Chase Elliott, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman focus on NASCAR Cup Series playoff run one race at a time

CONCORD, N.C. - The ultimate goal? Securing a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2. 

The task at hand? The historic Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, one of the sport's crown jewel events. 

All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are in the 16-team playoff field and among them are now 32 postseason appearances with at least seven for each. These are hardly uncharted waters. 

Chase Elliott (2020) and Kyle Larson (2021) have each won a championship. William Byron has reached the championship race in each of the last two seasons. Alex Bowman is making his seventh playoff appearance in the last eight years, finishing sixth in 2020. 

And when asked, all of them echoed a similar refrain when it comes to the big picture. 

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To get to where you want to go, you have to first focus on where you are. 

“That’s so far from now, just really try to keep doing the things we’re doing,” Byron told HendrickMotorsports.com. “Just have to think one week at a time. It’s very easy to look ahead and be like, ‘OK, this track is good for us or this one’s good for us,’ but it just changes week to week. It’s really just looking at where you’re at and approaching every practice session, every qualifying session, every stage of the race, every set of tires in the race – one thing at a time.” 

The first thing will be this weekend's run at Darlington, part of a broader Round of 16 in which the top 12 in the standings after three races will advance with the bottom four being eliminated. Byron and Larson enter the postseason tied atop the standings, 26 points above the cutline. Both have also visited victory lane at Darlington in their careers. 

For Larson, Darlington is one of his two best venues that are included in the first round with the Bristol Motor Speedway night race serving as the last event before the Round of 12 starts. A trip to Gateway looms in between. 

All Larson has done is pile up 15 top five finishes and 22 top 10s in a combined 33 starts at the two NASCAR racing cathedrals. He's won a combined four races there including the last two dates at Bristol. 

Certainly, the 2023 Southern 500 winner is focused on South Carolina this week. But he also admits, the first round offers the No. 5 Chevrolet bunch a chance to gather some always needed momentum heading deeper into the playoffs. 

"Two great tracks for our team and hopefully, we can kind use that first round to build some momentum and get some good points," Larson said. We'd love to win some of the stages, win a race or both of those and kind of get back more established and get some playoff points. But you can't ever go into a race expecting to have that good of a good day, you just have to try to execute." 

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For the most part, the Hendrick Motorsports stable has done that as well as anyone. All four drivers are ranked in the top eight in terms of top five finishes this year with Larson tied atop the heap at 11. They're all in the top five when it comes to top 10s with Larson's 16 standing alone in first. 

Elliott has been the most consistent driver all season as his 11.96 average finish is tops in the Cup Series. And like Larson, Elliott and his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts team has proven it can finish the job. 

But Elliott's title in 2020 came in the Gen 6 era and the changes to the cars, race tracks, pit stops (single lug nut wheels) and rules packages over the last five years are substantial, to say the least. 

So, how much does championship-winning experience really mean? Elliott believes its certainly still an advantage. 

"I think the experience is good. I think it's universal," Elliott said. "I think it helps probably more from a mental standpoint of just having been there before and understanding what it's like, winning and losing. So, yeah, I think it's good regardless. 

"I mean, I think the experiences live with you, whether you're thinking about them or not, whether they're good experiences or bad experiences. I think all those things help mold individuals as they carry on through life in and out of the car. But as it pertains to on-track performance and the moment right now, I always think it's important to stay where your feet are." 

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As for Bowman, his ticket wasn't officially punched into the playoffs until the waning laps last Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. 

But make no mistake, the No. 48 Ally team is more than capable of a deep run. Prior to the race at Daytona, Bowman had scored top 10 finishes in six of his last eight starts and he began last year's postseason with three showings of ninth or better in the first four events.

“The biggest strength is the momentum that we have behind us… the year that we've been able to put together, the speed that we've had at some racetracks," Bowman said. At (Homestead-Miami Speedway), we've never been good, and we almost won. Richmond (Raceway), we've been pretty bad with the Next-Gen car, and we were strong there. So, I think that shows me that we can go to places that we haven't been good at before and be really strong."

NASCAR TV schedule for Darlington, Portland

Friday, Aug. 29

• 2 p.m. - ARCA practice (no TV)
• 3:05 - CRAFTSMAN Truck Series practice (FS2)
• 3:20 - ARCA qualifying (no TV)
• 4:10 - CRAFTSMAN Truck Series qualifying (FS2)
• 7 - ARCA race (FloRacing)

Saturday, Aug. 30

• 9 a.m - Cup Series practice (truTV)
• 10:10 - Cup Series qualifying (truTV)
  
• Noon - CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race (FS1)
• 3 p.m. - Xfinity Series practice (CW App)
• 4:05 - Xfinity Series qualifying (CW App)
• 7:30 - Xfinity Series race (CW)

Sunday, Aug. 31

• 6 p.m. - Cup Series race (USA)

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NASCAR Cup Series points standings