CONCORD, N.C. –Hendrick Motorsports heads to ISM Raceway this weekend, the home track of Tucson, Arizona, native Alex Bowman.
Hendrick Motorsports leads the West Coast with the most victories of any NASCAR Cup Series team. If either Bowman or William Byron were to win on Sunday, it would be their first career Cup win and the first win of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.
Below is a look at some key data from the organization's history at ISM Raceway, along with what to look out for this weekend.
- Hendrick Motorsports leads all NASCAR Cup Series teams all-time at ISM Raceway with 10 wins, 11 pole positions, 47 top-five finishes, and 83 top-10s. The organization also leads the way in laps led (2,651) and runner-up finishes (nine). At least one Hendrick Motorsports driver has finished inside the top 10 in each of the last 14 races at ISM Raceway and in all but one of the last 25 races at the track. At least one of the organization's drivers has led laps in each of the last seven races at the venue.
- This weekend at ISM Raceway, Chase Elliott will make his seventh NASCAR Cup Series start at the one-mile oval. In his previous six starts, the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has led a total of 156 laps – 140 laps combined in 2017 and 16 laps in Nov. 2018. Elliott has finished top three in two of his last three starts at the venue and he’s finished inside the top 12 in five of his last six ISM Raceway starts, including four top-10s.
- Heading to a track where he has found success in every level of national NASCAR competition, William Byron will return to ISM Raceway for the third time in his Cup career, a track that ranks third of his best tracks based on the average finish (10.5). Last spring, Byron qualified a track-best 11th, led 15 laps and went on to finish in the 12th position. Returning in the fall, he rolled off the grid 19th but raced his way to his fourth career top-10 in the Cup Series, a ninth-place finish, en route to locking up the 2018 Rookie of the Year award.
- Jimmie Johnson has four career wins at ISM Raceway, where his average finish is 10.3 – the sixth-best at the track all-time. Hailing from the West Coast, it’s fitting that El Cajon, California, native Johnson has the most wins of any driver on West Coast tracks. Johnson has accumulated 15 wins across the tracks considered “West Coast,” including Las Vegas Motor Speedway (four), ISM Raceway (four), Auto Club Speedway (six) and Sonoma Raceway (one).
- Bowman, a Tucson, Arizona, native, has seven starts in the NASCAR Cup Series at ISM Raceway. His best finish of sixth came in the 2016 event when the No. 88 team started from the pole and led a race-high 194 laps. For the ninth time in his crew chief career in the NASCAR Cup Series, Greg Ives will call the shots for the No. 88 team this weekend. The crew chief has an average starting position of 9.0 and an average finish of 15.2 in his eight starts at ISM Raceway.