CONCORD, N.C. -- It's no secret than Hendrick Motorsports drivers have a knack for road courses; just ask Chase Elliott.
The 25-year-old NASCAR Cup Series champion has won the last four points-paying races on road courses and placed second in the Clash, which took place on the DAYTONA Road Course during Speedweeks.
The second race of the season will bring the Cup Series drivers back to the DAYTONA Road Course, where Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman all will test the limits at the 14-turn course.
Take a look at the organization's most notable stats heading into the road-course race.
- Hendrick Motorsports has won an all-time record 20 points-paying races on road courses in NASCAR Cup Series competition, which is eight more than any other organization. Six different drivers have contributed to the team’s victory total: Jeff Gordon (9), Elliott (5), Tim Richmond (3), Jimmie Johnson, Geoff Bodine and Ricky Rudd
- Since 2019, Hendrick Motorsports has won five of the seven Cup Series road-course races, all courtesy of Elliott. In that span, the team has won five of 10 stages, led 252 of 463 laps (54%) and earned the pole for two of the three events in which qualifying was held.
- In 2020, Hendrick Motorsports led 90 laps on road courses, nearly three times the total of the next-best team (31). It led the Cup Series in wins (two), top-five finishes (three; tie) and top-10s (six). Last season, the organization’s average finish of 6.63 on road courses ranked as the best of all teams – by nearly six positions.
- Although Hendrick Motorsports has the youngest driver lineup in the series in 2021, three of them have won at least one stage in Cup road-course action. Elliott has five stage wins, Kyle Larson two and William Byron one.
- Bowman’s performance in last Wednesday night’s DAYTONA 500 qualifying session secured Hendrick Motorsports’ record-extending 227th Cup Series pole position and stretched the team’s run of consecutive seasons with at least one pole to 38. The streak dates back to Hendrick Motorsports’ first year in NASCAR when Bodine delivered three poles starting with Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 25, 1984. Elliott will start on the pole this weekend, the second week in a row a Hendrick Motorsports driver has rolled off the grid first.
- Larson has 14 starts on road courses in the Cup Series, posting one top-five finish – fourth at Watkins Glen International in 2014 – and four top-10s. Larson has three pole positions – all at Sonoma Raceway – and two stage victories in those starts.
- In Elliott's previous 12 races, he has collected the most wins (five) and stage wins (five) of active drivers on road courses. He has garnered six top-five finishes, eight top-10s and a total of 240 laps led.
- Last year, Byron scored points in both stages before earning an eighth-place finish at the DAYTONA Road Course. Most recently, he ran the Clash at DAYTONA last Tuesday, where he started and finished fifth despite suffering a late-race flat tire.
- Bowman has 12 starts on road courses in the NASCAR Cup Series, which includes two top-five finishes and four top-10s. The driver of the No. 48 Camaro finished inside the top 15 in all eight of his road-course starts while driving for Hendrick Motorsports.