New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 17, 2022
1.058-Mile Oval
3:00 PM ET
Location: Loudon, New Hampshire
TV: Fox
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (20 of 36)
Radio: SiriusXM, PRN
5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 29 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Kevin Meendering
Standings: 4th
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
FOURTH IN JULY: Kyle Larson started third, was collected in a multi-car incident on lap 92 and battled back to finish 13th in the 260-lap race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion remains fourth in the point standings and is now 105 markers behind points leader and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
IT’S MAGIC: In 11 Cup Series starts at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Larson has four top-five finishes including three runner-up finishes and six top-10s with a seventh-place result last year. In three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at “The Magic Mile,” the 29-year-old driver has two top-five finishes while, in 2012, Larson led 15 laps en route to victory in his only ARCA Menards Series East start at the New England track.
DRIVE FOR FIVE: Through 19 events this season, Larson has posted eight top-five finishes. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 trails only Ross Chastain (10) in that statistical category.
TOP-FIVE FOR DRIVER 5: In just over a year-and-a-half with Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has secured 11 victories as the driver of the No. 5 entry – fifth on the all-time wins list among drivers at the organization. He only trails Jeff Gordon (93), Jimmie Johnson (83), Elliott (16) and Terry Labonte (12).
AND THE ESPY GOES TO?: Larson has been nominated for the ESPN “Best Driver” ESPY for the first time in his 10-year Cup Series career. The Elk Grove, California, native finished the 2021 Cup Series season with 10 wins, 20 top-five finishes and 26 top-10s – all tops in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Larson also spends time racing on dirt where he was also very successful last year, winning an additional 22 times including the Chili Bowl, the Knoxville Nationals, the Kings Royal and the Prairie Dirt Classic. This year’s ESPY Awards will take place on Wednesday, July 20 at 8 p.m. ET. Fans can cast their votes for their favorite driver here through Sunday, July 17 at 8 p.m. ET.
FIT FOR A KING: Last year’s Kings Royal winner will again compete in the prestigious sprint car race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio this weekend. Preliminary action begins on Wednesday and continues each night through the $175,000-to-win Saturday main event. HendrickCars.com will appear on Larson’s sprint car, uniform, gloves and helmet.
DOUBLE DOTY: On Tuesday night at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio, Larson held off a hard-charging Donny Schatz to win his second consecutive Brad Doty Classic. The win marked Larson’s 28th World of Outlaws sprint car victory.
YOUR CAR NEEDS: This weekend, Larson will drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. From the convenience of home, customers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at HendrickCars.com. The website also makes it easy for customers to find one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealership locations nationwide.
9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 26 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 1st
No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series, will be available in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway media center at 10:45 a.m. local time on Saturday, July 16.
LEADER OF THE PACK: Following his win at his home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott expanded his NASCAR Cup Series point standings lead to 47 markers over Ryan Blaney. Sweeping the first two stages en route to the win, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native now has 20 coveted playoff points, the most among the Cup Series field. The 2020 Cup Series champion is also the only driver with three wins this season.
SIMILAR TRACK PERFORMANCE: This Sunday, Elliott will make his ninth Cup Series start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In 47 starts on tracks measuring 1-mile to 1.366-miles in length (Dover Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Phoenix Raceway and WWT Raceway) , the 26-year-old driver has four wins, including two victories this season at Dover and Nashville. Accompanying those victories are 19 top-five finishes, 25 top-10s and 1,232 laps led.
KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE: Elliott is riding a streak of three consecutive top-two finishes. In his three most recent starts, he’s amassed two victories (Nashville and Atlanta) and a runner-up finish at Road America. He currently also has four consecutive top-10 finishes, his second longest top-10 streak of the season.
FRONT RUNNER: The three-time 2022 winner has spent a lot of time at the front of the field this season. His average finish of 10.84 is best among his fellow Cup Series competitors and he’s led a series-high 645 laps in 2022, which is also a career-best for the 26-year-old through 19 events. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has raced inside the top-five for 1,900 circuits and the top-10 for 3,060 laps – third-best in each category behind Blaney and Ross Chastain.
