Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Darlington

No. 5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media in the Darlington Raceway media center on Saturday, May 11, at 9:45 a.m. local time.

NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE: Last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson beat Chris Buescher to the checkered flag by 0.001 seconds – the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history. The Elk Grove, California, native led 64 laps en route to his second victory of the season. Larson continues to lead the point standings, now 29 markers ahead.

OUT FRONT: Larson has led at least one lap in nine of 12 races this season for a total of 634 – 28 more laps out front than the nearest competitor. This is the most he has led in a season through 12 events and is 123 more at this point compared to his 2021 season when he set the record for laps led (2,581) during a 36-race Cup Series schedule.

STAGE LEFT: The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet has six stage victories through 12 races this season, tied for the most all-time through a dozen races. Larson has collected 16 playoff points – 10 via race victories and six through stage wins. He has earned 145 stage points, 30 more than second place in that statistical category.

FIVE FOR 5: Larson leads the series in top-five finishes this year with six – one ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott and two ahead of teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman, who are part of a seven-way tie for third. Larson has also run the most laps in the top five (2,061), has the second-best average running position (8.50) and the third-best average finish (10.83) in 2024.

RECENTLY: While he is the most recent winner on the circuit, Larson also won the last event held at Darlington Raceway. The 2021 Cup Series champion led 55 laps last September to capture his first Southern 500 victory, marking the 500th NASCAR national series triumph for the Hendrick Motorsports engine department. The win was also Larson’s first at NASCAR’s highest level at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. The 2014 rookie of the year also scored a victory at Darlington in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2023.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATS: In 12 Cup starts at Darlington, Larson has six top-three finishes. His 770 laps led at the track “Too Tough to Tame” are his third-most at any track on the schedule. Additionally, Larson’s average finish (9.42) is the third-best all-time among drivers with more than two starts at the historic track.

STANDBY UPDATE: Last month at Dover Motor Speedway, it was announced Kevin Harvick will be the standby driver for Larson in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet ZL1 at North Wilkesboro Speedway because of commitments with the Indianapolis 500. Harvick is now scheduled to participate in practice and qualify the No. 5 entry on Friday, May 17.

THROWING IT BACK TO TERRY: During Darlington’s throwback weekend, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will pay tribute to Terry Labonte’s classic livery that he drove to the 1996 Cup Series championship, which marked the second of 14 premier series titles for team owner Rick Hendrick. Larson is the team’s most recent champion in 2021. Check out all angles of the throwback paint scheme here.

No. 9 UniFirst Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

KEEP IT ROLLING: Chase Elliott continues his impressive 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, highlighted by five top-five finishes in the last six races – including a win at Texas Motor Speedway last month. Elliott’s average finish in those six races is 5.33, the best among the Cup Series field. In the premier series’ most recent race (at Kansas Speedway), the 2020 Cup Series champion started ninth and brought home a third-place result in a wild overtime finish.

STOUT NUMBERS: Through 12 races, the Dawsonville, Georgia, native sits third in the points standings, just 55 markers behind the leader, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. Elliott has secured one win (Texas) and his five top-five finishes are second-best in the series behind Larson. He ranks fourth in laps run in the top five (959) and top 10 (2,009). Additionally, Elliott holds the second-best average finish (9.67) – one of only two drivers in the single digits – has the fourth-best average running position (10.90) among series regulars and the sixth-most stage points (80) earned.

DARLINGTON DATA: Sunday marks Elliott’s 15th start at Darlington Raceway in the Cup Series. In his previous 14 races at the 1.366-mile oval, he has collected four top-five finishes, seven top-10s and led 151 laps. Last season, he finished in the top 10 in the spring and fall races, posting his track-best Cup finish of third last May. Outside of the premier series, the six-time National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award winner has made three Darlington starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, earning a win at the track during his 2014 rookie season.

SIMILAR TRACK STATS: In 58 Cup starts on tracks measuring 1 to 1.37 miles in length (Darlington, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway and WWT Raceway), Elliott has four wins. His first came at Dover in 2018, followed by his championship-winning performance at Phoenix in 2020. His two most recent victories on a track in this length range came in 2022, with wins at Dover and Nashville. Accompanying his quartet of triumphs are 23 top-five finishes, 30 top-10s and 1,246 laps led.

