I look forward to going.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on winning the NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship: “I think we knew within our team that we were different this year, different towards the end of last year, just really kind of buckled down and started to make some really good moves, good decisions. I started driving the car pretty well.
“It’s kind of like the speed was always there. Feel like that’s always what you need. We’ve been able to make something out of the races where we don’t have as much speed, too.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on Daytona International Speedway: “Daytona’s always wild. You never know what’s going to happen, but that’s part of the fun. For us, it’s about staying out of the mess and being there at the end. This is the final race to get locked into the playoffs, so every point matters.”