GUSTAFSON AT NEW HAMPSHIRE: No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson will call his 30th New Hampshire Cup Series race from atop the pit box on Sunday afternoon. He’s collected two wins with two different drivers on the 1.058-mile track, the first with Kyle Busch in 2006 and the second with Mark Martin in 2009. Along with Gustafson’s two wins, he has seven top-five finishes, 13 top-10s and 550 laps led.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: The No. 9 pit crew continues to impress, currently second-fastest among the Cup Series field this season when it comes to the average length of four tire pit stops with a time of 11.805 seconds. The NAPA AUTO PARTS pit crew is comprised of jackman T.J. Semke, fueler John Gianninoto, tire carrier Jared Erspamer and tire changers Chad Avrit and Nick O’Dell.
HOMETOWN HERO: Elliott’s victory in the Peach State was his first at his home track, which is also the home base for primary partner NAPA AUTO PARTS. With the win, Elliott became just the second Georgia-born driver to win a Cup Series race at Atlanta. His father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, won five times at the track. The two also became the third father-son duo to win at the track, joining Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as well as Ned and Dale Jarrett.
A SHOC ENERGY DAYTONA RACE EXPERIENCE: A SHOC Energy is giving fans the opportunity to win a VIP trip to the Cup Series race at Daytona on Saturday, August 27. One grand prize winner and guest will get flight and hotel accommodations, tickets to the regular-season finale and a $500 Visa gift card. The sweepstakes is open now through July 15 and fans can enter by texting “ASHOCTRIP” to 97579.
24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 24 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 10th
No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series, will be available in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway media center at 4:00 p.m. local time on Friday, July 15.
2022 SEASON STATS: So far in the 2022 season, William Byron has scored two wins, four top-five finishes, five top-10s, with 611 laps led – the second-most by a NASCAR Cup Series driver this season – across 12 of the 19 races. He also has three stage wins and 13 playoff points accumulated – tied for the second-most by any driver so far this season. Byron is currently 10th in the driver point standings, locked into the Cup Series playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
SIMILAR IN SIZE: This Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will mark Byron’s 33rd start on tracks 1-mile to 1.366-miles in length (Dover Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Phoenix Raceway and WWT Raceway). In his previous 32 starts, the 24-year-old driver has collected one pole award, five top-five finishes, 10 top-10s with 82 laps led.
LOVIN’ LOUDON: While he has always run well in New Hampshire, Byron got off to an unbeatable start at “The Magic Mile” early on. In his first start at the 1.058-mile oval in 2015 in the ARCA Menards Series East, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native qualified on the pole and led 68 of 70 laps before taking home the checkered flag. He followed it up the next year by dominating the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race where he started from the pole, led 161 of 175 laps en route to his sixth of seven victories in 2016. Moving up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2017, Byron earned a top-five finish after starting seventh and finishing third. Since 2017, Byron has four Cup Series starts at the track, with three top-15 finishes and a best result of 11th coming in 2020.
RUDY PUTS THE MAGIC IN ‘MAGIC MILE’: Byron isn’t the only one who enjoys racing at New Hampshire, his crew chief does as well. Last year was Rudy Fugle’s one and only Cup Series start at “The Magic Mile” where the No. 24 team finished 21st after the race ended early due to darkness. Otherwise, the Livonia, New York, native has four starts at the 1.058-mile oval. In three Truck Series starts, he has one pole award and two wins, including a victory with Byron in 2016. In fact, Fugle’s drivers have an average starting position of 2.33 and an average finishing position of third at NHMS in the Truck Series.
SIX IN A ROW: On Tuesday, Byron not only made his debut at Slinger Speedway in the No. 24 Super Late Model for Wilson Motorsports, but he raced his way to the win against a stacked field in the prestigious Slinger Nationals. This was the sixth straight win for the Charlotte, North Carolina, native in the Super Late Model out of the seven races he has entered in 2022. His wins this year include two wins at New Smyrna Speedway, one at Hickory Motor Speedway, one at the Nashville Fairgrounds, one at Berlin Raceway and now Slinger Speedway as well.
DOUBLE UP: Byron is pulling double duty this weekend. In addition to Sunday’s Cup Series race, he’ll drive the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday afternoon. The 24-year-old driver earned his Xfinity Series championship with JR Motorsports in 2017 and garnered four wins with the team. Byron’s primary partner in the Cup Series, Axalta, will also serve as an associate partner on his Xfinity Series car.
HEADING HOME: Traveling to New England for this Sunday’s Cup Series race, two crew members of the No. 24 team call New Hampshire their home track. A part of the No. 24 team since 2019, car chief Tyler Jones hails from South Royalton, Vermont, less than 100 miles northwest of the track. While newcomer and front tire changer, Jeff Cordero, calls Salem, Connecticut home, which is less than 200 miles south of the Loudon, New Hampshire, venue.
