CONCORD, N.C. – This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond, Virginia.
Take a look at Hendrick Motorsports' history at Richmond Raceway and some of the things to look out for as teams compete in race nine of the season.
- At Richmond Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports has 10 wins, 17 pole positions, 59 top-five finishes and 109 top-10s – the organization's third-most top 10s at a single track. After the organization’s three wins that came in the form of a sweep in 2007 followed by a trip to Victory Lane in 2008, the organization has earned six runner-up results at the 0.75-mile oval, bringing its total to 19 second-place finishes at Richmond – the team’s most at any track. Hendrick Motorsports has swept the front row in Richmond qualifying five times. It is the only organization to have all four drivers start on the front row in the 2019 season.
- The No. 9 team’s performance has been trending upward over the last three races (Martinsville, Texas, Bristol). In the last three races, Chase Elliott has led 122 laps and started in the top 10 in all three – two being top-three starts (one pole award). Last spring, Elliott started on the outside pole at Richmond Raceway. In Elliott’s last six short-track (Martinsville, Richmond, Bristol) finishes, he collected top-10 finishes five times, four of which were top-five finishes including two runner-up results. He currently holds the fourth-best average finish on short tracks this season (6.5) and has led the fourth-highest number of laps (87) on those tracks less than one mile in length.
- After collecting his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole for the Daytona 500 this year, William Byron has followed up that effort by qualifying on the front row two additional times. In consecutive weekends, the 21-year-old driver has qualified the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the outside pole, marking track-best starting efforts at both Texas Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. Byron has now been a part of all three Hendrick Motorsports front-row sweeps in qualifying this season. Last season, Byron had one of his best races during the spring Richmond race, qualifying ninth and running within the top five most of Stage 1 and within the top 10 for over half of the event before ultimately finishing just outside the top 10 in the 12th position.
- Jimmie Johnson earned the three most recent wins for the organization at Richmond: a sweep in 2007 and another trip to Victory Lane in 2008. In the 10 races run since 2014 at the 0.75-mile track in Richmond, Johnson has accumulated seven top-10 finishes, finishing in the top-10 70 percent of the times he has raced. Last season, Johnson finished sixth and eighth, respectively, and has not finished outside the top 11 at the track since September 2014. Immediately following this weekend’s race, Johnson will head to Boston to compete in his first marathon Monday morning. Tune into coverage on the Hendrick Motorsports Twitter page and website all weekend long for more.
- Last spring, the No. 88 Nationwide team finished 18th after starting just outside the top 10 in 11th. Alex Bowman brought home a 12th-place finish after earning two top-10 finishes in the stages during the 400-lap event in the fall. The 25-year-old driver has completed 99 percent of the total laps run over his six starts at the 0.75-mile Virginia-based track. Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 88’s drivers have an average finish of 15.4 and an average starting position of 16.9 at the Virginia-based track.
Catch the race this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.