Six races into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Hendrick Motorsports and, more broadly, Chevrolet have been shut out of victory lane. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick, who went winless in 2025, and Toyota have had an electric start to the campaign, as the manufacturer has won five of the opening six races of the season.
But on the horizon is a date with the 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway this weekend, and the dreary start to the season could easily turn joyous in a hurry for the 15-time NASCAR Cup Series champion organization, and the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history, in Virginia.
Since 2020, Hendrick Motorsports has amassed six victories at the Paper Clip, and each of the organization’s four current full-time drivers has tasted the spoils of Martinsville’s victory lane over that span. While Alex Bowman will not compete this weekend, as he continues to battle back from a vertigo diagnosis, the Hendrick contingent should be expected to be very strong this weekend, regardless.
William Byron
The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has proven that he has what it takes to take home a grandfather clock, as he’s done so on three different occasions at Martinsville Speedway, including last fall, a win, which secured his spot in the Championship 4.
In 16 career starts at Martinsville, Byron has six top-five finishes, nine top-10s, an average finish of 13.1, and he’s led 664 laps. Byron has a solid resume at the track, and based on his recent run of wins at the track, he should have a great chance of collecting his first win of the season this weekend.
Heading into Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville, Byron sits sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. He could vault forward with a race win at Martinsville.
Chase Elliott
While the perennial Most Popular Driver has just one win at Martinsville Speedway, Chase Elliott has perhaps the best overall career stats at the 0.526-mile short track among the Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
In 21 career starts, Elliott has amassed 1,275 laps led at the track, including five races where he has led more than 120 laps. Overall, Elliott has nine top-five finishes and 14 top-10s at Martinsville, and his average finish at the short track is 11.3.
While his lone win came in 2020, while driving the last generation of NASCAR Cup Series car, Elliott has been on the verge of winning at Martinsville Speedway in recent seasons, driving the Next Gen car. Heading into this weekend, Elliott finds himself on a streak of four consecutive fourth-place-or-better finishes at Martinsville Speedway.
In his last 8 starts at the Paper Clip, Elliott has finished outside the top-10 just once, a 17th-place result in the fall of 2023. Incredibly, Elliott has never crashed out of an event at Martinsville. So, if he can keep all of these trends rolling on Sunday, expect the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet to be in contention for a win.
Kyle Larson
While two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson likes to take shots at his own personal ability at Martinsville Speedway, don’t let the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet fool you. Since moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, Larson has been among the best drivers in the sport at Martinsville Speedway.
Larson won the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville in 2023, and over his last seven starts at the 0.526-mile facility, his worst finish is sixth. In addition to the win in ’23, Larson also scored runner-up finishes in fall 2022 and spring 2024.
While the California native was subpar overall at Martinsville during his tenure with Chip Ganassi Racing, there is no denying that he has become a true threat to win at Martinsville since moving to Hendrick Motorsports, and he should be on the list of who is expected to contend yet again this weekend.
The organization will also have Justin Allgaier filling in for Bowman this weekend in the No. 48 Chevrolet, and if any of the four drivers is able to collect the win on Sunday, it would mark the 31st win for Hendrick Motorsports all-time at Martinsville Speedway.