LIBERTY U IS BACK: For Sunday’s race, Byron will climb behind the wheel of the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the Liberty University No. 24 will be sure to stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 in the late model ranks. Liberty University has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in strategic communication, Byron is now in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program. For a better look at Byron’s Liberty University paint scheme, click here.
48 Alex Bowman
Age: 29 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Resides: Concord, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Greg Ives
Standings: 9th
HOTLANTA: Alex Bowman laid down the fastest lap of the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway last Sunday on lap 136 around the 1.54-mile circuit at 29.84 seconds. The No. 48 driver managed to maintain the fastest lap even though he did not finish the race after being involved in a single-vehicle incident at the end of stage two on lap 160.
UP FRONT: Through 19 events in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, Bowman has crossed the finish line inside the top 10 on nine occasions – second-most in his Cup career behind his banner year of 2021 where he had 10 top-10 finishes through the same point in the season. The Tucson, Arizona, native has also tallied one win (Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March), and three top-five finishes this season, ranking ninth in the regular season standings.
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOMENTUM: The 29-year-old driver had his best performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year when he started a career-best fifth at the Loudon, New Hampshire, venue. He went on to finish the race in ninth, notching his first top-10 result at the track where he started his career with Hendrick Motorsports in July 2016. Last year’s race also marked his best average running position in 10 races there.
RIGHT HAND MAN: In their fifth full-time season together, Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives have the fifth-most wins of all active driver-crew chief combinations in the Cup Series (seven). Ives has one top-five finish and two top-10s at New Hampshire, with the most recent success coming last year when Bowman finished the race in ninth place. The Michigan native’s best result atop the pit box at the 1.058-mile track came in 2015 with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who finished fifth in the summer race.
MILE RANGE SUCCESS: The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet has had success at another track in the 1-mile range on the Cup Series schedule, Dover Motor Speedway. In Bowman’s 12 starts on the “Monster Mile,” he has one win (May 2021), five top-five finishes – including this year where he notched a fifth-place result in May – five top-10s, and has led 142 laps. His top-five this spring marks his most recent top-five finish this season.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Team owner Rick Hendrick turned 73 on Tuesday just two days after Chase Elliott won the 287th NASCAR Cup Series race for Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott is one of twenty Cup Series drivers who have tasted victory working with the NASCAR Hall of Famer.
TOP OF THE BOARD: Hendrick Motorsports’ seven wins are the most among all Cup Series teams in 2022. It is the only four-car team to see each of its drivers win a race this season, and all four drivers currently rank in the top 10 in points. The organization’s 1,547 laps out front represent 31 percent of the laps run this season and leads all teams in the series by 419 circuits. Teammates Elliott and William Byron rank 1-2 in laps led.
GOING STREAKING: With two wins and a runner-up finish in his last three races, Elliott is on a three-race run of top-two finishes. Of the last seven times this has happened in the Cup Series, five times have involved a Hendrick Motorsports driver. In addition to his current streak, Elliott has had three-race top-two streaks in 2021 (from Circuit of The Americas to Sonoma Raceway) and 2020 into ’21 (from Martinsville Speedway to Daytona International Speedway). Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson had a three-race streak in 2021 (from the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL to Kansas Speedway – he won all three races) and a six-race streak earlier that season (from Darlington Raceway to Nashville Superspeedway).
SMALL SUCCESS: On “smaller tracks,” which are venues that measure 1.366 miles or shorter, Hendrick Motorsports has won three of the eight races this season. Byron won at Martinsville in April, while Elliott won at Dover Motor Speedway in May and Nashville in June. The organization’s three wins on smaller tracks are the most in the Cup Series this season. Elliott is one of two drivers with multiple wins on tracks no bigger than 1.366 miles in length in 2022 – Joey Logano is the other.
FINE NINE: In its history, Hendrick Motorsports has nine wins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with five drivers visiting victory lane in The Granite State. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson each won three times at the 1.058-mile facility. Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne have one victory apiece.
BACK IN TIME: Kahne earned the last win for the storied organization at the Loudon, New Hampshire, track in July 2012. That is the company’s second-longest drought at an active track as the team has not won at Darlington since May 2012. Since the organization’s last New Hampshire victory, they have won 83 times on 25 different tracks and racked up four championships. At the time of that win, the four current drivers for Hendrick Motorsports had made just one national series start between them (Larson at Kentucky Speedway in June 2012).
