Tag: Hendrick Motorsport

Byron leads Cup championship contenders with Phoenix pole

William Byron will have the best starting position and pit stall selection for the NASCAR Cup Series championship race after earning the pole at Phoenix Raceway with a lap of 132.597mph (27.150). It is the fourth pole of the season for Byron and his …

William Byron will have the best starting position and pit stall selection for the NASCAR Cup Series championship race after earning the pole at Phoenix Raceway with a lap of 132.597mph (27.150).

It is the fourth pole of the season for Byron and his first at Phoenix, where he won in the spring.

“Just let’s our boys go to work; they’re the best on pit road,” Byron said of the pole and first pit stall. “I’m excited for them. It’s a totally different race, so we’ve got to get our race balance dialed in, but we’re excited. We’re on keel this weekend, so we’ve just got to go work on our race car.

“Cutting the dogleg was definitely interesting. I definitely felt pretty loose getting into [Turns] 1 and 2, just recovering from the dogleg. Proud of our whole team – the Axalta Chevrolet was good there. Good enough. Definitely got to go to work on the race balance, and I’m just excited for my guys on pit road. They’re awesome. They’re going to like this.”

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Martin Truex Jr. will join Byron on the front row with a fastest lap of 132.509mph.

Kevin Harvick qualified third for his final race at 132.421mph, Kyle Larson fourth at 132.397mph, Bubba Wallace qualified fifth at 132.261mph, Denny Hamlin sixth at 132.139mph and Erik Jones seventh at 131.540mph.

Ross Chastain qualified eighth at 131.454 mph, Chris Buescher ninth at 131.109mph and Tyler Reddick 10th at 128.769 mph.

After failing to advance to the final round of qualifying, Christopher Bell qualified 13th at 132.338mph. Ryan Blaney qualified 15th at 132.265mph.

“I needed about another 0.15s,” Blaney said. “The car didn’t feel bad, just not as much speed as everyone else. I think our race car is good for tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.”

Carson Hocevar starts 22nd in his final race for Legacy Motor Club in the No. 42 Chevrolet. He clocked in at 131.965mph.

There are 36 drivers entered in the NASCAR Cup Series season finale.

STARTING LINEUP

Larson’s Darlington win brings up a special milestone for Hendrick’s engine department

A triumph by Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway was a milestone for the Hendrick Motorsports engine department as it marked its 500th NASCAR national series victory. The engine department has been a source of pride at Hendrick Motorsports for …

A triumph by Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway was a milestone for the Hendrick Motorsports engine department as it marked its 500th NASCAR national series victory.

The engine department has been a source of pride at Hendrick Motorsports for decades. Randy Dorton was the visionary behind the department and is credited with what it has become. Hendrick hired Dorton in the early 1980s after purchasing Dorton’s company, Competition Engines.

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“Randy led our engine program, but most don’t understand how involved he was in all aspects of the team,” Hendrick said. “When we started out, he and Harry (Hyde) were two key people who hung in there when things were looking pretty bleak. They believed in what we were building. Over the years, Randy’s role evolved into more of a general manager, helping me run the place and being involved in every major decision, like selecting drivers. He was a terrific leader, and we shared the belief that people would always be the key to winning. Stepping back and taking a global view was one of his great strengths. He constantly researched the latest technology.”

Dorton was one of the 10 individuals who lost their lives in October of 2004 when a plane crashed in Virginia on the way to Martinsville Speedway. During his tenure with the company, Dorton was a key part of winning nine NASCAR championships.

“Randy was a guy who would take trips to Europe to visit suppliers and tour Formula 1 facilities to see what they were doing,” Hendrick continued. “I can’t tell you how much we benefited from that. He was a pioneer in our industry, introducing technology like CNC machines that are standard today.

“When you look at his record and the totality of his contributions to the sport, I have to believe Randy Dorton will be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Without him, there wouldn’t be a Hendrick Motorsports. The folks in our engine shop have worked so hard to carry on his legacy and reach this milestone. For that group to win 500 races is a monumental tribute to Randy.”

Of the 500 victories, 309 have come from Hendrick Motorsports teams in all three national series. But combined with teams the Hendrick Motorsports engine department supplies Chevrolet engines to, there have been 356 victories in the Cup Series, 122 victories in the Xfinity Series, and 22 victories in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Geoff Bodine scored the first in April 1984 at Martinsville, while Jimmie Johnson scored the 100th victory at Dover Motor Speedway in June 2002. The 300th and 400th victories came in the Xfinity Series. Chase Elliott, driving a JR Motorsports car, was triumphant at Darlington in April 2014 and Larson, driving a Chip Ganassi Racing car, won at Daytona in the summer of 2018.

