Eight races into the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, Hendrick Motorsports is the undisputed king of the hill among the organizations represented in NASCAR’s premier division. While no other organization has been to Victory Lane more than once, Hendrick has celebrated four wins with three different drivers: William Byron, Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson. The one Hendrick driver who hasn’t gone to Victory Lane is Chase Elliott, and he just so happens to be the points leader. Byron, meanwhile, is the only driver to triumph twice so far this season. So as the Cup Series prepares to head to Bristol for a weekend of racing on dirt, it’s clear that everyone is chasing Hendrick at this point. It’s also clear that the organization owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick has done a masterful job of adjusting to the Next Generation race car.
“As an organization, yeah, I think that it just goes to show the quality of people and the depth that we have and the details that we pay attention to,” said Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman and four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. “We did that with the old car, and these guys are continuing to do that with the new car, and working with Chevrolet, I think they’ve been working really hard with us to provide all the information and technology and a great race car.”
Gordon believes a lot of the team’s early success with the Next Gen car goes back to Hendrick Motorsports’ emphasis on testing. “You’re trying to evaluate where you’re at as a team, listening to these guys and their debriefs and talking to them over the off-season and through some of the testing last year,” he said. “Everybody had no idea who was going to come out strong.”