Dominant and unpredictable: how the 2022 season so far has been for Hendrick Motorsports divers in NASCAR Cup Series
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Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott
With 18 Cup Series Championship wins and 285 NASCAR cup series wins Hendrick Motorsports, the 1984 team owned by Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick, has been a dominant force in the cup series for decades. The team has produced a number of championship-winning drivers in the sport such as Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson, who has won a record 7 championships with HMS.
Hendrick Motorsports has been the NASCAR champions in the last two years and their efforts to win a third successive time are facing quite a challenge in 2022 as the team has been struggling to match the dominance they had in the last couple of years, a testament to how much of success the introduction of Next-Gen cars has been in getting the grid closer if you want to say so. HMS which fields 4 drivers on the track has 5 wins this season with all of their drivers topping the chart at least once, which shows the team still is the best in the business.
Also read: Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief Cliff Daniels Suffers severe penalty for wheel infraction in Sonoma
How the HMS drivers performed in the 2022 NASCAR cup series
The season so far can be considered as a roller coaster ride for most of all 4 drivers of the team as they have been struggling and dominating race weekends most of the time. Chase Elliott has been the most consistent driver for the team while William Byron has secured the most wins as he got to the podium twice this season. Kyle Larson still showed his dominant driving skills while Alex Bowman’s finishes are kind of going underrated.
Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson marked his legacy in NASCAR history last year as he secures his first NASCAR championship in a dominant fashion driving his No:5 HMs Chevy Camaro ZL1 over the victory lane. Larson had a perfect start to his 2022 season as he found himself at the pole in the season beginner Daytona 500 but fail short in the effort to win it but was quick to get his redemption run in the very next race that came to his home state California, the Fontana Cup race.
But since then, it has been a roller coaster ride for the defending champion as he fell short of wins more than just once as bad luck and crashes became his constant companion. Larson has had 7 top 10 finishes this season, five of which came in the top 5 while he witnessed four disappointing ends to his race with finishes out of the top 25, mainly due to him crashing out. Though Larson has been good this season he needs to step up his game if he wants to be in the run for the championship as he only has a P7 position in terms of points scored.
Chase Elliott
Chase Elliott, without a doubt, is the most consistent driver in 2022 as the 2020 cup series champion’s search for redemption after a disappointing 2021 seems to be on the right track. Elliott now tops the championship table just ahead of Ross Chastain as few of his slip-ups in his finishes over the last couple of races have cost him the lead. Chase Elliott also had a long frustrating winless run this season where he was finishing in the front pack every time but came to short of a win.
The No:9 driver secured his first and only win of 2022 conquering the Dover Monster Mile and has finished inside the top 10 ten times so far with which 3 finishes are in the Top 5. Just like his teammate Elliott has had his slip-ups outside the Top 20 4 times, as he was either crashed out or his cars bailed on him in those races. Elliott had three consecutive finishes outside the top 25 before the Sonoma race, so it’s high time for the champion driver to get himself composed and try to go for wins and consistent finishes in the coming races.
Also read: Top Five NASCAR Cup Drivers in 2022 so far as the series enters the Mid-Season break
William Byron
With his two wins of the season, coming in Martinsville and Atlanta Motor Speedway, the youngest HMS driver has been a top contender this season in his No:24 Chevy. He was also the first multiacre winner of the 2022 season which now he shares with Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, and Denny Hamlin. His feuds with Joey Logano after the veteran crashed him out for his first win were among the main headlines of this season.
William Byron has secured 5 top 10 finishes this season with 4 of them coming in the top 5, which includes his wins. The majority of his finishes had been within the top 20 and he is yet to score a top 10 finish after his second win which is something the youngster should have in mind going into the future races. The fact that at the same time last season Byron had 10 top ten finishes point out a drop in his form which needs attention and change.
Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman has been one of the most underrated drivers in the 2022 season as the Las Vegas Cup race winner, as he “backed” into his first and only win of the 2022 season. Bowman has been among the most consistent drivers of the 2022 season but his lack of wins this season as he had 2 wins at the same time last season should be something the No:48 Ally car driver should address as he carries the legacy of Jimmie Johnson.
Bowman who started the season with a front-row start at Daytona has finished inside the Top 10 9 times second to only his teammate Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain, and of his finishes, 3 were inside the top 5. Bowman though comes close to some wins none of his recent runs were as convincing as they should be, so it’s high time for him to turn his season around and fight for the championship.
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Justin P Joy
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