Kyle Larson, will be available to members of the media in the Richmond Raceway media center on Saturday, March 30, at 9:15 a.m. local time. 

DEFENDING WINNER: On Sunday, Kyle Larson will look to defend his win at Richmond Raceway after going to victory lane there in April of 2023. During that race, Larson led 93 laps (his most ever at Richmond). The 31-year-old driver has earned two wins, four top-five finishes and eight top-10s in 18 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Virginia short track. During the Next Gen era (2022-present), he has run the fourth-most laps in the top five (622) and the sixth-most laps in the top 10 (904). 

THREE OF FOUR IN 5: Larson has four short-track victories, three of which have occurred since joining the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team in 2021. The trio of wins occurred in his last 13 starts with visits to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021 and Richmond and Martinsville Speedway in 2023.

EIGHT IS (NOT) ENOUGH: Larson leads several statistical categories over the last eight Cup Series short-track races. The 2021 Cup Series champion is tied for the most wins (two), poles (one), top-five finishes (six) and top-10s (seven), while he is tops in second-place finishes (two) and average finish (5.13). Larson has finished in the top six in seven of the last eight short-track events.

NEXT GEN(ERATIONAL) TALENT: Larson only trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron in wins in the Next Gen car. Byron, the Cup Series’ most recent winner, has 10 wins, and Larson has eight in the most recent iteration of the car in NASCAR’s premier series. Since 2022, Larson has the second-best average finish (7.18), second-most wins (two) and third-most points (416) on short tracks.

PUTTING IN WORK IN THE PITS: The No. 5 HendrickCars.com pit crew has this season’s fifth-best average four-tire pit stop time (11.085 seconds). The five-person crew is comprised of Blaine Anderson (front-tire changer), R.J. Barnette (tire carrier), Brandon Harder (fueler), Brandon Johnson (jackman) and Calvin Teague (rear-tire changer).  

HENDRICKCARS.COM IS HOME: Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com crew will wear their white “home” fire suits this weekend at Richmond. Every HendrickCars.com home race this season will feature a unique hat released the week of the event that is exclusively available for purchase at trackside merchandise haulers or to win on HendrickCars.com. Less than 100 of each limited-edition hat will be made available. Check out this weekend’s Richmond hat here. The No. 5 team celebrates home races in markets where Hendrick Automotive Group car dealerships are located.

THE (CAR) CAPITOL: The River City is also a car town. The Richmond, Virginia, market is home to Hendrick Automotive Group dealership Rick Hendrick Chevrolet Buick GMC Richmond. Not located in Richmond? Customers can pick from any of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealerships nationwide and shop from the convenience of their homes by visiting HendrickCars.com. The website offers searches by category, make, model and vehicle packages from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs.

  

  

  
RICHMOND RECORD: Chase Elliott will make his 16th Richmond Raceway start this Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. In his previous 15 races at the 0.75-mile oval, he collected five top-five finishes – one being a runner-up result (April of 2018) – and six top-10s. Additionally, he has made four Richmond starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, never finishing outside the top five and earning a win in 2015.

SHORT-TRACK PERFORMANCE: The Richmond race will be Elliott’s 47th short-track start in the Cup Series. Through those previous 46 races, he has garnered one win – Martinsville Speedway in November of 2020 – 14 top-five finishes, 24 top-10s, two pole awards and 1,579 laps led. The 28-year-old driver finished inside the top 10 in seven of his last nine short-track starts. Since the Next Gen’s debut in 2022, Elliott has the fourth-best average finish (9.60) and scored the fifth-most points (340) on short tracks. In one points-paying start this season on a track measuring less than 1 mile in length, he placed eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway.

2024 NUMBERS: Sunday will mark the premier series’ seventh race of the 2024 season. Across the first six races, Elliott has completed all but one of the 1,607 laps in competition – tied for second best. Additionally, he has the seventh-best average running position (13.34), the ninth-most laps inside the top 10 (656) and the 10th-most circuits in the top five (301). Elliott has led 18 laps this season, including the 80,000th in the Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. In 2024, Elliott and the No. 9 team have been consistently fast in qualifying, earning three consecutive top-10 starting positions and four out of six total for the year.