“We had the good fortune to be able to speak to Mr. Hendrick (Saturday) and he spoke of looking up there into Turn 1, and he said, you know, 1976, I came here with Linda and they snuck in and sat in the grandstands and watched the race,” Scott Maxim, Hendrick Motorsports director of powertrain, said. “To think that we would be here at Darlington for this weekend, such a historic track, and have an opportunity to get 500 engine wins, and think about for him how much contribution he had with his vision and commitment to us, it’s just really fitting to be able to be here.”

Hendrick Motorsports supplies engines for JTG Daugherty Racing, Spire Motorsports, JR  and DGM Racing. Those who used Hendrick engines in the past included Chip Ganassi Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing.

There have been victories in every crown jewel event on the Cup Series schedule: eight in the Daytona 500 (Hendrick teams won seven of them), 11 in the Coca-Cola 600 (Hendrick teams won 10 of them), 11 in the Brickyard 400 (Hendrick teams won 10 of them), and 13 in the Southern 500 at Darlington (Hendrick teams won 11 of them).

“It’s absolutely amazing to think back,” Jeff Andrews, vice president of competition at Hendrick Motorsports, said. “I was just on the phone with Mr. Hendrick… and I asked, did you ever think all those years ago when you went to see Randy Dorton in this small kind of really what was a tin shed, what is at the top of motorsports now, and the buildings that Harry Hyde owned there, but did he ever think we would be sitting here talking about 500 wins that it would have started there?

“It’s just really incredible. So many amazing people along the way that have fostered that program. Of course, Randy Dorton started that from the ground up and hired so many of us, including Scott and myself, many years ago. It’s obviously a testament to Mr. Hendrick and Randy’s vision of the partnership that they started there together all those years ago.”

Gordon says Hendrick fully supportive of Larson’s Indy run

Jeff Gordon says that Hendrick Motorsport had no hesitation in clearing Kyle Larson to compete in next year’s Indianapolis 500, despite two of the team’s other NASCAR Cup Series stars having been sidelined this year with injuries sustained during …

Jeff Gordon says that Hendrick Motorsport had no hesitation in clearing Kyle Larson to compete in next year’s Indianapolis 500, despite two of the team’s other NASCAR Cup Series stars having been sidelined this year with injuries sustained during extracurricular activities.

Chase Elliott sat out six races while recovering from a broken leg sustained in a snowboarding accident, while Alex Bowman is continuing to work towards returning from a sprint car crash that left him with a fractured vertebra. Larson regularly races in sprint car events in between his Cup commitments; however, he’ll face a different level of risk when he suits up for Arrow McLaren at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next year. But according to Hendrick vice-chairman Gordon — himself no stranger to the Speedway as a five-time Brickyard 400 winner — the benefits of granting driver freedom outside of their Cup duties outweigh any potential downsides.

“Our approach is that we want to support these guys in things that they want to take on,” Gordon (pictured above, with Larson) said. “I mean, with Kyle, we’ve had this conversation a lot. He feels like that type of racing actually helps him get prepared and be sharp on Sunday in the Cup car. We’ve actually seen the results of that.

“They have to make good, smart decisions, be in good equipment, not take too much risk when they’re involved in that, whether it’s racing or other things.

“I can tell you I did a lot of extracurricular activities, even if it wasn’t in other race cars, throughout my entire career, and see the benefits of it. We’re going to support our guys to do the same. We’re going to encourage them to really weigh out the risk versus the reward and make sure they’re in the best equipment with the best team and the best opportunity to go out there and make the experience a good one. That’s the way we look at this.”

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Gordon’s own career path never led him onto the Indy 500 starting grid, and he admits that he’ll be living vicariously through Larson the flag drops next Memorial Day weekend.

“I did say to him he’s going to be able to live out a dream of mine,” said the four-time Cup Series champion. “I go back to the mid to late ’80s when I was living here in Indiana; raced all around here. Every race car driver’s dream, if you race around Indianapolis, is to get here, to compete at this facility.

“I watched guys like Rich Vogler, a few other competitors I raced with, come over here and do that. Certainly it was on my radar. But NASCAR came calling. Once that happened, I kind of shifted my focus to that. I don’t know if really the right opportunity (arose) or it ever became serious enough after that to become a reality. So to me, this is equally as exciting because, one, I sure as heck right now don’t want to drive into turn one at 238 miles, whatever they’re running, but Kyle does. Kyle is capable of it.

“Super-excited. Excited for Kyle. When he has the equipment and the resources, the people surrounding him, he has the ability to go do extraordinary things. We’ve seen him do it in other cars. I have no doubt that he’ll be able to do that in the Indy 500 next year, as well.”

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