Hendrick Motorsports opens Round of 12 with solid performance at New Hampshire

Following the NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31, one of the biggest stories in the garage was how poorly Hendrick Motorsports performed in the first race of the postseason. 

In the 76th running of the Southern 500, zero HMS Chevrolets finished inside the top-10. The highest finishing driver from the Hendrick stable was Chase Elliott in 17th. 

Hendrick Motorsports delivers an amazing performance

On Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, HMS opened the second round of the NASCAR playoffs like they usually do — with an elite performance. 

All three Hendrick drivers still in the playoffs — William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott — are above the cut line by double digits going into the second race of the Round of 12 at Kansas. All three of HMS' playoff drivers finished inside the top seven on Sunday, and even Alex Bowman, who was eliminated in the Round of 16, clawed his way to a respectable 15th-place result. 

While not a win, Sunday's race was the kind of performance that can invigorate a team, especially one with a championship pedigree. 

Drivers react to day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Leading the charge for Hendrick on Sunday was Byron, who scored his first career top-10 finish at New Hampshire with a third-place effort. The two-time Daytona 500 champion will go into Kansas 47 points above the cut line. 

"It was a good day overall," Byron told USA Network. "I felt like a lot of the things that we’ve just kind of been building on on the short tracks were working for us. I feel like this place has always been tricky for me in the Cup car. I feel like the other series were good, but this place in the Cup car has been tough on us.

You’ve just got to take it one week at a time. Definitely wasn’t expecting to be this strong here. Hopefully we can go to Kansas and be really good."

Joining Byron in the top five was 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who overcame a disastrous 27th-place qualifying effort on Saturday to finish fifth. Elliott is now 14 points above the cut line going into Kansas.

"Great day for sure, to battle back through there, claw our way back into the mix," Elliott told USA Network. "But you hate to have to do that. you hate to put yourself in those positions." 

Rounding out HMS' playoff contingent was Larson, who finished second in Stage 2 but faded to seventh by race's end. Still, the 2021 Cup Series champion takes a 41-point advantage over the cut line into Kansas. 

"Honestly, the race went better than I expected it to starting 16th," Larson told USA Network. "I'd say the first half of the race, I actually felt really, really good. As the track lost grip and I started sliding the fronts more to the center then also sliding the rears on exit, I lost a step of competitiveness." 

The good news for Larson? He dominated the spring race at Kansas, leading 221 of 267 laps. 

Hendrick Motorsports isn't in a completely perfect situation leaving New Hampshire, but everyone at the organization should feel much better than they did just three weeks ago after Darlington.