CONCORD, N.C. – On Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports will take on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway in its debut race in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Although it occurred nearly 37 years ago at a different track, Hendrick Motorsports is the most recent Cup Series team to win a race in the Nashville, Tennessee, market. On July 14, 1984, in the 17th race of its inaugural season, driver Geoff Bodine earned the organization’s second points-paying victory at the old Nashville Fairgrounds, where he led 327 of 420 laps in the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Since that day, Hendrick Motorsports has gone on to win 268 more points races (270 to date) to become the all-time winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history.
Take a look at some of the most interesting statistics for Hendrick Motorsports as it gets ready to head to Nashville.
- Hendrick Motorsports is on a roll heading into Sunday’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race, the Ally 400, at Nashville Superspeedway. The organization has won four consecutive points-paying events, sweeping at least the top-two positions in each, leading 842 of 946 laps (89%), and recording an average result of 5.7. Its finishes include 1-2-3-4 at Dover, 1-2-8 at Circuit of The Americas, 1-2-4-5 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and 1-2-9 at Sonoma Raceway. At NASCAR’s top level, no team has ever finished in both the first and second positions in five consecutive points races.
- On Sunday, Nashville Superspeedway will become the 13th new track to hold a NASCAR Cup Series race since 1994. Hendrick Motorsports has won the inaugural event at five of the previous 12 venues (42%): Indianapolis in 1994 (Jeff Gordon), California in 1997 (Gordon), Kansas in 2001 (Gordon), the DAYTONA Road Course in 2020 (Chase Elliott) and Circuit of The Americas in 2021 (Elliott).
- Kyle Larson has finished first or second in seven of 16 NASCAR Cup Series races this season. He won at Sonoma Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway while posting second-place finishes at Circuit of The Americas, Dover International Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- There have been 4,291 laps completed in points races during the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season and Larson has paced the field a series-high 1,162 times, or 27%. The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet is nearing his career-high record, which occurred in 2017 when he led 1,352 laps in 36 races.
- Elliott and the No. 9 team are once again hitting their stride at the right time of the season – and for the rest of the field, that means trouble. The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion currently has four consecutive top-three finishes and an active streak of six races with top-10 finishes.
- This weekend will mark the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series event at Nashville Superspeedway, and success at new venues comes naturally to Elliott. Since the beginning of 2020, the 25-year-old driver and his No. 9 team have been victorious at two of the three new venues on the circuit: the DAYTONA Road Course (Aug. 20, 2020) and Circuit of The Americas (May 23, 2021).
- While Nashville Superspeedway may be a new facility for William Byron and most of the Cup Series field, he does have prior experience on venues similar in size. Making 23 starts on tracks 1 mile to 1.37 miles long (Dover, Darlington, New Hampshire and Phoenix), the 23-year-old driver has collected four top-five finishes and nine top-10s.
- While many in the Cup Series will be experiencing Nashville Superspeedway for the first time, crew chief Rudy Fugle is one of a few who has prior experience at the 1.33-mile oval. The Livonia, New York, native has three prior starts at Nashville, including two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, both coming in 2010 when he recorded one top-10 finish and two top-15s, and a 16th-place result in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2011.
- Alex Bowman has 40 starts on tracks measuring 1 mile in length to 1.37 miles in length. The 28-year-old driver has one win (Dover International Speedway), five top-five finishes and seven top-10 results at the venues of Darlington Raceway, Dover, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. Since 2016, Bowman has led 376 laps at the four tracks in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
- In 16 points-paying events in 2021, Bowman has two wins (Richmond Raceway and Dover), four top-five results and eight top-10s. The Tucson, Arizona, native has led 117 laps this season and is third for the longest active top-10 streak (four races). The No. 48 Ally team continues to have the fastest average four-tire pit stop time (13.64 seconds) and has the second-fastest four-tire stop (12.18) so far this season at Dover International Speedway on lap 304. Bowman currently has the 11th-best average running position (12.96) in the Cup Series.
Be sure to tune in Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN to watch Hendrick Motorsports chase down another win at the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.