The recently concluded NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway has been great for the Rick Hendrick-owned Hendrick Motorsports team. Their all four drivers finished inside the top 10 for the third time this season. Following the race, they explained what didn’t work in their favor and the strategic decisions that impacted their race outcomes.
Alex Bowman, who initially finished at P9, got a two-spot advantage, jumping to seventh in the official results after Ryan Preece and Joey Logano were disqualified in the post-race inspection.
In a post-race interview, the #48 Rick Hendrick driver reflected on how his Talladega outing unraveled in the final laps. He expressed frustration with his teammate William Byron’s move down the backstretch, which disrupted their momentum and allowed Preece to get ahead and take control of the race.
“It’s one of those days where none of the moves worked out. There at the end [Byron] zigged left down the backstretch as I got to him and that broke up apart and let [Preece] get up and control the race from there. Hate that for everyone at HMS.” Bowman said.
“I thought we were sitting in a good spot and unfortunately it just didn’t work out. I thought we had a shot at it, we had good strategy, good execution in the final stage. One of those that just didn’t work out” he continued.
Kyle Larson won Stage 1 and finished runner-up after Preece’s disqualification gained him a spot in the final results.
The #5 Rick Hendrick driver described his approach during the final laps at Talladega, explaining how he spent the final 10 laps trying to push race winner Austin Cindric far enough ahead so that he could move out and make a winning move for himself.
“I think we were both doing a really good job of pushing the guys in front of us. Their cars were stable, so it made it easy to push them. I was trying for the final 10 laps to shove [Cindric] out clear to where I could get clear, but I only had one chance at that,” Larson said.
“I was trying to do everything I could to win and get clear. I wasn’t thinking about any of that in the moment, I was just doing what I could to advance my lane” he continued.
Rick Hendrick’s driver didn’t feel strong about his positioning to win at Talladega
Rick Hendrick star driver William Byron, who finished P3, never thought he was in a strong enough position to make a winning move in the closing laps. In the post-race interview, the #24 HMS driver explained that his best option was to push Preece forward to try to even him up with Austin Cindric, but he could never get Preece far enough ahead to set up a winning pass.
Explaining his mindset during the closing moments at Talladega, here’s what Byron said (via NASCAR.com):
“I just didn’t feel like I was going to win from where I was at. I felt like I needed to push [Preece] clear and I never got him clear enough to make a move. He was already behind Cindric coming through the tri-oval, so my job is to push him back even and hope that I can finish third.”
“At that point, I don’t think I ever thought win because if I go top of three like I did last year, it looks good but you’re just behind.”
Meanwhile, the fourth Rick Hendrick driver Chase Elliott moved to a fifth-place finish after the disqualification.
The HMS duo William Byron and Kyle Larson stand first and second in the NASCAR Cup Series points table, respectively, with Byron having a 31-point lead over Larson.
alt=”Yash Soni” height=”72″ width=”72″>
Edited by Yash Soni