GREAT GUSTAFSON: On Sunday, No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 36th Richmond race in his 20th season in the Cup Series. In his previous 35 starts at the track with five different drivers (Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin, Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon and Elliott), Gustafson accumulated 15 top-five finishes – including five runner-up results – 19 top-10s and 625 laps led. 

DYNAMIC DUO: Elliott and Gustafson are in their ninth season together and are currently the longest active driver and crew chief combo in the Cup Series garage. The duo is ranked second among active pairings with 18 points-paying victories. Gustafson and Elliott earned their first Cup Series title in 2020 and the team captured the regular-season championship in 2022.

FOUR TIRES FAST: Through six Cup Series races in 2024, the No. 9 pit crew ranks fourth in average four-tire pit stop time (11.058 seconds). On March 17 at Bristol, the five-person team knocked out the fourth-fastest four-tire stop of the season with a time of 9.479 seconds. The No. 9 crew 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). In addition, this group was the winning pit crew for last weekend’s Xfinity Series win for the No. 17 HendrickCars.com team at Circuit of The Americas.

UNIFIRST IS BACK: UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF), a North American leader in providing customized work uniform programs, corporate attire and facility service products, is back on board as the primary partner on No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for its first of five races in 2024. Get a look at all the angles of the UniFirst Chevrolet here.
 
 
 
 William Byron, will be available to members of the media in the Richmond Raceway media center on Saturday, March 30, at 9:30 a.m. local time.

ANOTHER WON: William Byron dominated at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) this past weekend. After finishing practice fastest overall, he captured his second consecutive pole at the Austin, Texas, facility, setting the track record in the process. When the field went green Sunday, Byron set the tone early and led 42 of 68 laps en route to the win. This was the 26-year-old’s first win after capturing the pole and the first time since 2019 that a driver “won the weekend.” This is the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series season that Byron has been the first multi-win driver – a feat that hasn’t been done since Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon did it from 1997 to 1999.

WHAT’S IN A NUMBER: With his win at COTA, Byron continues to extend the history and legacy of the No. 24. The iconic car number is third on the all-time list with 105 Cup Series wins, trailing only the No. 43 (200 wins) and the No. 11 (232 wins). All of Byron’s 12 premier series wins have come in the No. 24, while Gordon accounts for 93 wins. To top it off, his win on Sunday ties him for the fifth-most wins by a Hendrick Motorsports driver (12 in 222 starts) – tied with Terry Labonte, who captured his 12 wins in 387 starts.

NEXT GEN DUO: Since the introduction of the Next Gen Cup Series car in 2022, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle hold a series-leading 10 wins. The duo leads Hendrick Motorsports teammates driver Kyle Larson (eight wins) and crew chief Cliff Daniels (seven wins).

NIGHT HAWK: The Cup Series will race under the lights for the second time this year. Byron has the most wins (three) in night races (Martinsville Speedway in April of 2022, Atlanta Motor Speedway in July of 2023 and the DAYTONA 500 in February of 2024) since the inception of the Next Gen car. In the last six races under the lights, Byron has claimed two wins and finished better than ninth in all events. 

READY FOR RICHMOND: This Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway will mark Byron’s 12th Cup Series start at the 0.75-mile track. He currently has a track-best finish of third that came in April of 2022 after starting on the front row and leading 122 laps. Byron also came close to picking up the victory in April of 2023 after winning stage one and leading a race-high 117 laps, but he was involved in an on-track incident that left him with a 24th-place finish. In the Next Gen car at Richmond, Byron has led the most laps (239) and run the third-most laps in the top five (654). His total laps led at the track are the second most he’s led at a single track in his career. 

RUDY’S RICHMOND RECORD: Fugle will make his sixth Cup Series start atop the pit box at Richmond on Sunday. His best Cup Series start at the short track came in April of 2022, where Byron and the No. 24 team had a track-best weekend, qualifying second, leading 122 laps and ultimately finishing third after being passed for the win with five laps to go. The Livonia, New York, native has three additional national series starts in the capital city of Virginia – one in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. 

