CONCORD, N.C. – Hendrick Motorsports heads to Pocono Raceway for an action-packed doubleheader weekend, looking to break the organization’s consecutive points-paying wins streak currently set at six in a row.
Hendrick Motorsports already has won five points-paying races in a row going into this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Pocono Raceway. During the streak, the team has swept the top-two finishing positions four times, placed 16 of 20 entries inside the top 10 and 14 of 20 in the top five. Since May 9, Hendrick Motorsports has won all six events it has entered, including the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race, and led 90% of all laps run (1,119 of 1,246) in its five points-paying races.
Take a look at some of the best stats Hendrick Motorsports holds at “The Tricky Triangle” as the four race teams make their way to the Pennsylvania track for this weekend’s races.
- Through the first 17 points races of 2021, Hendrick Motorsports has eight wins, which are its second-most ever at this point in a NASCAR Cup Series season (10 in 2007). At the 17-race mark, the team’s 14 stage wins are the most of any organization this year. Its 44 top-10 finishes and 29 top-fives are tied for the most in history by any organization at this point in a season. The 1,867 laps led by Hendrick Motorsports’ Chevrolets rank as its third-most through 17 races behind only 1995 and 1996, which both were championship-winning seasons.
- Hendrick Motorsports holds the Pocono Raceway track record with 17 NASCAR Cup Series wins. Seven different drivers have won at the 2.5-mile triangle for car owner Rick Hendrick: Jeff Gordon (six victories), Jimmie Johnson (three), Tim Richmond (three), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (two), Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte and Kasey Kahne.
- In 12 starts at Pocono Raceway, Kyle Larson has nine finishes of 12th or better including a second-place finish in 2018. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE also holds the NASCAR qualifying record at the “Tricky Triangle” of 183.438 mph set in August 2014.
- Chase Elliott has made 10 Cup Series starts at Pocono and collected three top-five finishes and seven top-10s. His lone NASCAR Xfinity Series race there came in 2018 when he started 10th and notched a runner-up finish in the 100-lap event. In his first of two ARCA Series starts at Pocono, Elliott started 32nd and went on to lead 21 laps before earning his first career ARCA win in June 2013.
- No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson has called 32 races from atop the pit box at Pocono, and he will add two more to his résumé this weekend. In his previous starts at the 2.5-mile triangle with five different drivers (Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Casey Mears and Kyle Busch), Gustafson has collected two wins (with Gordon in June 2011 and August 2012), eight top-five finishes and 18 top-10s.
- In his six Cup Series starts at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania, track, William Byron has one pole award coming during the June race in 2019, as well as one top-five finish and four top-10s, leading 35 laps in two of those events. With a track-best finish of fourth during the 2019 July race at Pocono Raceway, Byron holds a 9.67 finishing average, which is the best all-time with drivers who have made more than one start. His average finish at “The Tricky Triangle” also makes it his best track where he has made more than one start in the Cup Series.
- Since 2014, Alex Bowman has made 10 starts at Pocono Raceway and has captured one top-five finish and two top-10s. Last year, he finished ninth after 140 laps. Bowman has completed 99.4% of the total laps at the 2.5-mile track. The driver of the No. 48 also has one start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Pennsylvania-based venue, starting and finishing 10th in 2016. He also has two starts in the ARCA Series at the track from 2012, where he finished third in both events.
- No. 48 crew chief Greg Ives has called the shots at Pocono Raceway 12 times for Hendrick Motorsports. His résumé includes three top-five finishes and four top-10s, with his best finish at the track coming in 2016 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished runner up in the 160-lap event. Ives was a race engineer for the No. 48 team between 2006 and 2012. During that time, the team captured 11 top-10 finishes and one pole award at the track.
Be sure to tune in this weekend as the Hendrick Motorsports teammates look to continue their 2021 success at the doubleheader at Pocono. The first race at “The Tricky Triangle” will be Saturday, June 26 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The second race will take place Sunday, June 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.