CONCORD, N.C. -- In a season filled with success and record-breaking moments, the Hendrick Motorsports drivers have dominated the NASCAR Cup Series field in 2021, earning 10 victories in just 21 races.
Even more impressive, the organization has broken droughts at some notoriously difficult tracks, such as Richmond Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway. This season alone, the organization has ended winless streaks of 23 races at Richmond, 13 races at Las Vegas, 12 races at Pocono and nine races at Sonoma. Now New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the track where Hendrick Motorsports has the longest winless streak of 14 races. Its last victory came from Kasey Kahne in September 2012.
Even though momentum is on the organization’s side, breaking a winless streak is no easy task. The circumstances from the beginning to the end of the race must be ideal on top of each team bringing a perfectly tuned car to the track.
“I have confidence in our cars and everyone here at Hendrick Motorsports,” No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels said. “We’ve just been doing an awesome job putting fast cars on the racetrack every week. I don’t see any reason that would change. It’s just hard to know what data points to go look at – to build from – because we’ve been searching for so long here. I know the teams are working closer together now than they ever have, and hopefully we find it.”
No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson also conceded that the Loudon, New Hampshire, venue has been a tricky place for Hendrick Motorsports over the past few years. He stated he and driver Chase Elliott have the talent to win at the track and the team will be leaning on Alex Bowman’s win at Richmond in April and Elliott’s success at Phoenix to prepare for this weekend.
“The stark contrast is we’ve performed so well at Phoenix and then so poorly at Loudon,” Gustafson said. “The corners are shaped fairly similar, probably the closest in this series. You can also lean on Richmond, and we will. Loudon is unique and is a tough place to have a good car, and the strategy has got to be perfect. I’m looking forward to it, but we’ve had some work to do there in recent history.”
Even though this will be Rudy Fugle’s first trip to Loudon in the NASCAR Cup Series, the crew chief of the No. 24 team is confident and comfortable heading to the track. While in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Fugle earned one pole award and two wins at the 1.058-mile venue. One of those victories was in 2016 when he and a young William Byron were paired up during Byron's lone year in the Truck Series. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet has posted impressive stats at New Hampshire, earning an average finish of 12.33 in three Cup Series starts.
“We’ve gotten some information from Richmond that should help us at Loudon,” Fugle explained. “William is comfortable at the track and he has a good history there. It’s pretty exciting to be able to go and try to get some success at a place like that. We’ve had places where we haven’t won at in a while and or haven’t been able to run well at, like Pocono, and it’s just something to look forward to.”
No. 48 crew chief Greg Ives especially is taking Sunday’s race as a fun challenge. He and Bowman were responsible for ending the droughts at Richmond and Dover, which has given the team a boost leading up to race day. In fact, Ives believes that the 48 team has extra motivation to win Sunday’s race given Bowman’s infamous exit from New Hampshire in 2015 before he joined Hendrick Motorsports.
“I have a lot of confidence going there and winning that race,” Ives said. “We were kind of talking about it when Jimmie Johnson went to Watkins Glen, they always show that spectacular wreck of him hitting the barrier in turn one. When Alex goes back, they always replay that race where his front brakes melted down and his car was on fire and the fire extinguisher fell on the ground and sprayed everywhere. That’s his memory, and we are looking to change that.”
Ives added that given Hendrick Motorsports’ success this season and how closely all the members of the organization are working together to constantly improve, the drivers all have the tools to cross the finish line first.
“I feel like it’s not one thing across the board that helped us: it’s everybody,” Ives said. “From the engine department to the aero department to what we’ve been doing mechanically with shocks and springs, it’s everybody contributing to make us better.
To catch all the action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, tune in on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.