NASCAR midseason review: How Hendrick Motorsports drivers have fared so far in 2025

CONCORD N.C - After an electric Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series is halfway through the regular season. Eight drivers have won at least one race, thus locking into the playoffs with 13 races remaining before the postseason begins at Darlington. 

Hendrick Motorsports is off to another great start. In the first half of the regular season, the team piled up four wins (three from Kyle Larson, one from William Byron), 19 top 5's, five poles, 13 stage wins and another Daytona 500 trophy. 

All four of the organization's drivers reside in the top 10 in points with Byron first, Larson second, Chase Elliott fourth and Alex Bowman 10th. 

“So far, it’s been very positive,” Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon said. “The consistency, to me, tells me how much our teams are working together and sharing information and showing up at the racetrack with race cars and setups and race teams in general that are very common.

"Obviously, starting the season with a DAYTONA 500 win is fantastic. Larson just picked up his third win (May 11 at Kansas Speedway) in back-to-back dominant races. That is obviously very positive and that motivates everybody, right? But it also puts the target on our back from our competitors. But then, to see where all four teams have been in points, with some setbacks, that’s pretty impressive.”

The final 13 races will come at a variety of tracks, presenting challenges to all drivers in the field.  

Yet even with so many obstacles, Hendrick Motorsports will work together to get all four of its drivers into the playoffs.

“So, that means the world to me and to Rick." Gordon said. "That’s what you’re trying to build is this line of communication. This trust in one another. So, you’re seeing all four teams push and elevate one another and that’s great.”

With the first half of the regular season in the books, let's recap how all four drivers have done so far and look ahead to the next 13 events:

Kyle Larson

Currently, Larson is first in the playoff standings. He has notched three wins, eight top fives, eight stage wins, and one pole. 

Larson got his first win of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, fighting from the back to start the race. With 10 laps to go, Larson chased down his teammate Bowman, who'd led 43 laps, and cruised to victory lane. 

Larson's notorious superspeedway misfortune finally turned around as he crossed the finish line in third at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

Then, his second win of the season came in dominating fashion at Bristol Motor Speedway, as he led 411 of 500 laps and swept both stages. He carried that momentum into the following week, at Talladega Superspeedway, scoring a second-place finish, the best showing at a drafting track in his career. 

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Larson kept the top five streak alive with a fourth at Texas. The following week at Kansas Speedway, he ran away with the lead and took a dominant victory, becoming the second driver to three wins in 2025.

"It was great to qualify good and to maintain the lead for the majority of the race was good," Larson said in an interview with FOX post-race.

Larson scored the most points at Bristol, Talladega, Texas and Kansas, briefly taking the points lead with his 60-point sweep in the Sunflower State.

Larson was preparing to run the #H1100 during the week of the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. He was in the midst of pulling double duty, practicing for the Indianapolis 500 where he qualified 21st. Still, he and made it back to North Wilkesboro just in time for the All-Star Race, briefly leading from the back before a tire failure relegated him to 21st.

Despite some tough luck in the Indy 500 and Coke 600, Larson remains just 29 points back of Byron and is at the top of the board in the playoff standings. The 32-year-old has four combined wins at Nashville Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway, the next two circuits on the schedule.

Chase Elliott

Elliott has been the model of consistency thus far and is the only driver to have finished in the top 20 in all 13 events.

The No. 9 team started the season with a bang, winning the Clash at Bowman Grey Stadium, an exhibition race before the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. He held off the hard charging Ryan Blaney en route to his first win since Texas of last year. 

"I know it's not a points race, but it is nice to win for sure and just really proud of our team for continuing to keep our heads down and push forward," Elliott said in an interview following his win.

One of the defining moments of the season so far for Elliott came at the Circuit of the Americas. The driver of the No. 9 mounted an impressive comeback after being spun on the very first lap, rallying all the way through the field to finish fourth. He followed that with back-to-back top 10s at Phoenix Raceway and Las Vegas the following two weeks. 

Two weeks later, he led 42 laps and finished fourth at Martinsville Speedway. The next week at Darlington Raceway, he registered an eighth-place finish. Another two weeks later, he sliced and diced his way through Talladega traffic to come home fifth.

He rounded out the season's first half with a sixth-place run at Charlotte. 

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Elliott's consistency has kept him afloat in the championship standings. He is only 84 markers behind leader and fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Byron. He is seeded ninth currently in the playoffs at 148 points above the cutline.

