CONCORD, N.C. – This Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the first race in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Sunday’s showdown at Texas will mark the eighth NASCAR Cup Series race held at a 1.5-mile venue in 2021. This season, Hendrick Motorsports has led 1,153 laps on intermediate tracks – the most ever by a team in the first seven 1.5-mile events.
Kyle Larson, who won at Texas for the All-Star Race in June, will try to repeat his performance at the venue and Chase Elliott will attempt to beat his best finish of third at the Fort Worth, Texas, track, which also came during the All-Star Race. Both drivers are looking to advance to the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway and bring home Hendrick Motorsports’ 14th Cup Series title.
Check out the impressive stats Hendrick Motorsports has at Texas and tune in this Sunday, Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC to see the teams in action as they look to make the most of the first race in the new round of the playoffs.
- Entering Sunday’s playoff race at Texas, Hendrick Motorsports owns or shares the track records for points-paying wins (nine; tie), pole positions (seven; tie), top-five finishes (40) and top-10s (72). The organization is second in laps led there – just 13 behind leader Roush Fenway Racing.
- Following Larson’s performance Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Hendrick Motorsports has accumulated 49 all-time wins during the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs – 16 more than next-best Joe Gibbs Racing (33) and more than double third-place Penske Racing (24). In six playoff events this year, the team has won twice – both coming courtesy of Larson. Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane in the seventh race of the playoffs a record seven times.
- Elliott will make his 11th Cup Series start at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. He has garnered two top-five finishes, five top-10s and led a total of 44 laps in those 10 previous starts. Earlier this season, Elliott finished third in the All-Star Race at the 1.5-mile track.
- With the Cup Series racing at seven mile-and-a-half tracks so far this year, William Byron has finished inside the top 10 in five of those events. Going back as far as the last 11 races on 1.5-milers, Byron has secured seven top-10 finishes on that configuration of track.
- In six points-paying Cup Series starts at the Lone Star State track, Byron has two top-10 results, including a track-best finish of sixth in March 2019. In his 1,924 laps run at Texas across his six starts, he has spent 678 laps running inside the top 10 (35.2%). Byron also competed at Texas earlier this season for the All-Star Race, where he led the most laps (30) and was in contention to win before finishing the exhibition race in seventh.
- Alex Bowman has 11 points-paying starts at Texas Motor Speedway since 2014. The driver’s best finish of fifth came in the fall of 2019 and again at the fall event of 2020. The Ally driver is tied for the most top-five results (two) in the last three Texas events, and he has led 57 laps at the 1.5-mile venue.