Hendrick Motorsports Previews Bristol

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY (0.533-MILE OVAL)

LOCATION: BRISTOL, TENNESSEE
EVENT: NASCAR CUP SERIES (RACE EIGHT OF 36)
TUNE IN: 2 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, APRIL 23 (FOX/PRN/SIRIUSXM)

No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne

BRISTOL WINNER: Kahne has visited Victory Lane once at Bristol, earning the checkered flag in the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS in the spring 2013 NASCAR Cup race. The victorious weekend included Kahne starting from the second position and leading 109 laps en route to his 15th career Cup win. For a photo gallery from the win, click here.

BRISTOL LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR’s loop data since 2005, the Enumclaw, Washington, native ranks second in green-flag passes with 1,316 and quality passes with 770 among active drivers at Bristol. Quality passes are determined by the number of times a driver passes another car that is running in the top 15 while under green-flag conditions. He’s fifth in the fastest laps run category with 494 and seventh in laps in the top 15 with 6,751.

BRISTOL TRACK STATS: Kahne has earned the outside pole position three times at Bristol and has an average starting position of 12.7 at the track. The 37-year-old is eighth among active drivers in laps led at the 0.533-mile venue with 512 laps, leading in five separate races. Kahne has two top-five finishes and four top-10s at the Tennessee short track while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He also has two runner-up finishes in his Cup career at Bristol, most recently in the fall of 2013.

AUTOGRAPH SESSION: Kahne will join Bristol’s Fan Fest on Friday, April 22, at the Great Clips display. The autograph session begins at 6:15 p.m. local time and the required wristbands will be available for pickup in the hospitality area earlier in the day.

RECAPPING TEXAS: After running in the top 10 two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, Kahne was forced to visit the garage for a mechanical repair to the No. 5 machine. He was relegated to a 38th-place finish at the newly repaved 1.5-mile track. Even though the result wasn’t what Kahne wanted, he headed back to Texas during the off-weekend to race his No. 4 sprint car for Kasey Kahne Racing.

No. 24 Little Caesars/Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS / Chase Elliott

LITTLE CAESARS MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET: Chase Elliott will pilot the No. 24 Little Caesars/Mountain Dew Chevrolet SS this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. The orange-and-white paint scheme features Little Caesars on the hood and quarter panels and showcases a special “If Chase Wins” promotion on the TV panel.

IF CHASE WINS, YOU WIN: Little Caesars has announced the return of the If Chase Wins promotion. If Elliott claims a victory at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 23, Little Caesars will give away one free $5 HOT-N-READY®  Lunch Combo, featuring a 20 oz. Pepsi product, to every customer who comes into a participating store and mentions the offer at the check-out counter between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. (local time) on April 26, in accordance with the offer terms.

BRISTOL STATS: In just two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Elliott has collected one top-five finish and two top-10s at the half-mile oval. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native averages a starting position of 12.5 and finishing position of 9.5. In Elliott’s four NASCAR XFINITY Series starts at the track, he earned one top-five finish and finished in the top 10 in all four events.

TEXAS REWIND: Prior to the first Cup Series off-weekend, the 21-year-old driver and the No. 24 team rebounded to earn their fifth top-10 finish of the 2017 season at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott currently ranks second in the driver point standings, 17 points behind the leader.

CHASE U: Richmond International Raceway and Talladega Superspeedwayrecently partnered with Elliott to bring a unique race day experience to college students – Chase University, better known as Chase U. For $24, current college students can enjoy a ticket to the Cup Series race Sunday, April 30, at Richmond or Sunday, May 7, at Talladega, with an exclusive college pre-race party and an appearance by the driver of the No. 24 himself. Chase U was launched by Elliott in October 2016 and was an immediate success in bringing college students out to the racetrack. The college program combines all the elements of a perfect race day experience with live music, great food and beverages and tailgate games. The Chase U ticket package is available to all college students with a valid student ID and includes a grandstand ticket and access to the exclusive Chase U pre-race party.

No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson

TEXAS RECAP: Jimmie Johnson passed every car on the track at Texas Motor Speedway en route to a record seventh win at the newly paved and configured racetrack. Due to a spin during qualifying, the team had to change tires, forcing Johnson to start at the rear of the 40-car field. He led twice for a total of 18 laps during the 334-lap contest. It was the No. 48 Lowe’s team’s first win and top-five finish of the 2017 season.