AG IN SC: On Sunday, Alan Gustafson will call his 25th Darlington race in his 20th season as a Cup Series crew chief. In his previous 24 starts at the track with five different drivers (Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Elliott and NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin), Gustafson has accumulated one win (2009 with Martin), six top-five finishes, 11 top-10s and 222 laps led.

NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022, Elliott has earned six wins, placing him in a three-way tie for the fourth-most victories. In that span, he holds the best average finish (12.26).

FAST FIVE: Last month at Texas, the No. 9 pit crew laid down the fastest four-tire pit stop (9.076 seconds) of the 2024 season, according to data from Racing Insights. The over-the-wall squad, which has remained the same since 2018, posted the best average four-tire pit stop time at Kansas (9.743 seconds) and currently holds the fastest average four-tire pit stop time (10.651 seconds) this season. The 2021 Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew award-winning group is comprised of Chad Avrit (rear-tire changer), Jared Erspamer (tire carrier), John Gianninoto (fueler), Nick O’Dell (front-tire changer) and T.J. Semke (jackman).

FITTING THROWBACK: This weekend, Elliott will run a special throwback scheme at Darlington in celebration of Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2014 DAYTONA 500 victory. Elliott’s No. 9 UniFirst Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will don a special livery inspired by Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet with the same red, white and blue scheme with gold accents. Check out all the angles of the throwback look here.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE: In conjunction with NASCAR’s Official Throwback Weekend, the Chase Elliott Foundation will auction off the Earnhardt Jr.-inspired skeleton gloves Elliott will wear in Sunday’s race at Darlington. All proceeds raised will be donated to the National Guard Relief Foundation. No. 9 team partner UniFirst is joining the cause and will match the donations raised dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000. Elliott’s gloves will be available via charity auction on The NASCAR Foundation eBay Auction Page, starting on Thursday, May 9, at 9 p.m. ET.

No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

SUNFLOWER STATE STATS: Alex Bowman scored a seventh-place finish upon taking the checkered flag last Sunday at Kansas Speedway. His result in “The Sunflower State” marks his seventh top-10 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and his fourth in a row at the 1.5-mile track. The 31-year-old driver has now finished within the top 10 (nine) in over half of his 17 starts at the Kansas City, Kansas, venue.

TALKING TOP 10S: Bowman’s seven top-10 finishes place him in a four-way tie for the series lead along with Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. The Tucson, Arizona, native’s three straight top-10s are tied for the longest active streak of all drivers in the sport’s top series. If Bowman scores a top-10 result this weekend at Darlington Raceway, he will match his longest top-10 streak at four races, which he has accomplished on five previous occasions. With six top-10 finishes through the last eight races, Bowman and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott have the most top-10s during this span.

HIGHLY RANKED: After 12 races this season, Bowman ranks ninth in the Cup Series points standings, 131 points behind the leader, teammate Kyle Larson. He has claimed four top-five finishes this season, placing him in a seven-way tie for third that includes teammate Byron. The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 holds the fifth-best average finish (13.08) this season, just behind teammates Byron (13.00), Larson (10.83) and Elliott (9.67).

DARLINGTON DOWNLOAD: Bowman will return to “The Lady in Black” for his 13th Cup Series start at the South Carolina venue this weekend. Sunday’s race will mark his sixth start at the track with Ally as the No. 48 team’s primary partner. At Darlington, Bowman has secured three top-10 finishes, with a best finish of second in May of 2020. In addition, he has completed 97.6% of his laps attempted and led 42 laps at the 1.366-mile track.

LEGENDARY SCHEME: For NASCAR’s Official Throwback Weekend, Bowman will sport the No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The legendary blue and yellow scheme pays tribute to the No. 48 Chevy’s early seasons with the NASCAR Hall of Famer duo of Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. The scheme celebrates this iconic car number’s past and the success that followed as part of Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary in the sport’s premier series.

PIT CREW POWER: Entering the 13th race of the season, the Ally Racing pit crew has the seventh-fastest average four-tire stop (11.088 seconds). The No. 48 over-the-wall crew is composed of Andrew Bridgeforth (rear-tire changer), Jacob Conley (fueler), Brandon Grier (tire carrier), Allen Holman (jackman) and Donnie Tasser (front-tire changer).

DARLINGTON DOGS: Bowman and Ally are going on their fourth consecutive year supporting Best Friends Animal Society and their vast network of partners. This weekend’s beneficiary of the pair’s $4,800 donation is Darlington County Humane Society, just a five-minute drive from the track. The shelter is a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting the humane care of dogs and cats in Darlington County and it has cared for over 3,000 animals. Visit the shelter this race weekend and view their dogs and cats available for adoption here.

