CONCORD, N.C. – The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series was a productive year for Hendrick Motorsports. The organization posted the most wins among all teams in the series (11) and sent all four of its drivers to the playoffs and into the Round of 12.
For the third straight season, Chase Elliott reached the Championship 4 for the driver’s championship, while the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team earned a spot in the finale for the owner’s championship.
SEASON RECAPS: Alex Bowman | Kyle Larson | William Byron | Chase Elliott
Before we turn the page to 2023, let’s look back at 12 major moments for Hendrick Motorsports in 2022 (presented in chronological order):
Kyle Larson earns DAYTONA 500 pole (Feb. 16, 2022): Larson, who entered the season as the reigning champion, started strong with Hendrick Motorsports’ 15th DAYTONA 500 pole and seventh in the last eight runnings of "The Great American Race." Bowman earned the spot next to Larson on the front row to give the company its eighth 1-2 start in the race at the 2.5-mile track. While the team did not win the opening race, Larson was victorious the following week at Auto Club Speedway.
Alex Bowman wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 6, 2022): Bowman earned a win in the third race of the season to give Hendrick Motorsports two wins in the first three races of the new season. A key call by crew chief Greg Ives to take two tires put his driver on the front row for a restart against Larson. The driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 got the better of his teammate as Bowman and Larson would finish 1-2 in the race.
Garage 56 announcement (March 17, 2022): Hendrick Motorsports was part of a joint announcement with NASCAR, Chevrolet, IMSA and Goodyear to announce the intention to field an entry for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans as the special Garage 56 entry. Testing for the project is underway with the Hendrick Motorsports-built test car taking laps at Virginia International Raceway and Carolina Motorsports Park in recent weeks.
PHOTOS: Garage 56 test to track for latest test
William Byron triumphs at Martinsville Speedway (April 9, 2022): Byron became the first driver to win multiple races in the Next Gen era with his spring victory under the lights at Martinsville. The victory capped off a dominating night for Hendrick Motorsports, which saw the team lead 98.5% of the laps run (397 of 403) for its highest percentage ever led in a single race. The win was also the organization’s 27th at the .526-mile track – the most ever by one team at a track.
Elliott wins at Dover Motor Speedway (May 2, 2022): In a race that shifted to Monday due to wet weather, Elliott scored the win. The organization became the first to see all four of its drivers win through the first 11 races of the season. This season would mark the fifth time in team history that all four drivers made the playoffs.
PHOTOS: Best images from the 2022 season
Elliott’s five-race run of 1-2 finishes (June 26-July 24, 2022): Starting with his win at Nashville Superspeedway, Elliott had a personal-best run of five straight top-two finishes. He finished second at Road America, followed by a win at his home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway, a runner-up result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and then a win at Pocono Raceway. The five-race run put the Dawsonville, Georgia, native in full control of the regular-season standings.
No. 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series car rides again (July 2, 2022): Hendrick Motorsports fielded a Xfinity car for the first time since 2009. The initial start came at Road America with Larson, but the entry was also fielded at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (with Bowman), Watkins Glen International (with Byron) and Darlington Raceway (with Larson). The primary goal of the entry was to get drivers more seat time – specifically on road courses. Team owner Rick Hendrick said before the end of the season that he expects the car to run select events in 2023.
Ives steps down as crew chief at end of season (Aug. 26, 2022): Following an eight-year run as a Cup Series crew chief, Ives announced his retirement from the pit box ahead of the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. All told, he won 10 races with Bowman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The end of the 2022 season saw him working with Noah Gragson while Bowman was sidelined for five races with a concussion before returning for Ives’ final race at Phoenix Raceway. The Michigan native has transitioned to a new role in the company that has seen him involved in the Garage 56 project, with Blake Harris now the new crew chief for the No. 48 team.
Elliott wins regular-season title (Aug. 27, 2022): While he locked up the regular-season crown following a top-five finish at Watkins Glen, Elliott wasn’t formally presented with the regular-season trophy until the summer race weekend at Daytona. This was his first regular-season championship and the second in a row for Hendrick Motorsports. The 15 playoff points that came with the honor would prove to be valuable to the driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 over the course of the playoffs.
PHOTOS: Recap the year in paint schemes
Each driver reaches Round of 12 (Sept. 17, 2022): For the second straight season, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers reached the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs. En route to his deepest playoff run of his Cup Series career thus far – the Round of 8 - Byron tallied four straight top-10 finishes.
Larson dominates at Miami (Oct. 23, 2022): Despite being eliminated from the driver’s championship two weeks earlier, Larson and the No. 5 team were still in the hunt for the owner’s title. A dominating performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway – a track where the Elk Grove, California, native had seemingly done everything but win at the Cup level – put the squad into the owner’s Championship 4. Leading 199 laps on the day, Larson scored his third win of the season.
Elliott makes Championship 4 (Oct. 30, 2022): Elliott reached his third straight Championship 4 with a strong run in the Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville. The regular-season champion had an up-and-down postseason run but two runner-up stage finishes helped pave the path for him to advance. While the title race at Phoenix Raceway didn’t go as planned, the 2022 season marked Elliott’s third straight top-four finish in the points standings – the only Cup Series driver to do so in the past three seasons. He closed out his year with his fifth straight National Motorsports Press Association Most Popular Driver Award.
Honorable mention:
---Contract extensions signed for Elliott (five years thru 2027), Byron (three years thru 2025) and Larson (three years thru 2026)
---Byron won the first race at the repaved and reprofiled Atlanta Motor Speedway. The victory marked the third win in five races to begin the 2022 season for the organization.
---Hendrick Motorsports crossed 2,000 top-10 finishes in the Cup Series following the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway
---At Sonoma Raceway in June, Hendrick Motorsports hit the 100,000 miles led mark in team history. Upon completion of the 2022 season, that total is at 101,623.9 miles led.
---Hendrick Motorsports became the fourth team to reach 1,300 Cup Series starts with the race at Darlington in September. At season’s end, the 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization has made 1,309 starts at the sport’s highest level.
PHOTOS: Milestones from the 2022 season
---Elliott’s win at Talladega Superspeedway locked him into the Round of 8. The win gave Hendrick Motorsports back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 2004-05.