PIT ROAD PROWESS: After six races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew continues to build on their success from last season. The team’s clutch work in the pits aided Byron’s path to victory at COTA. Currently, the five-person crew ranks second-best in average four-tire pit stop time (10.960 seconds). The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler). 

LIBERTY U IS BACK: For Sunday’s race at Richmond, Byron will sport Liberty University on board his No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the Liberty University No. 24 will surely stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting 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 offer 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 in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program. For a better look at Byron’s Liberty University paint scheme, click here. 

HELP RELAY OUT: The final round of a bracket-style fan vote to determine the paint scheme for the No. 24 Relay Payments Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will continue through Thursday, March 28. Running at the Chicago Street Course in July and then later at Atlanta in the playoffs, it’s in the fans’ hands for what Byron’s race car will look like. Relay Payments, the fintech company modernizing payments for the trucking and logistics industries, came on board last summer as a partner for the No. 24 team. The winning paint scheme will be unveiled on Friday, March 29. To look at the options and place a vote, click here. 
 
 
TOP FIVE TOP FIVE: Alex Bowman has earned two consecutive top-five finishes at Circuit of The Americas and Bristol Motor Speedway. The identical fourth-place results mark the first time Bowman has finished in the top five in back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series races since 2020. Combined with his runner-up finish in the prestigious DAYTONA 500, the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is tied for the series lead in top-five finishes (three) with three other competitors through the first six races this season. The Tucson, Arizona, native holds the best average finish of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers in 2024 and the fifth-best mark among series regulars (12.50). 

CONTINUED SUCCESS AT COTA: Bowman’s fourth-place run in “The Lone Star State” last Sunday was his third consecutive top-five finish and fourth straight top-10 at the 20-turn Austin, Texas, track (eighth in 2021, second in 2022, third in 2023 and fourth in 2023). 

SHORT-TRACK STATS: Of active Cup Series drivers, Bowman is one of eight drivers with multiple short-track wins. Both of his victories have come in Virginia and coincidentally at the next two tracks on the schedule: Richmond Raceway (April of 2021) and Martinsville Speedway (October of 2021). The two wins were part of his career-best (to date) four-win season. 

RUNNING IT BACK AT RICHMOND: In the Richmond spring race of 2021, Bowman took the lead for the first time with 10 laps to go. At the checkered flag, he proved triumphant over the second-place competitor by a mere 0.381 seconds. For Bowman, this was his first victory of that season, the third of his career and his first ever on a short track. In last year’s spring race, Bowman started from the top spot in the field and finished eighth. He has three straight top-10 finishes in the spring race and has top-10s in four of the last seven races at the 0.75-mile track. In 15 starts, the 31-year-old driver has one win, four top-10 finishes and 19 laps led at the track in Virginia’s capital city. 

PICKING UP A POSITION ON PIT ROAD: Following last weekend’s race, the No. 48 Ally Racing pit crew moved up one spot to sixth for the series’ fastest average four-tire stop (11.257 seconds). In February, the team delivered the fastest four-tire stop amongst all teams at Atlanta Motor Speedway (9.543 seconds). The five-person 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). 

BEST FRIENDS IN VIRGINIA: The 2024 season marks the fourth consecutive year that Ally and Bowman have supported Best Friends Animal Society and their vast network of partners. Since the beginning of 2022, the pair has committed a combined weekly donation of $4,800 to a Best Friends network partner corresponding to each weekend’s race. Richmond Raceway’s local beneficiary is the Regional Animal Shelter of King William County, located in King William, Virginia. Fans can visit the shelter, which is located about 40 minutes from the track. Additionally, fans can go online to learn more about adopting, the pet food pantry, lost and found pets or their new foster program.

WIN NEW WHEELS: Ally and Hendrick Automotive Group have teamed together to celebrate Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary by giving away a 40th Anniversary Edition Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE through the Ally “Win Your Wheels fueled by HendrickCars.com” sweepstakes. NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports and No. 48 fans can enter to win at Ally.com/sweepstakes/nascar. The sweepstakes will end on Sept. 20, 2024