QUOTABLE /
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what he can compare New Hampshire Motor Speedway to: “Loudon isn’t a track I have done a particularly great job at in the past, but I have had a few good runs there. I do enjoy going there because it’s a different style track and it reminds me of IRP (Indianapolis Raceway Park) where I ran some USAC races back in the day. I’m hoping this weekend is a little more successful than past races and that we can get our HendrickCars.com Chevrolet into victory lane.”
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what the team can still improve upon before the playoffs: “We want to be better at every aspect of our game. When I look at the weeks ahead, I think the next two are important places that we need to improve at. Loudon has not been a very good place for me. We’ve had a couple decent runs but nothing earth-shattering. Pocono (Raceway) is kind of the same way. I don’t feel like I’ve run good up there since my rookie year, so maybe I just need to forget everything I’ve learned between then and now and restart. We want to be good at all the tracks and I think we’re a strong enough team where we can do that.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on if they are currently the team to beat as the sport gets closer to the playoffs: “It’s hard to say. I have a huge amount of respect for our competition and what they can accomplish. I don’t think we’ll be the favorites going into Loudon. It’s a track we’ve certainly struggled at. We’ve got some work to do and we’ve been working hard to get it better. It’s the same old story for us, it’s not going to change. We’re going to try do the best we can to get the No. 9 NAPA team operating at our highest potential and if we do that, we’re going to be in great shape and have opportunities to win a lot of races and compete for the championship. Sometimes you get the results and sometimes you don’t, and you’ve just got to continuously work on getting better. We are improving and getting better and have been making strides. It’s good right now, but there’s still a long way to go and we know that. We’ve got to continue to push as hard as we can and can’t allow recent success to take the edge off. If we do that and get to the final 10 in the best possible condition this team can be in, we’ll be in great shape.”
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his short track racing preparation for Sunday: “This weekend will be tough I feel like. I think New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) is a fairly difficult track to get around but also to get around consistently lap after lap. When I first started racing, I did really well there and it was one of my best tracks, but for some reason I haven’t gotten the same results in Cup. This year, I wanted to really focus on getting better at the short tracks and New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) was one specifically that I wanted to work on. Between running Slinger (Speedway) on Monday and Tuesday and then being in the Xfinity car on Friday and Saturday this week, I’ll have done quite a bit of preparation for Sunday’s short-track race. The extra laps in general, but especially in the Xfinity Series race, I think will really get me in a good rhythm for the Cup Series race.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what he expects this weekend at New Hampshire: “New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) is a track I look forward to going to every year. It’s a place that has just seemed to click for me from the beginning. Last year’s Cup Series race didn’t go as we planned, but I think we have a better idea of what to expect this time. It’s going to be a strategy-focused race in my opinion. The track is hard to pass on, so gaining and maintaining track position is going to be important. I also don’t think that you can make it a full fuel run on a set of tires, just with the tire wear we have seen so far this year. It will be a balance of pushing as long as you can in a run on a set of tires to maximize your fuel mileage but also to not give up any track position in the process. Unlike last year, they are putting PJ1 down on the track surface, so hopefully that makes it a little more race-y than it was last year.”
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on rebounding from Atlanta Motor Speedway: “We had a fast No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 last weekend at Atlanta (Motor Speedway). It was disappointing that we had a flat tire take us out of the race, but I can’t say enough about the car. We didn’t get the chance to get any laps in before the race to see where the car was, which was a challenge in itself. Being able to run up front all day speaks to the strength of Hendrick Motorsports and the crew who build our race cars. I know we didn’t have the result we wanted in Atlanta, but our team is going to give us another strong No. 48 Ally Chevy and we will go to New Hampshire (Motor Speedway), hit the reset button and try to focus on putting ourselves in a position to win.”
Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his approach to New Hampshire: “Last year, we had one of out best runs at New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) and I think we are capable of going back and doing it again. Anytime you go to a place that you have historically struggled at and start in the top-five and finish in the top-10, you can’t help but feel confident that you will be able to go out and replicate that performance. Our team continues to build fast race cars and this week will be no different from our standards. The Next Gen car makes things a little different than last year, but I think we have a good shot of being competitive again this year.”
