SAD NEWS : Bubba Wallace Has Officially announced departing away from 23×1 Racing…..
Just two NASCAR Cup Series drivers besides Bell have three top-five finishes in the first six races of 2025. Those two drivers? William Byron and Kyle Larson. Yep, you guessed it: They both compete for Hendrick Motorsports — winners of a record 14 NASCAR Cup Series championships but none since 2021.
Byron and Larson also sit atop the Cup Series standings, with Byron holding P1 followed by teammate Larson. Giving Hendrick a clean sweep of the top three positions in the standings is third-place Alex Bowman, who owns a series-high five top-10s in six outings.
Hendrick Motorsports is also the only organization to send multiple drivers to Victory Lane this year, doing so with Byron’s Daytona 500 triumph and Larson’s win this past weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Bringing up the rear of the Hendrick Motorsports bunch but strong out of the gate nevertheless has been Chase Elliott. Sixth in the standings, NASCAR’s perennial most popular driver — like teammate Bowman — is looking for his first win of 2025. But Elliott boasts a trio of top-10s that have him solidly in the mix.
Hendrick Motorsports is also one of just three full-time organizations that haven’t recorded a DNF in 2025 (Hyak Motorsports and Legacy Motor Club are the others). Is the organization led and founded by NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Rick Hendrick poised to capture its first NASCAR Cup Series championship in four years and break Team Penske’s three-year stranglehold on the crown?
While it might be too early to tell with 30 races still left on the 2025 schedule, Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon couldn’t be much happier.
After watching Larson out-hustle Bowman for the victory and give Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2 finish on Sunday at Homestead, Gordon was understandably gleeful.
While the four-time Cup Series champion and former Hendrick Motorsports driver acknowledged the organization has some room for improvement, his overall assessment of the four Hendrick teams couldn’t have been much rosier.
Asked a few minutes after Larson’s win about the company’s strong start to 2025, Gordon didn’t attempt to downplay it.
“Yeah, it really has been,” the Hendrick Motorsports executive and 93-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner said. “I know we’ve had a couple races where all four of the cars are in the top eight or 10. You know, it’s a finicky sport because you want to get off to a good start, get in a good position in points so that you’re not on your heels and playing catch-up. So that part is really nice.”
Gordon would like to see the four Hendrick Chevrolets be a bit faster, however. After all, the Hendrick bunch proved to be no match for Bell at the end of three consecutive races.
“We’ve been getting beat, you know?” Gordon said. “I think our guys really focused more on, ‘How do you bring the car with the most speed every single weekend?’ … It’s just constantly you’re just chasing it.”
But it’s the Hendrick Motorsports drivers, not Bell, that everyone is chasing when you consider the big picture. And that’s likely to continue Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, where Hendrick drivers have prevailed in five of the last nine races.
NASCAR will hold its third consecutive tripleheader weekend as its top three national series race at Martinsville Speedway, the first short track of the 2025 season.
The 0.526-mile oval in southwest Virginia has been playing host to NASCAR races since 1949, most recently a tripleheader weekend last November that set the Championship 4 fields for the Cup, Xfinity and Truck series.
The winners in those races: Ryan Blaney (Cup), Aric Almirola (Xfinity) and Christian Eckes (Truck).
The winners in the April 5-7, 2024 weekend at Martinsville: William Byron (Cup), Almirola (Xfinity) and Eckes (Truck).
After sweeping last year’s Truck wins, Eckes will be racing in the Xfinity Series this weekend.
A last minute inspection following NASCAR Xfinity’s race at Homestead-Miami found one unsecured lug nut each on the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet driven by Daniel Dye, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of William Sawalich, the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven by Austin Hill and Anthony Alfredo’s No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet.
Each team has been fined $5,000, with an unsecured lug nut a violation of Sections 8.8.10.4a in the NASCAR Rule Book.
Past and present unite when the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend.
Martinsville is the only track that has hosted a Cup race every season. Since the Next Gen car debuted in 2022, William Byron and Ryan Blaney have each won twice at Martinsville and Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have each won there once.
Hill revealed his excitement at taking part in five NASCAR Cup Series rounds and said: “I’m excited to compete in the No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet again this year,” said Hill.
“United Rentals has been a longtime supporter of my career and to continue that relationship once again at the top level of our sport is special. I’ve enjoyed my starts in the Cup Series so far and the goal is to keep learning every time I climb into the car.
“We have been strategic with adding new tracks to the lineup each season, which allows me to gain valuable experience. Racing for Richard at any level is an honor, but especially in the Cup Series. The focus remains on winning the Xfinity Series championship in November, but any laps in the Cup car are important for the future.”
Andy Street will also make his debut as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief and will accompany Hill throughout his part-time entry, who is a little more experienced and has competed in at least one Cup Series event in the last three seasons.
Hill is a 19-time NASCAR winner across the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series, the 2020 Truck Series regular season champion, and the 2023 Xfinity Series regular season champion, but is yet to secure a top ten result in the Cup Series.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville this weekend for the Cook Out 400, and fans can watch all the exciting action on FS1.
When it comes to the odds, bettors can also dive into that action and place wagers on which driver they think has what it takes to win outright.
Last week at Homestead-Miami, Kyle Larson got into victory lane. He was the favorite at +285, and he also won the weekend’s truck series race.
For Martinsville, Ryan Blaney is currently the favorite at +400. Last weekend at Homestead, he led 124 laps and was running third before experiencing a blown engine that ended his day.
