Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Charlotte ROVAL

Charlotte ROVAL
Sunday, Oct. 5
2.28-Mile Road Course
3 PM ET
Location: Concord, North Carolina
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 32 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Week: 6th (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 3rd

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team enter the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 with a 54-point cushion above the cutline. Larson can clinch a spot in the next round by earning 16 points, regardless of how others finish.
• With a sixth-place finish last week at Kansas Speedway, Larson scored the 200th top 10 of his Cup Series career. His 18 top-10 finishes in 2025 are tied for the most of all drivers.
• Last year, Larson and No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM team went to victory lane at the Charlotte ROVAL for the second time. The Elk Grove, California, native has led the most laps at the ROVAL with 122, edging out Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott (109).
• With more than 30 Hendrick Automotive Group dealerships and 3,000 teammates in the greater Charlotte area, Charlotte Motor Speedway is the ultimate home track for HENDRICKCARS.COM. To celebrate, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team will once again debut a limited-edition hat design. Less than 100 of each design are available, and they are only sold at the team’s track side merchandise hauler. This home race’s hats are especially meaningful with a pink design honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To further support the mission, HENDRICKCARS.COM has made a $10,000 donation to Project PINK at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 29 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last week: 1st (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 1st

No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet

• With his win at Kansas Speedway last weekend, Chase Elliott punched his ticket to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. It marks the eighth season the 2020 series champion has advanced to the Round of 8.
• Elliott is a two-time winner at the Charlotte ROVAL, tied with teammate Kyle Larson for the most. He’s led the second-most laps (109) at the track and leads the series in stage wins (three) as well as stage points (82).
• At the ROVAL, the 29-year-old driver’s average finish of 7.71 is best all time among drivers with more than one start.
• This season on road courses, Elliott has three top-five finishes, third most in the series.
• The Dawsonville, Georgia, native leads active drivers with seven wins on road courses. He has the third-most victories all time behind only NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight).
• In the Next Gen era on serpentine tracks, Elliott has the most top-five finishes (11) and is tied for the third-most top 10s (13).

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 27 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Week: 9th (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 6th

No. 24 Valvoline/Blood Cancer United Chevrolet

• After the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12, William Byron is ranked sixth, 40 points above the cutline. He can clinch his spot in the next round with 30 points at the Charlotte ROVAL on Sunday regardless of other finishers.
• Currently, Byron holds the second- and third-best average finish all time in the Round of 12 with 1.67 (2023) and 2.67 (2024). He has made the Round of 8 in each of his last three Round-of-12 appearances.
• So far in 2025, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has led the second-most laps (915) and run the second-most laps in the top five (3,240) as well as the most in the top 10 (4,821). He has an average running position of 10.8, best in the field.
• In 2025, Byron has run 196 laps (41.7%) in the top five and 286 laps (60.9%) in the top 10 on road courses, which is third and fourth best, respectively. He also has two top-five finishes (tied for fourth most) and four top 10s (tied for second most).
• In his last 12 road course starts, Byron is tied for the most top-10 finishes (nine) and has the second-most laps led (110). He is also tied for the second-most wins (two) and top-five finishes (six) and has collected the third-most points (368).
• At the Charlotte ROVAL, Byron has the sixth-best average finish of all active drivers with more than one start (11.14). That includes back-to-back top-five finishes with a runner-up showing in 2023 and a third-place result in 2024. He also has led 80 laps, which ranks fourth most among drivers.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 32 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Week: 28th (Kansas)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 13th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman has two top-five finishes and five top 10s in six career starts at the Charlotte ROVAL with a best finish of second place in 2019.
• Bowman has seven top-10 finishes in the last 13 road course races, including three in his last five. His average finish of 15th on serpentine circuits is his best across all track types.
• Bowman scored a road course victory in the 2024 Chicago Street Race, which stands as one of his eight career NASCAR Cup Series wins.
• 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 the SPCA of Northeastern North Carolina in Elizabeth City.

Hendrick Motorsports

*Most all time
**Tied for most all time

• Hendrick Motorsports engines have won 21 poles (seven in the NASCAR Cup Series, 14 in the Xfinity Series) and 26 races (seven in Cup, 18 in Xfinity and one in the preseason Clash) in 2025 and have powered teams to 41 points-paying Cup Series victories in the Next Gen era, the most of any organization.
• Hendrick Motorsports has led 2,448 laps through 31 events this year, accounting for 30% of all circuits completed in the Cup Series and 254 more than any other team.
• With 17, the organization leads the series in stage wins. That total is the team’s second most through a season’s first 31 races.
• Hendrick Motorsports has had at least one driver finish in the top 10 in 30 of 31 races in 2025.
• Last Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway marked the eighth time this season that at least three of the organization’s cars finished inside the top 10. That’s tied for the most such occurrences in a year all time.
• Chase Elliott’s win at Kansas marked the sixth straight season Hendrick Motorsports has registered at least one victory in the Round of 12 and its eight wins all time are the most of any organization.
• Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in wins (four), top fives (nine), top 10s (18) and laps led (266) at the Charlotte ROVAL. One of the team’s current drivers has led the most laps at the ROVAL in six of seven Cup Series events. The organization has won five of the last 12 road course races.

QUOTABLE /
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on returning to the Charlotte ROVAL: “We won at the [Charlotte ROVAL] last year, which was a proud moment for our team, especially since we hadn’t run that well there in the Next Gen era. We’ve had some stressful moments at that track in the past, but heading into this weekend, given where we stand above the cutline, we’re hoping it’ll be less stressful. Hopefully, we can be as strong as we were last year and have a solid race.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on the Charlotte ROVAL and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs: “My mind is really all about (the) Charlotte (ROVAL) right now because five more points would be a really big deal for us starting the next round and we will be in a position where you’re going to have to fight for wins over the next round too. So, I think it’s a great opportunity to race this weekend like we’re going to have to race the next three weeks following that and get our team in a position where that’s the norm because if you want to get to Phoenix, that’s got to be the mindset there anyway. So, you might as well embrace it and enjoy it.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on the Charlotte ROVAL: “I really enjoy the Charlotte ROVAL. We’ve had a lot of success there, just haven’t been able to seal the deal though, unfortunately. A couple years ago, we really focused on improving our road course package and think that has shown. There is some unpredictability this weekend with strategy and the chaos that can ensue in the final laps but I think we’re in a pretty good spot. Hopefully we have another solid weekend and can get the job done with a win.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on going to the Charlotte ROVAL: “The ROVAL is always such a unique challenge because it mixes so many different elements of road and oval racing. Our No. 48 Ally Chevy has had speed there in the past, and we’ve been building good momentum on road courses lately.”