Chasing more short-track milestones at Richmond

CONCORD. N.C. – Short-track racing awaits under the lights this weekend at Richmond Raceway.

At the 0.75-mile oval, Hendrick Motorsports has 10 wins, 17 pole positions, 58 top-five finishes and 107 top-10s – the organization's third-most top 10s at a single track. Johnson earned the three most recent wins for the organization at Richmond: a sweep in 2007 and another trip to Victory Lane in 2008. 

Since then, the organization has earned five runner-up results at short-track, bringing its total to 18 second-place finishes at Richmond – the team’s most at any track.

More key facts and figures from Hendrick Motorsports’ history at Richmond Raceway can be found below.

• Hendrick Motorsports leads all active teams at short tracks in wins (50), poles (50), top-five finishes (219), top-10s (372) and laps led (20,729). The organization has won at least one short-track race in each of the last five seasons and in 15 of the last 16 (all but 2011). Hendrick Motorsports has gone to Victory Lane at a short track in 27 different seasons.

• With just three laps led this weekend, Richmond Raceway would become the fifth track where Hendrick Motorsports has led 4,000 laps. The other four are Martinsville (9,241 laps led), Dover (6,678), Bristol (5,864) and Charlotte (5,037). The organization has led 3,997 laps at Richmond.

• In the four short-track races thus far in 2018, the organization holds the second-most top-10 finishes with nine – Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman have earned three apiece. Hendrick Motorsports has had at least two cars finish inside the top 10 in each short-track race of the season so far. 

• Richmond ranks third on the list of tracks where the organization holds the most top-10 finishes with 107, behind only Martinsville (124) and Pocono (123) and leads all other tracks in most runner-up finishes with 19. Hendrick Motorsports drivers have earned runner-up finishes six times since the organization's last Richmond win in September 2008, including Elliott's second-place finish at the track this past April.

• Richmond Raceway is among the list of active NASCAR Cup Series tracks where Hendrick Motorsports has earned 10 or more wins. The organization's 10 wins at the 0.75-mile track is tied for 10th on that list with Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. A win this weekend would move Richmond into a tie with Bristol Motor Speedway, where Hendrick Motorsports has visited Victory Lane 11 times.

• Elliott has made 20 short-track (Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond) starts in his NASCAR Cup Series career. In those starts, the 22-year-old driver has collected seven top-10 finishes, four of which were top-fives, and led 271 laps. Elliott averages a starting position of 10.75 and finishing position of 13.4. In Elliott’s most recent two short track starts (Bristol in August and Richmond in April), he collected top-three finishes in both and led 112 laps.

• No. 9 team crew chief Alan Gustafson is set to call his 27th NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond from atop the pit box this weekend. In Gustafson’s previous 26 starts with five different drivers (Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Elliott), he has accumulated 11 top-five finishes – five being runner-up results – 15 top-10s and 532 laps led at the track. The only crew chief with more second-place finishes at the 0.75-mile track is Dale Inman, who has 10.

• Prior to his 12th-place result in the Cup race in April, William Byron made three previous starts at Richmond Raceway. He had two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the 0.75-mile track in 2017, earning a best finish of seventh. He also raced there in the regional NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2015, winning the pole and finishing sixth.

• With just nine races remaining in the 2018 season, Byron continues to hold the lead in the battle for the NASCAR Cup Series rookie of the year title. The driver of the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 leads the rookie standings by 107 points over Bubba Wallace.

• Jimmie Johnson showed some spark last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and was running in the top 10 when contact with a competitor caused a tire to blow, sending Johnson into the wall in the closing laps of the event. Johnson was able to salvage a 22nd-place finish and is now 13th in the playoff point standings with two races remaining in the Round of 16.

• Johnson has earned 14 total wins on short tracks throughout his storied career. He is tied with Kyle Busch for the most wins on short tracks of all active drivers. Johnson has a total of 11 wins at half-mile tracks – Bristol Motor Speedway (two) and Martinsville Speedway (nine) – and three wins at the 0.75-mile track of Richmond. His last win at Richmond came in September 2008.

• Earlier this year, Johnson scored his best finish of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in April with a third-place finish. Over the course of the four races run on short tracks this season, Johnson has finished in the top 10 three times. Last time at Richmond in April, Johnson started 17th and finished sixth.

• Following last weekend’s run in Las Vegas, the No. 88 team now holds the 12th spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings. Alex Bowman is now 59 markers behind the leader – and six points above the cutoff line – with two races (Richmond and Charlotte) remaining in the Round of 16.

• In four short-track events this season, Bowman has captured three top-10 finishes. The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet captured his first top-five finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring. Bowman also finished seventh at Martinsville Speedway and eighth in Bristol’s second event this season.

• Bowman will make his sixth NASCAR Cup Series start at Richmond Raceway this weekend. The 25-year-old driver finished 18th at the 0.75-mile Virginia-based track earlier this season after qualifying 11th in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Bowman has also completed three NASCAR Xfinity Series events at Richmond. In 2016, the driver narrowly missed the pole, qualifying second, and brought home a ninth-place finish. The Arizona native has one start at the track in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and brought home a fifth-place finish.

• Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won two of the last three Cup Series races held on Sept. 22, including Johnson's Sept. 22, 2002, win at Dover and Gordon's Sept. 22, 1996, victory at Martinsville.

• With Elliott earning his first Cup Series win at Watkins Glen, Hendrick Motorsports now holds the record for the most first-time Cup Series winners with nine. If William Byron or Bowman wins at Richmond, it will extend the record to the 10th time a driver has recorded his first career Cup Series win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports.