Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Kansas

Kansas Speedway
Sunday, Sept. 27
1.5-Mile Tri-Oval
3 p.m. ET
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (Race 30 of 36)
RADIO: SiriusXM

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 34 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Last Race: 2nd (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 1st
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet  

• Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team earned their third consecutive top-five finish at Bristol Motor Speedway with a runner-up result in the Bristol Night Race last Saturday.
• Larson is the only driver to record a top-five finish in each of the first three NASCAR Cup Series Chase races. He leads all drivers in points (161), laps led (224) and average finish (2.66) through the first three Chase races.
• Larson has led 1,957 laps on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car, 939 more than the next-closest competitor.
• The Elk Grove, California, native is the only driver to have led more than 1,000 laps at Kansas Speedway (1,003). Of those, 839 laps have come in the 11 races since he joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021.
• The 34-year-old has finished in the top two in six of the last 10 races at Kansas, dating back to October 2021.
• Larson has seven stage wins at Kansas, the second-most of any driver. In his last 11 races at the track, he has recorded nine top 10s, seven top fives and three victories, with an average finish of 6.5.  

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 30 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Last Race: 23rd (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 12th
No. 9 Kelley Blue Book 100th Anniversary Chevrolet  

• With seven races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, Chase Elliott is 12th in the standings, 117 points behind the leader.
• Elliott has won on five of the seven remaining tracks this season a combined eight times, including two victories at Kansas Speedway (fall 2018 and fall 2025).
• This season on 1.5-mile tracks, Elliott has two top-two finishes, including a win at Texas Motor Speedway.
• In the Next Gen Era on 1.5-mile tracks, the 2020 Cup Series champion is tied for the fourth-most wins (three).
• The 30-year-old driver’s average finish of 9.81 at Kansas is the best all-time among Cup Series drivers with more than five starts.
• Elliott’s 14 top-10 finishes at Kansas are his second most on active tracks behind Martinsville Speedway (15).
• In the Next Gen era at Kansas, Elliott is tied with teammate Alex Bowman for the fourth-most top-10 finishes (six).
• This weekend, Elliott is set to pass Terry Labonte for the third-most Cup starts with Hendrick Motorsports (388). He’s behind only Jeff Gordon (805) and Jimmie Johnson (686) on that list.
• This weekend, Elliott will run a special Kelley Blue Book 100th Anniversary scheme. The No. 9 Chevrolet features pink accents as a nod to founder Les Kelley, who painted his cars pink to stand out on the lot during a time when all cars were black.  

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 28 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Last Race: 9th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 13th
No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet  

• Fighting through adversity Saturday night, William Byron secured a ninth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, moving up to 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, 121 points behind the leader.
• In the Next Gen era on 1.5-mile tracks, Byron has the best average finish of any driver at 9.3. He has also led the third-most laps (1,006).
• In the last eight races on mile-and-a-half tracks, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has seven top-10 finishes including being one of only two drivers to finish in the top 10 in all five such races this season.
• In 2026 on 1.5-milers, Byron has the most stage wins of any driver with three. He also has the second-best average finish of 6.2.
• In 17 starts at Kansas Speedway, Byron has one pole, three top-five finishes and 10 top 10s with 160 laps led. He logged a track-best finish of second in the fall of 2024.
• His 10 top 10s at Kansas are tied for his most at any track (Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway).  

48 ALEX BOWMAN
Age: 33 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Last Race: 35th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Blake Harris
Standings: 28th

 No. 48 Ally Chevrolet  

• On 1.5-mile tracks, Alex Bowman’s average finish is 10.8, fourth best among active drivers.
• At Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bowman has 11 top-10 finishes, his most at any track. In six of his last eight Kansas starts, Bowman has finished in the top 10.
• Bowman is tied with teammate Chase Elliott for fourth-most top-10 finishes at Kansas Speedway in the Next Gen era with six.
• Among drivers without a win at Kansas, Bowman ranks second for most laps led (191 laps). A runner-up finish in 2019 marks Bowman’s best showing at the speedway.
• Earlier this season, Ally Racing fans had the opportunity to design and vote on a paint scheme as part of the Ally Paint Shop, a fan engagement initiative. This weekend, Bowman and the Ally 48 team head to Kansas Speedway with the winning scheme on the No. 48 Chevrolet. This design features a channel catfish, the official state fish of Kansas.  

17 COREY DAY
Age: 20 (November 28, 2005)
Hometown: Clovis, California
Last Race: 5th (Bristol)
Crew Chief: Adam Wall
Standings: 6th

• The NASCAR O’Reilly Series will take its final off weekend of the season this week. The series will return Saturday, Oct. 3, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Corey Day currently sits sixth in The Chase standings, 92 points behind the leader following a fifth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway last week.
• In his first full-time NOAPS season, the Clovis, California, native has earned two wins, eight top-five finishes, 17 top-10 finishes, one pole and two stage wins through 27 races.  

Hendrick Motorsports  

*Most
**Tied for most

• The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Kansas Speedway this weekend for the fourth race of The Chase. Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in wins (11), top fives (51) and top 10s (96) at the 1.5-mile tri-oval and its seven poles are tied for the most.
• Hendrick Motorsports has led laps in each of the last 16 races at Kansas, dating back to 2018. The team has combined to win three of the last five races in the Sunflower State. It has placed a driver in the top two in each of the last five, a driver in the top five in each of the last 12 and a driver in the top 10 in each of the last 16 events at the track.
• Among the 10 tracks in The Chase, Hendrick Motorsports has piled up 136 victories including 21 in the Next Gen era. The organization leads the field in postseason wins (63) and has won at least one race in The Chase/Playoffs in 23 of 24 seasons. That includes multiple victories in each of the last six years heading into 2026.
• With Kyle Larson now atop The Chase standings, a Hendrick Motorsports driver has led the series in points in each of the last seven seasons.
• The Hendrick Motorsports engine department enters the weekend with 581 victories across all three national NASCAR touring series including 21 of 27 events in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series this season.
• Hendrick Motorsports remains the Cup Series’ all-time standard bearer in wins (323), poles (259), top-five finishes (1,349), top 10s (2,305), laps led (86,744) and championships (15).  

QUOTABLE
 
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, on the next three races in The Chase: “I definitely don’t believe we’re going to go to the next three racetracks [Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway] and be the fastest car, but I think we’ll be a top-five car. As you can see the last couple of weeks, you can execute from there and score at least a lot of points or potentially have a shot to win. That’s the goal, anyway.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet, on the remainder of The Chase: “Just trying to get the ball rolling in the right direction and getting some consistency going would be really nice for us. I think knowing that the potential is there is great, but we have to extract that quickly. We’re running out of time.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, on entering stronger race tracks as The Chase goes on: “We’re now at the point of The Chase where we’re heading to the tracks that are our bread and butter. The last two were tracks that weren’t our strongest statistically and we went in and fought through for a top five and a top 10 the week after. Now is our time to shine though and continue the upward movement in the standings. We’re not out yet.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, on heading to Kansas Speedway: “Kansas [Speedway] is one of my favorite tracks we race at. It’s typically a good race for our Ally 48 team. We’re ready to get back on the rails and keep building momentum for the last seven races of the season.”

Corey Day, driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet, on The Chase heading into an off week: “We’re three races into The Chase, and I’m proud of the finishes we’ve had at Darlington and Bristol. We’re sitting sixth in points right now, so we definitely have some work to do, but my No. 17 HendrickCars.com team has been working hard every week to build fast cars and put me in a position to perform. [Las] Vegas [Motor Speedway] is one of my favorite tracks, so I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car there and hopefully putting together another strong finish.”