With four road courses and his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway, mixed in the final 13 races before the playoffs begin, keep an eye out for the No. 9 Chevrolet as Elliott searches for his next win of the season. 

William Byron

Byron sits atop the points standings, having six top fives, two poles, and three stage wins thus far.

His season started the way every driver wants his season to start, by winning the DAYTONA 500. He started in the top 10 and stayed there for the majority of the night, evading multiple wrecks. When the white flag came out, Byron stayed cool and dodged a massive crash on the final lap to take the checkered flag and become only the fifth NASCAR driver ever to win the Great American Race in back-to-back years. He joined Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin and Denny Hamlin on that list. 

"There's no negatives to winning, right?" Byron said. "You get a chance to go and do things that you don't normally get to do and you just try to embrace it because the last seven, eight months we haven't won a race so I think anytime that happens, you realize how difficult this sport is and just try and enjoy it as much as you can."

He was back in contention to win at Atlanta the following week until being caught up in a crash with just three laps remaining.  

The next race at Circuit of the Americas, Byron and Christopher Bell dueled as they chased down the ailing car of Kyle Busch. With a five of laps left, both Byron and Bell overtook Busch who was leading at the time. Byron chased down Bell but couldn't quite get around as he finished second.

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The No. 24 team has shown resilience as well. A pit stop at Phoenix Raceway trapped Byron a lap down until he rallied all the way back for a sixth-place finish. He was a threat to win yet again at Las Vegas a week later until a sequence of cautions and pit stops relegated him to fourth. 

In recent weeks, Byron has put on a couple of the most dominant races of his career. He led 243 laps at Darlington Raceway, winning both stages. But an unlucky final pit cycle placed him in third behind Bell and Tyler Reddick. A late caution allowed him to utilize an overtime finish to race back to second place.

"We lost control and once we lost control it was too late in the going to kinda get back up there so yeah, it sucks, I'm sure it'll sting a lot tonight, but there's still a lot of positives, it just stings in the moment for sure," Byron said in a post-race interview.

Bristol and Talladega gave Byron another set of top 10 finishes. At Bristol, he rallied from 26th all the way to sixth place by the end of the day. Despite getting caught up in Talladega grid lock, the No. 24 driver managed to make it to third place when everything was said and done.

Then, Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 served as another statement race for the No. 24 team. Byron swept the first three stages, going toe-to-toe with Denny Hamlin and Carson Hocevar as the three exchanged passes and the lead throughout the late going. Byron led 283 of 400 laps before falling just short in a second-place run. 

Byron's tenacity and consistency across the first half of the season has him currently seeded fourth in the playoff standings and the No. 24 is a threat to win nearly every week. With a variety of different track types and Daytona lumped into the final 13 race stretch of the regular season, Byron will have several chances to add wins and playoff points to his 2025 resume. 

Alex Bowman

Bowman and the No. 48 team have had a solid first half of the season. Sitting 10th in the points standings with two top fives and two poles, Bowman and his team are in good standing to make another playoff run.

Bowman quietly navigated his way through traffic during the DAYTONA 500 and was near the front in the closing stages of the race. On the final lap, he drove through the final big crash of the night and came home sixth. 

The No. 48 driver overcame a penalty to finish ninth at Circuit of the Americas and followed it up with two seventh-place runs at Phoenix and Las Vegas. Bowman qualified on the pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway and led late in the race before ultimately finishing second to fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver, Larson.

"I just kinda burnt my stuff up." Bowman said in a post-race interview. "I saw (Larson) coming, so I moved around a little bit and not when he passed me but the time before that I hit (the wall) pretty hard and ended up bending something enough where I lost the right front feel."

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Talladega provided the entire organization with a solid day as Bowman pushed his way to a seventh-place finish. Kansas served as another highlight as Bowman stayed in the top 10 throughout the race and brought it home in fifth place.

Despite some setbacks, Bowman and the No. 48 team have not backed down. The No. 48 team's ability to get back up after every punch is one reason it is still a threat to make a deep playoff run. Bowman is 66 points above the cutoff line in the playoff standings in 12th place. 

He has some strong tracks ahead as well. He is the reigning Chicago Street Course champion and should be a threat to get a win and lock himself into the playoffs.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway next. The race premieres at 7 p.m. on Amazon Prime Video, Sirius XM, and PRN Radio.