FABULOUS 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Among the categories that the organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for are all-time wins (307), poles (250), laps led (80,713) and championships (14). With its results at Kansas Speedway, the team reached over 1,250 top-five finishes to mark the first time that an organization has reached that milestone.

HENDRICK HOMECOMING: On May 24 and 25, Hendrick Motorsports will hold “Hendrick Homecoming.” The free fan event, taking place over the same weekend as the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500, will celebrate the organization’s 40th anniversary and feature autograph sessions with past and present drivers, games, displays, giveaways and more. For more information on the schedule of appearances (as they are announced) and how fans can register to enter the raffle for autograph sessions, click here.

WINNING TRIO: In 2024, William Byron (three wins), Kyle Larson (two wins) and Chase Elliott (one win) have tallied six wins through the first 12 races of the season for Hendrick Motorsports. The Concord, North Carolina, based squad has won at least six races in a year in 19 of the last 24 seasons. The six-victory start to this year is the team’s second-best mark at this point in a season, with 2007’s nine wins through 12 races as the best start to a campaign in organizational history.

BY A WHISKER: Larson’s win at Kansas resulted in the closest finish in Cup Series history (0.001 seconds). In fact, Hendrick Motorsports has won two of the three closest finishes in the sport’s top series with the other taking place in Jimmie Johnson’s win by 0.002 seconds on April 17, 2011, at Talladega Superspeedway.

DON’T WAIT, VOTE NOW: Darlington Raceway’s annual “Best in Show” Throwback Paint Scheme Fan Vote has officially launched! Fans can vote for their favorite scheme here. Voting concludes at 10 a.m. ET on the morning of the race, May 12, 2024. The official rules can be found here.

ON TOP AT DARLINGTON: The company’s 16 Cup Series wins at Darlington are the most all-time by a team. Team vice chairman Jeff Gordon’s seven wins account for nearly half of the total. Johnson posted three wins at the 1.366-mile track, including the organization’s 200th Cup Series win in 2012. Byron, Larson, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd each tallied one trip to victory lane for the team at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” On 12 occasions, Hendrick Motorsports has won the Southern 500. With Byron’s spring victory and Larson’s playoff win in 2023, the team swept the premier series events at the South Carolina track for the first time since 2004. Larson’s win also marked the 500th national series win for the Hendrick Motorsports engine department.

SPRING REWIND: In last year’s spring race at Darlington, Byron won to notch the 100th victory for the iconic No. 24, while Elliott finished third. Larson was battling for the lead with less than 15 laps to go in regulation before contact with another competitor took him out of contention. Bowman missed this race due to injury.

PIT POWER: Based on Racing Insights data, all four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top seven among Cup Series teams for the fastest average four-tire pit stop. The No. 9 pit crew tops the board (10.651 seconds), followed by the No. 24 pit crew in third (10.971 seconds), the No. 5 pit crew in fourth (10.996 seconds) and the No. 48 pit crew is seventh (11.088 seconds).

XFINITY RIDES AGAIN: The organization’s third of its 10 NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 2024 will occur on Saturday at Darlington. Byron will be behind the wheel of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro in his second of four starts for the team. No. 24 lead engineer Brandon McSwain will be back atop the pit box (as he will be for all of Byron’s Xfinity starts). In addition to Byron, Larson (two starts, already made one at Circuit of The Americas), Elliott (two starts), Alex Bowman (one race) and Boris Said (one race) are also scheduled to drive the car. 2014 Xfinity Series champion crew chief Greg Ives will call the shots for the non-Byron races.

EDGE OF SEVENTEEN: The last time that the No. 17 was on track at COTA, Larson scored the organization’s first Xfinity Series win in 15 years. Since returning to the series in a part-time capacity in 2022, Hendrick Motorsports has made 12 starts. In those races, the team has four pole positions, one win, three runner-up results, seven top-five finishes and eight top-10s. The No. 17 carries special significance to the Hendrick Motorsports family as it is the same number Ricky Hendrick drove and won with in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In its history, Hendrick Motorsports has earned one Xfinity Series championship (2003) and 27 race wins in the series.

Hendrick Motorsports Media Advance: Darlington

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