CONCORD, N.C. – Hendrick Motorsports heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday for its second race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be the sixth Cup Series race on a 1.5-mile track this season.
At the intermediate venues this year, Hendrick Motorsports leads all organizations in wins (three), pole positions (one), top-five finishes (10), top-10s (14), laps led (1,037), average finish (9.55) and stage wins (eight). Its 1,037 laps led are the most in history by a team through the first five intermediate races of a season.
Take a look at the best stats for the four teammates as they get ready to head down to Atlanta and vie for the organization’s 11th victory of 2021. Be sure to tune in this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
- In the last eight points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races in 2021, Hendrick Motorsports has won seven times, finished 1-2 four times and has claimed five second place finishes. With 32 total entries in those eight events (four cars per race), the team has posted 18 top-five results and 22 top-10s. It has won 10 of 17 stages and led 1,242 of 1,578 laps (79%).
- Hendrick Motorsports is 80 laps from breaking the Atlanta Motor Speedway track record for laps led by a team, which is held by Wood Brothers Racing (3,407 led). Most recently, Hendrick Motorsports led 271 laps there in the March 21 Cup Series event.
- With 14 NASCAR Cup Series wins at Atlanta, Hendrick Motorsports is the track’s winningest team. It is tied with Wood Brothers Racing for the most different winners (six) and has gone to victory lane in four of the last 11 races there. Jeff Gordon (five wins), Jimmie Johnson (five), Kasey Kahne, Jerry Nadeau, Ken Schrader and Darrell Waltrip have all won for car owner Rick Hendrick at the Georgia track.
- Through 20 of 36 Cup Series races, Kyle Larson leads the series in wins (four), second-place finishes (five), stage wins (12), playoff points (32), and laps led (1,441). He is tied for most top-five finishes (11), most top-10s (14) and most pole positions (one).
- In March at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Larson led 269 of 325 laps but was passed with nine to go and finished second. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE won both stages and now holds the best average finish (12.14) at the 1.5-mile track among active drivers.
- This weekend, Chase Elliott has the chance to become the third driver to win at the Georgia venue with the No. 9 car number. The five victories for the No. 9 have come with two drivers: Elliott's father, Bill Elliott (three), and Kahne (two), who collected the most recent Atlanta win for the No. 9 in June 2008.
- Elliott has made 10 total starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway across NASCAR’s top-three levels – six in the Cup Series, two in the Xfinity Series and two in the Camping World Truck Series – and only finished outside the top 10 on three occasions. Earlier this season at the 1.5-mile track, Elliott raced from the rear of the field into the top 10 before a mechanical issue ended the No. 9 team’s day in the final stage at Atlanta.
- With the Cup Series racing at five 1.5-mile tracks so far this year, William Byron has finished inside the top 10 in each event, tied for the most this season with Kyle Busch. So far in 2021, the driver of the No. 24 has a 6.0 average-finishing position on tracks 1.5 miles long – the third-best behind Busch and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson. Even going back as far as the last nine races on 1.5-milers, Byron has secured seven top-10 finishes – tied for the second-most behind Busch and Martin Truex Jr (eight).
- Returning to a track for the first time as a Cup Series crew chief, Rudy Fugle is ready to capitalize off the run the No. 24 team had in March earlier this year. Rolling off the grid in ninth, Byron and Fugle raced their way to a top-10 finish, crossing the finish line in eighth. Fugle also has six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Atlanta, including two pole awards and two wins. His drivers have collected four top-three finishes in six events, along with five top-10s. Fugle only has one finish worse than seventh coming with Byron in 2016 when the duo was running second before suffering an engine failure, resulting in a 32nd-place finish.
- Earlier this season, Alex Bowman finished third at Atlanta Motor Speedway after 325 laps in his sixth start at the facility. The driver’s best finish prior to the spring event at the 1.5-mile venue was 12th, which came from the 2020 event. On tracks measuring 1.5 miles in length, Bowman has finished in the top 10 seven times in the last nine races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has one start there in the NASCAR Xfinity Series where he qualified 18th in 2013. In 2017, Bowman ran in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event and finished sixth after qualifying fifth.
- Bowman’s last six outings at 1.5-mile tracks resulted in three top-five finishes, five top-10s and 54 laps led. He 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.