CONCORD, N.C. – This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports has won 11 times at the 0.533-mile track, most recently in April 2017 when Jimmie Johnson visited Victory Lane. The last time the Cup Series headed to Bristol, three Hendrick Motorsports teammates finished inside the top 10.
Take a look at some key stats from the organization’s history at "The Last Great Colosseum" as well as a few things to keep an eye on this weekend.
- Bristol Motor Speedway is one of nine tracks on the schedule where Hendrick Motorsports has won with at least six different drivers. It is joined by Talladega Superspeedway, ISM Raceway, Dover International Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
- With 104 top-10 finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway on the organization's résumé, the Tennessee track ranks fifth among the six venues where Hendrick Motorsports has earned 100 or more top-10s. The organization has also achieved the feat at Martinsville (126), Pocono (123), Richmond (105), Dover (105) and Charlotte (100).
- Hendrick Motorsports has accumulated 50 wins on short tracks, the most among all active teams, 15 wins ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing's 35. Ten different Hendrick Motorsports drivers have contributed to those wins. Junior Johnson and Associates holds the record for most different drivers to win on a short track for one team with 11. Hendrick Motorsports also leads all active teams on short tracks with 50 poles, 221 top-five finishes, 376 top-10s and 20,813 laps led.
- Hendrick Motorsports has won at least one short-track race in 27 different seasons. The organization's most short-track wins in a season was five, accomplished in both 1996 and 2007. Hendrick Motorsports has won at least one short-track race in 15 of the previous 17 seasons.
- In Chase Elliott’s last five short-track finishes, he collected top-10 finishes at all five events, four of which were top-five finishes including two runner-up results. In those last five races, Elliott holds the best average finish of all active drivers (3.6). His current streak of five top-10 finishes on a short track is currently the second longest active streak. Elliott led a total of 195 laps at the last five races at tracks less than one mile in length (Martinsville, Richmond, Bristol). He will make his 22nd NASCAR Cup Series short-track start this weekend. In the 21 previous starts, he has led 354 laps and garnered nine top-10 finishes.
- In Elliott’s previous six starts at Bristol, he has led 128 laps and collected two top-five finishes and three top-10s.
- Sunday will mark William Byron’s sixth national series start at Bristol. If he were able to win this weekend, he would become the sixth driver to earn their first career Cup win at Bristol, as well as become the youngest Bristol winner of all time, which is currently held by Kyle Busch when he drove for Hendrick Motorsports in 2007.
- Since the implementation of stage racing in 2017, Johnson is one of only two drivers to finish in the top-10 in both Stage 1 and Stage 2 in all four races at Bristol. Out of all current drivers who have competed in the last 10 races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Johnson boasts the best average finish with a mark of 8.3. He turned in a pair of top-10 finishes last season at Bristol, including a season-best finish of third last April at the track.
- Alex Bowman will make his seventh start in the NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway this Sunday. His best finish of fifth came in the spring race in 2018 in the No. 88 Nationwide machine after qualifying eighth. The finish was Bowman’s first top-five finish in his Cup Series career. In his previous six starts at the track, the Arizona native has two top-10 finishes. Last fall, the No. 88 team finished eighth after starting the event in the 22nd position.
- Hendrick Motorsports holds the record for the most first-time Cup Series winners with nine. If Byron or Bowman win at Bristol, it will extend the record to the 10th time a driver has recorded their first career Cup Series win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports.