Hendrick Motorsports Is All But Guaranteed a Win at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has already been quite successful for the four drivers at Hendrick Motorsports.
Through the first 13 races of the ’22 campaign, each has already taken at least one checkered flag. Kyle Larson was the first to do so, winning the week after the Daytona 500 at Auto Club Speedway. A week later, Alex Bowman joined the party with a win in Las Vegas.
Two weeks after that, William Byron notched his first win of the season in Atlanta. Three weeks later, he got win number two at Martinsville. And another three weeks later, Chase Elliott, the leader in the points standings at the midway point of the regular season, won at Dover.
So, in total, Hendrick Motorsports has won 38.4% of the races this season. And the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history should feel pretty confident about adding another checkered flag to the trophy case this Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hendrick Motorsports should feel great about Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Hendrick Motorsports has a remarkable history at the Coca-Cola 600. The team’s two winningest drivers of all time, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, combined for seven wins in the Cup Series’ longest race, and Hendrick owns the most victories overall for this particular race with 12. That’s double the amount of Richard Childress Racing, who sits in second place on the all-time wins list with six.
While Johnson and Gordon’s wins or the comprehensive history of the organization have no bearing on the 2022 edition of the Coca-Cola 600, Hendrick should still feel very confident heading into the first race of the second half of the year.
For one, Larson is the defending champion at the event. It was actually his win at Charlotte Motor Speedway last year that made Hendrick Motorsports the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history. The victory was the 269th for the team, surpassing Petty Enterprises.
But it wasn’t only Larson who had a fine showing a season ago, although it was quite a dominating performance. The reigning Cup Series champ won all three stages and led 327 of 400 laps on the way to a 10-second victory. But as an added bonus, Elliott finished second, Byron finished fourth, and Bowman finished fifth. Kyle Busch ruined the clean sweep with a third-place finish. In total, Hendrick drivers led 373 laps.
Larson was the runner-up two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway, a 1.5-mile oval very similar to Charlotte, so he’s undoubtedly the favorite going in. Elliott is right up there on the favorites list as well, as he’s finished as the runner-up in the last two 600-mile races. He also won on the Charlotte oval when the Cup Series held a second race on the track in 2020 following the season delay due to COVID.
So, yeah, Hendrick Motorsports will be a factor at the Coca-Cola 600.
All stats courtesy of Racing Reference.
Like Sportscasting on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @sportscasting19 and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
