CONCORD, N.C. -- Hendrick Motorsports will head to the Peach State this weekend for the sixth race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott will return to his hometown track to try and earn his first win at the Georgia venue in his Cup Series career. Should Elliott take home the checkered flag Sunday, he will be only the second Georgia-born driver to win a Cup Series race at the track. The first Georgia driver win at Atlanta was NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase's father.
Check out these stats about Hendrick Motorsports and its success at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- Hendrick Motorsports will roll into Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race as the track’s all-time leader in wins (14), top-five finishes (59) and top-10s (92). The team has won with drivers Jeff Gordon (five victories), Jimmie Johnson (five), Kasey Kahne, Jerry Nadeau, Ken Schrader and Darrell Waltrip.
- Hendrick Motorsports has won both races held at 1.5-mile tracks in 2021 – Homestead and Las Vegas – and will seek a third this weekend at Atlanta. The organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record with 62 points victories on 1.5-mile tracks. Thirteen different drivers have won at least one event at a 1.5-mile venue for Hendrick Motorsports, including all four of its current drivers.
- If Hendrick Motorsports locks in a win Sunday, the team will break a tie with Wood Brothers Racing for the most different drivers to win a Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Both organizations have sent six drivers to victory lane there, one more than Junior Johnson and Associates and two more than Bud Moore Engineering and Joe Gibbs Racing. All four current Hendrick Motorsports drivers are seeking their first career Atlanta win.
- The four championship-winning car numbers fielded by Hendrick Motorsports have combined for 17 NASCAR Cup Series wins at Atlanta. The Nos. 24 and 48 Chevrolets have five wins apiece at the venue, all with Hendrick Motorsports. The No. 5 has two all-time Atlanta victories: one via Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne in 2014 and another courtesy of Bobby Johns, who won for car owner Cotton Owens in 1960. The No. 9 car has earned five Atlanta Motor Speedway trophies, but none to date with Hendrick Motorsports. Three of those wins were delivered by NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, father of current No. 9 driver and defending Cup Series champion Chase Elliott.
- Kyle Larson has nine top-10 finishes in 12 NASCAR national series appearances at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In six previous Cup Series starts there, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has three top-10s including a second-place finish in 2017. Larson has also scored top-10 results in each of his NASCAR Xfinity Series starts (five) and his only NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at the Georgia venue.
- Elliott has made nine total starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway across NASCAR’s top-three levels – five in the Cup Series, two in the Xfinity Series and two in the Camping World Truck Series – and only finished outside the top 10 twice. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE currently holds a 10th-place average finish at Atlanta in the Cup Series, the best among active drivers at the 1.5-mile venue.
- Having to overcome issues in the first two races of the season, Byron has turned things around and is now on a streak of three consecutive top-10 finishes. His run of top-10 results ranks the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet fourth for the most top-10s in 2021. In fact, the streak of three consecutive top-10s is tied for the longest of the Charlotte, North Carolina, native’s Cup career. It’s something he has done only two other times, both in 2020.
- Bowman’s last six outings at 1.5-mile tracks resulted in three top-five finishes, five top-10s and 54 laps led. The 27-year-old driver has 62 Cup starts at intermediate tracks, which include one win, six top-five finishes and 16 top-10s. Bowman’s first Cup win came in 2019 at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway after leading 88 laps. He captured three stage wins at 1.5-mile tracks in 2020, the third-most behind Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Elliott.
Drivers will start their engines at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.