CONCORD, N.C. – This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
It’s a chance for Hendrick Motorsports to rebound from a Daytona 500 that saw all four drivers affected by multiple-car incidents that left the organization without a top-10 finisher in “The Great American Race” for the first time since 2016.
And history could be on Hendrick Motorsports’ side Sunday.
The last time the organization didn’t earn a top-10 in the Daytona 500, 2016, it earned a one-two finish the following week at Atlanta thanks to Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – and three of its four cars finished in the top 10.
Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last seven races at Atlanta – including three of the last four – and at least two of its drivers have finished in the top five in each of the last four races there.
All-time, Hendrick Motorsports’ 14 wins are the most among all Cup Series teams at Atlanta – one of 13 active tracks on the circuit where the organization holds the most wins among all Cup teams.
So, it will look for success at the track once again this Sunday.
Below is a look at how the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers historically fare at Atlanta.
- Chase Elliott has never finished outside the top 10 in any NASCAR national series at his home track. He has five starts at the track between the Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and he has five top-10s – four of which were top-five finishes.
- On Sunday, Elliott could become just the second Georgia-born driver to win a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, joining his father, Bill Elliott, who won five races at the track.
- William Byron has two starts at Atlanta prior to moving to the Cup Series. In last year’s Xfinity Series race, Byron finished seventh and was the third-highest finishing Xfinity regular. In the 2016 Truck Series race, Byron was running second when he lost an engine, relegating him to a 32nd-place finish.
- Atlanta historically has been a good track for the No. 24 team, as Jeff Gordon earned five wins at the track in the iconic No. 24 Chevrolet.
- Johnson has a total of five wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway – the most among active drivers. He has scored two of the four wins Hendrick Motorsports has captured at Atlanta in the last seven years and five of the organization’s record 14 victories at the track. The two most recent wins came back to back, with Johnson starting from 37th in 2015 and 19th in 2016.
- Johnson also holds the all-time record for most 1.5-mile track victories with 28. Similarly, Hendrick Motorsports has a Cup Series record 57 total wins on 1.5-mile tracks, 15 more than the next closest team, Joe Gibbs Racing.
- Alex Bowman has two previous starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series, with his best finish of 23rd coming back in 2015. Bowman drove for GMS Racing in last year’s Truck Series event at the track, where he started fifth and finished sixth. In addition to his one truck appearance, Bowman made one Atlanta start in the Xfinity Series in 2013, when he started 18th but suffered engine complications, relegating him to a 34th-place finish.
- No. 88 team crew chief Greg Ives has three previous starts calling the shots atop the pit box at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Cup Series, which include two top-five finishes with Earnhardt. Ives was the crew chief for two races at the track for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, capturing one top-five finish and two top-10s in addition to earning the pole with Elliott in 2014.