Larson uses Hendrick teamwork to triumph at Richmond

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emailBy Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service | April 2, 2023 8:51 PM ET

With the benefit of a fast final pit stop, Kyle Larson was able to put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out front at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and then hold off the field in the last 25 laps of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

The 30-year old Californian had to out-duel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry on a pair of re-starts in the closing laps to secure the win at the first short track event of the season at the 0.75-mile Richmond oval. Berry, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Chevy for injured Chase Elliott, finished runner-up capturing his best ever NASCAR Cup Series finish – 1.535s behind Larson to the checkered flag.

Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

It was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson’s 20th career win and the first ever NASCAR Cup Series victory for his interim crew chief Kevin Meendering, who has led the No. 5 team at-track while full-time crew chief Cliff Daniels – along with the Hendrick team’s other three crew chiefs – finish out a suspension penalty from NASCAR.

“It’s really cool. We’ve been close to winning a couple,’’ Larson said, adding, “Things just worked out and my pit crew had a great stop.’’

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It was certainly a Hendrick Motorsports day with Larson and Berry besting the field, plus their teammate William Byron leading the most laps (117) and winning his series-best fifth stage. The season’s only two-time winner, Byron looked poised to have a say in the trophy hoist too, only to be knocked out of contention when he was hit from behind by Christopher Bell on a restart with 20 laps remaining.


“I was just re-starting fourth there, just trying to stay tight to the No. 9 (Berry) and get a good restart and got tagged in the left rear,’’ said a frustrated Byron, who finished 24th. “Just a dive-bomb move on his (Bell) part. It is what it is. I had a great race car.

“The Raptor Chevrolet was awesome all day. We’ll just keep bringing fast race cars like that. It was looking like another win before that caution there, but that’s the way it goes.’’

Larson led four different times, totaling 93 laps on the afternoon and survived contact on pit road with Daniel Suárez’s Chevrolet early in the race. It was Larson’s second Richmond win (also in 2017) and the fifth for Chevy through the season’s opening seven races.

The Toyota contingent looked to give the Chevys a real run, looking especially strong mid-race. Four Toyota drivers combined to lead 154 laps – more than the manufacturer had been out front in the previous six races. Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota paced the Toyotas leading 71 laps and claiming the stage two win, but a pair of pit road penalties – including a costly one on his final stop, took him out of contention. He finished 20th.

“What an awesome Hendrickcars.com Chevy,’’ Larson said. “Can’t say enough about it. I got into the No. 99 (Suarez) on pit road there sometime in the second stage, and we were awful after that. I was hoping the damage was the reason why, but they had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused and was able to get it done.

“Thanks to everyone on this team (and) Cliff Daniels for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win, and hopefully many more.”

Michael McDowell finished sixth — his first top-10 finish of the year. Reigning series champion Joey Logano was seventh, followed by polesitter Alex Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and owner-driver Brad Keselowski. Gibbs’ ninth place effort marked his third consecutive top-10 finish.

The series returns to action next Sunday with the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.

 

Richmond dominance scuppered late for Byron

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | April 2, 2023 9:02 PM ET

For the first 470 laps Sunday at Richmond Raceway, the day played out as well as William Byron could have hoped.

Byron won the first stage and led the most laps (117). The Hendrick Motorsports driver was trying to fend off a challenge from Martin Truex Jr. when the first bad break of his day occurred with 29 laps to go.

As Byron and Truex were side-by-side for the race lead, the caution flew for a Tyler Reddick spin. With another chance at fresh tires, the field came to pit road, where the next bad break occurred as Bryon fell from the lead to third place.

On the ensuing restart with 21 laps to go, the No. 24 made it to the entry of Turn 1 when the straw finally broke the camel’s back. Byron was tagged in the left rear by Christopher Bell, sending the Hendrick Chevrolet spinning into the outside wall.

Byron finished 24th in the Toyota Owners 400.

