Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Texas

Texas Motor Speedway
Sunday, May 3
1.5-Mile Quad-Oval
3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series race (11 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 33 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Race: 40th (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 6th

No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet

• Kyle Larson has led 1,920 laps on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car, more than double the next-closest driver (William Byron, 912).
• Larson has led laps in each of the last five Texas Motor Speedway races in the NASCAR Cup Series, the longest active streak. In that stretch, he’s paced 541 of the 615 laps he’s led there for his career. With one lap led on Sunday, he will eclipse 500 for the 2026 season.
• The 33-year-old has run 629 laps inside the top five at Texas in the Next Gen era, ranking first, 124 ahead of second place.
• The defending Cup Series champion has run nearly 50% of laps so far in the 2026 season inside the top five.
• Larson will drive the No. 88 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Later that evening, he will drive a sprint car in High Limit Racing’s at the complex’s dirt track.

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

No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet

• This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway, where Chase Elliott is a previous winner. He led 39 laps en route to the victory in April 2024.
• His average finish of 12.47 at the track ranks eighth all time among Cup drivers with three or more starts.
• This season in two races on 1.5-mile tracks, Elliott is one of nine drivers to finish in the top 10 in both, placing second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and eighth at Kansas Speedway.
• In the previous 15 Cup Series races at 1.5-mile facilities, Elliott has 10 top-10 results, including his win at Kansas last fall.
• Through 10 events in 2026, the 30-year-old has the second-best average finish (9.7).

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 28 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Race: 35th (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 11th

No. 24 Valvoline Heavy Duty Chevrolet

• William Byron is one of nine drivers to finish top 10 in both races at 1.5-mile tracks in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. He finished third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and seventh at Kansas Speedway.
• Since 2023, Byron has the most top-five finishes (12), top 10s (17) and the best average finish (8.4) on 1.5-mile tracks. He has two runner-up results and 10 stage wins, ranking second to teammate Kyle Larson. The driver of the No. 24 has also led the third-most laps (795) and has the third-best average starting position (8.4).
• His average finish of 9.5 in the Next Gen era at this track type is tops in the sport. At Texas Motor Speedway in the same span, Byron has run the fifth-most laps in the top five (308) and the second-most laps in the top 10 (799). He has also earned the most points of any driver (158), including a victory in the fall of 2023 which was also the 300th for Hendrick Motorsports.
• The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has an average finish of 11.36 at Texas, his best among all 1.5-mile tracks and fourth best all-time among Cup drivers. In the last five races at the Texas-based track, Byron has four finishes of seventh or better.
• With crew chief Rudy Fugle on top of the pit box for five Cup Series races at Texas, the duo has an average finish of 5.2 – best in the field.
• This weekend, Byron will sport a new Valvoline livery that celebrates the brands heavy duty engine oil that provides power and durability to diesel engine trucks.

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 33 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Race: 3rd (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 36th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman earned his first stage points of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season en route to a third-place finish last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. It marked the No. 48 team’s first top five of the season.
• Bowman has earned two top-five finishes at Texas Motor Speedway, notching his best finish of fifth twice (2019, 2020) and leading 59 total laps. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Series, Bowman has made two starts at Texas, earning the pole in both starts.
• On 1.5-mile tracks, Bowman has finished inside the top 10 in nine of his last 13 events.
• 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: 1st (Talladega)
Crew Chief: Adam Wall
Standings: 4th

• In his 22nd NASCAR O’Reilly Series start, Corey Day earned his first career NOAPS victory at Talladega Superspeedway last Saturday after qualifying third.
• The Clovis, California, native has recorded four top-five finishes and nine top 10s in 11 starts this season.
• Day returns to Texas Motor Speedway for the second time in his pavement career. Last spring, he made his second career NOAPS start, rolling off 33rd and advancing to a 16th-place finish at the track.
• On 1.5-mile tracks, Day has made four career starts, posting an average starting position of 17.3 and an average finish of 10th. He has led 35 laps on this track type while earning one top-five and two top-10 finishes.
• Day is also scheduled to run his sprint car on Thursday, April 30 and Saturday, May 2 at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.

Hendrick Motorsports

• Hendrick Motorsports enters this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway as the facility’s all-time leader in wins (12), poles (eight), top fives (46), top 10s (81) and laps led (3,263). Kyle Larson (2021), William Byron (2023) and Chase Elliott (2024) have combined to win three of the last five races at the 1.5-mile quad-oval.
• At least two of the organization’s four drivers have finished in the top five in three of the last six Cup events.
• The Hendrick Motorsports engine department enters the weekend with 565 victories across all three national NASCAR touring series including eight of 11 events in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series.
• Hendrick Motorsports remains the premier series’ all-time standard bearer in wins (321), poles (259), top-five finishes (1,332), top 10s (2,278), laps led (86,009) and championships (15).

QUOTABLE
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on Texas Motor Speedway: “I think if you can get your car to handle, because it’s hard to make it work well on both ends of the racetrack, but if you can get through turns one and two with speed, then you have just enough comfort to carry that speed through three and four, you can have a good day.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on approaching Texas Motor Speedway: “I’m certainly encouraged by how we ran at [Las] Vegas [Motor Speedway]. I thought there were periods of the race [at] Kansas [Speedway] that I thought we were really respectable there as well. Certainly, needed a little bit, I thought, in both of those cases, but we were close, which was nice. Texas [Motor Speedway] has been a really tough track for me throughout its reconfiguration, but I feel like we made some small gains there the last few trips. Got a win there, weren’t the best car that day, but got a win and kept ourselves in position. I’m curious to get out there and kind of keep assessing where we are.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on Texas Motor Speedway: “I’m glad Texas [Motor Speedway] is after Talladega [Superspeedway] because we need a good solid weekend. I’m confident in our mile-and-a-half program, even this year with the body changes. We need a weekend like that though, where we get back to where we excel. Texas is one of the better mile-and-a-halves for our team, and I hope that shows once again.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, coming off a top five at Talladega Superspeedway and heading to Texas Motor Speedway: “Having a good finish was really good for our Ally 48 team last weekend. With how hard these guys have worked, and everything that has been thrown at them this season, they deserve to have those finishes every week. Momentum at this level isn’t fake; our top-five finish last weekend puts us on the right side of practice and qualifying for Texas, which we haven’t had yet this season. We’re continuing to work hard and focus on our execution to get these results every week.”

Corey Day, driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet, on carrying momentum from a win at Talladega Superspeedway to Texas Motor Speedway: “This past weekend at Talladega [Superspeedway] was a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to help get me to my first victory lane. We’re really excited to build on the momentum and I’m looking forward to heading back to Texas [Motor Speedway]. All of the tracks that I’ve gotten to go back to for a second or third time, I’ve had pretty good success at. As new as I am to this it’s really beneficial for me to have laps in the No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet at tracks. Texas was great last year for my second NOAPS start. I love the mile-and-a-half style of racing; the throttle time is my favorite.”