MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kyle Larson scored the top starting spot among the Hendrick Motorsports quartet for Sunday’s Round of 8 finale in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Larson will line up fifth (93.854 mph) in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway. This is his 11th top-five start of the season and his third in a row. The 31-year-old driver won the most recent race at the 0.526-mile track in April and has finished in the top-two positions in the last two Cup Series races there. In 17 starts at Martinsville, he has five top-five finishes and five top-10s. Larson is already locked into the Championship 4 with his victory in the first race of the round at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Chase Elliott will take to the starting grid from the 14th position in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. Martinsville has been one of Elliott’s best tracks in the series. He won this race in 2020 to advance to the Championship 4 ahead of his title win at Phoenix. In 16 starts, the 27-year-old driver has five top-five finishes, 10 top-10s and 957 laps led at the 0.526-mile track. The No. 9 team remains in the hunt for the owner championship but will need a win at Martinsville to advance.
RELATED: Elliott, No. 9 team can draw on past Martinsville success
William Byron is going to begin the 500-lap race from the 16th position in the No. 24 PODS Chevy. He just missed advancing to the second round of qualifying by 0.021 seconds. The 25-year-old driver enters the event 30 points above the elimination line and needs to score 36 points (regardless of what others do) to reach his first Championship 4. In 11 starts at Martinsville, Byron has one win, four top-five finishes and six top-10s. He has finished in the top-seven positions in four of his last five starts at the Virginia short track.
In group practice, Byron posted the third-fastest lap (93.696 mph) and had the second-best 10-lap consecutive average. He also had the fifth-best 20-lap consecutive average and fourth-best 25-lap and 30-lap consecutive average.
RELATED: Byron looks to lock down Championship 4 spot at Martinsville
Alex Bowman lines up 22nd in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The 30-year-old driver has one win and four top-10 finishes in 14 starts at Martinsville. He and crew chief Blake Harris are looking to close out the 2023 season strong as they look to establish building blocks ahead of the new season.
Martin Truex Jr. earned the pole position for the 35th race of the season.
With its 28 victories at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports holds the Cup Series record for the most wins at a single circuit. Nine different drivers (the greatest number of different winners at Martinsville) have won at this track for the organization, led by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with nine victories apiece. Darrell Waltrip recorded four wins. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Geoff Bodine and Byron, Bowman, Elliott and Larson have each taken home one victory. The team is the only one to lead over 10,000 laps at any one track with 10,531 circuits out front.
PHOTOS: Look back at every Hendrick Motorsports winner at Martinsville
In the past six races at Martinsville, each of the four current drivers for the Concord, North Carolina-based team has scored a win. Larson is the most recent driver to triumph at the short track with a win in April. Byron took home a win in April 2022, while Bowman was victorious in October 2021 and Elliott visited victory lane in November 2020 in the playoff race. Over the same stretch of six races, the organization’s best finish has been no lower than second.
Team owner Rick Hendrick grew up in Palmer Springs, Virginia, and his teams have won 40 Cup Series races in his home state. Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane in Virginia at least one time in 28 different seasons, including each of the past four. In addition, Hendrick Motorsports’ 57 points-paying wins on short tracks are the most among active teams.
Watch the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Coverage will be on NBC, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).