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“It just looked like the No. 20 (Bell) got in there and overcooked the corner,” Byron said of the incident. “He was put three-wide and he just blew the corner and I was the victim.”

Bell initially said Ross Chastain forced the issue, resulting in him getting into Byron. However, Bell later took full responsibility through a tweet when he saw the replay.

It was the second consecutive spring race Byron left Richmond without a win that he and his team were capable of. He led 122 laps in the same race a year ago but finished third when the field split on strategy in the final stage.

“I don’t know about dominating the race, but we definitely were a top-three car, which is good for this place,” Byron said. “You just want to be in contention and have a shot. It was good to have another great car, but it sucks to finish in the 20s and hit the wall that hard. That’s never fun, but it is what it is.

“We had a great car. We did almost everything we could do to put ourselves in position to win; it was us and (Truex), and unfortunately, it just didn’t work out that way. So that’s the way it goes.”

Through the first seven races, Byron has been one of the best in the series. He scored back-to-back wins in early March, has five stage wins, and has led nearly 400 laps.

“We’re doing a really good job, so we just have to keep it up,” Byron said. “It’s a long season, so got to keep it up.”

 

Berry riding high after strong run to second at Richmond

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | April 2, 2023 8:43 PM ET

Josh Berry felt he had a good Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Sunday at Richmond Raceway but needed the track position to show it and pull off a respectable finish.

In his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start, Berry finished second after lining up against teammate Kyle Larson on the race’s final two restarts. Berry, substituting for the injured Chase Elliott, was given the much-needed track position when the team called for him to stay out longer on the final green flag pit cycle, which started with just under 55 laps to go.

He led 10 laps and was inside the top 10 when the team caught the caution they needed. The No. 9 pit crew got Berry off pit road second to Larson, keeping him in contention.

“I loved it. I absolutely loved it,” Berry said of the strategy call. “I thought we had some good pace at times, but we needed some clean air, and these guys thought outside the box, and that’s what it takes in these races. You never know what could happen.

“If you do the same as everybody around you then you’re going to finish with them. They made a couple of bold calls. One that kept us on the lead lap early in the race and that one at the end to get us some track position. The pit crew was amazing all day.”

Tom Gray, the team’s interim crew chief as Alan Gustafson serves a four-race suspension for the modified hood louvers found at Phoenix Raceway, had faith in his driver getting the job done. Not only was the team confident in Berry’s ability on a short track, but in keeping him out on older tires and managing his pace while they waited out the strategy.

“They called him ‘Mr. Short Track’ on the broadcast, so I was laughing,” Gray said. “And I said, let’s show them what Mr. Short Track is all about.”

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The decision to flip the strategy was made by committee.

“Without showing our hand too much, we are a tight-knit group and a lot of credit to Alan Gustafson on this one because we really put our heads together, and he’s definitely fostered an environment where more heads are better than one. We were looking at a lot of things, and to be honest, we balanced risk versus reward and made the right call.”

Sunday was Berry’s second top 10 with the team. Afterward, he received praise from Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager Jeff Andrews, a fist bump from a grinning vice president of competition Chad Knaus and a handshake, hug, and pats on the back from vice chairman Jeff Gordon.

“Good job, man. That was awesome,” Gordon told Berry as he fulfilled his media obligations. “That must have felt good, huh? You fought hard for that one.”

Berry’s day also included a spin. On lap 95, he was tagged by Ryan Blaney and spun off Turn 4 but did not hit anything.

“We had been in the pack and got tight, I think, and Blaney was coming through the field and just got into me,” Berry said. “It was really light (contact). I don’t think he meant to do it or nothing, but he did.”

Berry said he was too loose to run with Larson at the end of the race. Off the restart, Larson quickly cleared his teammate and drove away.

“I just have a lot of people to thank to get to this point,” said Berry of his day. “Obviously, (Rick Hendrick) and Chase (Elliott) and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for giving me this opportunity in the Cup Series. But also Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), Kelley (Earnhardt Miller), L.W. Miller, and everybody at JRM who believed in me and got me to this point to be considered for opportunities like this.

