SPARTA, Ky. – Saturday, Hendrick Motorsports teams will compete for the organization’s first win at Kentucky Speedway.
- Kentucky is one of only two tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series where Hendrick Motorsports has yet to claim a victory along with the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. In the organization's 32 starts at Kentucky, it owns two poles, one second-place result, six top-five finishes, 15 top 10s and 220 laps led. The organization has finished in every position from second to 14th at least once at the track.
- Hendrick Motorsports has a history of competing well on 1.5-mile tracks, owning an all-time record 59 wins on the track length. Jimmie Johnson leads drivers all-time with 28 wins on 1.5-mile tracks, with former teammate Jeff Gordon in second with 17.
- This season, Chase Elliott holds an average finish of 10.0 on 1.5-mile tracks, one of only four drivers to own an average finish of 10th or better on the track length in 2019. At Kentucky, the driver has claimed one top-five finish – his track-best finish of third in 2017. This weekend, he’ll pilot a brand-new No. 9 Mtn. Dew DEWnited States Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
- Saturday night, William Byron will make his sixth national series start at Kentucky. After collecting his career-best Cup Series finish of second last weekend at Daytona, he is now tied with five other drivers, including teammate Alex Bowman, for the most top-10 finishes in the last eight races with five.
- Johnson’s third-place result last Sunday at Daytona International Speedway was the best finish by the No. 48 Ally team this season. On the heels of a fourth-place finish one week earlier at Chicagoland Speedway, Johnson is on his longest streak of top-five finishes since 2017. Hoping to continue that momentum this weekend, Johnson will race for the ninth time in the Cup Series at Kentucky. As history has it, the seven-time Cup Series champion has scored his first win at a track in his ninth start five times. The tracks include Daytona International Superspeedway, ISM Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and Texas Motor Speedway. He has gone on to win multiple times at four of those tracks.
- Bowman is set to make his fourth Cup Series start at Kentucky Speedway this Saturday night. On 1.5-mile tracks this season, the Tucson, Arizona, native has one win (Chicago) and three top-10 finishes including two top-fives. The driver of the No. 88 machine has an average finish of 9.0 at 1.5-mile venues and is one of only four drivers with an average finish of 10th or better on the track length in 2019. The 26-year-old driver also has three starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Kentucky, completing 98.9 percent of the total laps run and recording two top-10 finishes including one top-five.
- During the Kentucky race weekend, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers will be among the 55 Cup Series and Xfinity Series drivers wearing Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s signature skeleton gloves as part of the Driven to Give Gloves program. Following the race, each pair of gloves will be autographed by the driver wearing them and Earnhardt, then put up for auction on the NASCAR Foundation auction site to benefit the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at Nationwide Children's Hospital. The funds will support patients and their families in pediatric injury rehabilitation, research and prevention.
Be sure to catch all the action under the lights on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.