APPROACHING NEXT MILESTONE: Johnson is currently seventh on NASCAR’s all-time win list. The victory at Texas was Johnson’s 81st career NASCAR Cup Series win. Johnson is within striking distance to tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for sixth on the list. Yarborough, a three-time Cup Series champion, won 83 times in his storied career.

BRISTOL DRIVER RATING: Johnson has the sixth-best driver rating at Bristol with a score of 91.6, according to NASCAR’s loop data since 2005. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points.

JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION FIT FEST: Registration continues for the Jimmie Johnson Foundation Fit Fest, a local community event on May 29, which will feature running, obstacle racing, mountain biking, music, food and more. Set in a festival atmosphere, the Fit Fest will take place at Anne Springs Close Greenway in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Included in the day-long event will be 5K, 8K and half marathon trail running races, a four-hour endurance mountain bike event and a Spartan Kids Race. To register, go toJimmieJohnsonFoundation.org.

RICHMOND TICKET PACKAGE: Once again, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson will join forces with Richmond International Raceway for a family ticket package for the Sunday, April 30, event. The package includes a 15-minute Q&A with Johnson, a NASA hands-on activity and a ticket to the race. Tickets are $24 for kids 12 and younger, and $48 for adults. For more information, click here.

No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS / Dale Earnhardt Jr.

BRISTOL STATS: The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS has been running at the finish of 31 of the 33 races (93.9 percent) he has entered at Bristol. He’s also completed 16,049 of 16,527 laps (97.1 percent) in his 33 starts. Earnhardt ranks third among active drivers in the closers category, gaining a total of 13 positions in the last 10 percent of races since 2005, and also ranks third in green-flag passes with 1,260 since 2005, according to NASCAR’s loop data statistics. The Kannapolis, North Carolina, native has the third-best average finish among all active drivers in the last 24 Cup races at Bristol. Earnhardt, who recorded 11 top-10s during that timeframe, has an average finish of 11.5 since 2005.

BLUE GLOVES: Earnhardt will wear his blue-accented gloves again for the Bristol and Richmond races to close out the month of April, raising awareness for autism. Through the Dale Jr. Foundation’s Driven to Give Gloves program, his race-worn gloves will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s clinical and research programs. Nationwide Children’s is America’s largest pediatric hospital and research center with all care provided regardless of a family’s ability to pay.

PATIENT CHAMPION TRISTEN: Additionally, through The Dale Jr. Foundation’s Driven to Give Gloves program, 10-year-old Tristen Cooper will have his name featured above the passenger door of Earnhardt’s No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS at Bristol. Tristen was diagnosed with autism as a toddler and has received care through Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Tristen loves NASCAR and has a sports career of his own – he took second place in the baseball throw during the 2016 Special Olympics Summer Games in Columbus, Ohio.

EASTER OFF-WEEK: Earnhardt visited Texas during the off week, where he spent time with family and friends and on his new hobby, cycling, before traveling to the beach for the weekend. For a social roundup of how the Hendrick Motorsports drivers, including Earnhardt, spent their Easter vacation, click here.

Hendrick Motorsports

ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 12 championships, 246 race victories, 211 pole positions, 1,015 top-five finishes and 1,704 top-10 finishes in points-paying NASCAR Cup Series competition. Its teams have led 66,602 laps since 1984.

QUOTABLE / 

“I’ve always liked Bristol. The atmosphere is neat and it’s a pretty cool show for the fans. We’ve been working really hard as a team and it would be an awesome place to visit Victory Lane again.”

Kasey Kahne on racing at Bristol

”Bristol is a tough place. Very challenging, you get in traffic a lot and you get in tough situations. I think Bristol can be mentally draining. It’s important to have your car driving well so you can do something different than the guy ahead of you.”

Chase Elliott on racing at Bristol

“I had a great, relaxing weekend with my family after the Texas win. I know we had a slow start to the year, so winning Texas will give us some momentum and it was certainly good for morale. Bristol has been a better track for us with the exception of this race one year ago when we were caught speeding on pit road in the first 52 laps. It was so costly, we never recovered. Besides that, over the past two years we have been consistently in the top five. It’s a tough race mentally and physically but is always entertaining for the fans.”

Jimmie Johnson on racing at Bristol

“We’re going to keep looking at ways to improve our car and get better, but I always look forward to racing at Bristol – there’s just no other track like it. Hopefully we can carry our momentum from Texas into this weekend.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. on racing at Bristol

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!