“All the credit today goes to Tom and this whole NAPA team. They made some amazing strategy calls. We weren’t bad, we weren’t cutting bad lap times in the pack, we were just in the midst of the pack, and it’s so hard with no practice or qualifying to just drive through the field like that with the amount of experience I have. But they thought outside the box, made some good calls, and it worked in our favor.”

A full-time Xfinity Series driver for Earnhardt’s team, Berry was unexpected call into Cup Series action last month. He is running the oval races in Elliott’s absence and continues to see the difference from one series to another.

“This stuff’s hard,” Berry said of Cup Series racing. “These guys are so good. This is the best of the best, and I don’t think a lot of them have made it very easy for me coming in here filling in for the No. 9.

“I’ve been learning a lot. I think there’s so much more to learn, but days like today really do a lot for confidence.”

 

With the benefit of a fast final pit stop, Kyle Larson put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out front at Richmond Raceway and then held off the field in the last 25 laps of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season.

The 30-year-old Californian had to out-duel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry on a pair of restarts in the closing laps to secure the win at the first short-track event of the season (the 0.75-mile Richmond oval). Berry, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Chevy for injured Chase Elliott, finished runner-up, capturing his best NASCAR Cup Series finish — 1.535 seconds behind Larson to the checkered flag.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos: Richmond and Texas

Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

It was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson’s 20th career win and the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory for his interim crew chief Kevin Meendering, who has led the No. 5 team at-track while full-time crew chief Cliff Daniels — along with the Hendrick team’s other three crew chiefs — finish out a suspension penalty from NASCAR.

RELATED: Berry on runner-up finish

“It’s really cool, we’ve been close to winning a couple,” Larson said, adding, “Things just worked out and my pit crew had a great stop.”

It was certainly a Hendrick Motorsports day with Larson and Berry besting the field. And their teammate William Byron led the most laps (117) and won his series-best fifth stage. The season’s only two-time winner Byron looked poised to have a say in the trophy hoist, too, only to be knocked out of contention when Bell hit him from behind on a restart with 20 laps remaining.

“I was just restarting fourth there, just trying to stay tight to the 9 [Berry] and get a good restart and got tagged in the left rear,” said Byron, who finished 24th. “Just a dive-bomb move on his [Bell] part. It is what it is. I had a great race car.

“The Raptor Chevrolet was awesome all day. We’ll just keep bringing fast race cars like that. It was looking like another win before that caution there, but that’s the way it goes.”

RELATED: Bell spins Byron late

Larson led four different times, totaling 93 laps, and survived contact on pit road with Daniel Suárez’s Chevrolet early in the race. It was Larson’s second Richmond win (also in 2017) and the fifth win for Chevy through the season’s opening seven races.

The Toyota contingent gave the Chevys a real run, looking especially strong mid-race. Four Toyota drivers combined to lead 154 laps — more than the manufacturer had been out front in the previous six races. Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing vehicle paced the Toyotas with 71 laps led and he claimed the Stage 2 win. However, a pair of pit-road penalties — including a costly one on his final stop — took Hamlin out of contention and he finished 20th.

“What an awesome Hendrickcars.com Chevy,” Larson said. “Can’t say enough about it. I got into the 99 [Suárez] on pit road there sometime in the second stage, and we were awful after that. I was hoping the damage was the reason why, but they had to calm me down a little bit and get refocused and was able to get it done.

“Thanks to everyone on this team, Cliff Daniels, for everything he does to prepare the team to be as strong as we are without him on the box. So good to get a win, and hopefully many more.”

RELATED: Larson does massive burnout after win

Michael McDowell finished sixth — his first top-10 finish of the year. Reigning series champion Joey Logano was seventh, followed by polesitter Alex Bowman, rookie Ty Gibbs and owner-driver Brad Keselowski. Gibbs’ ninth-place effort marked his third consecutive top-10 finish.

The series returns to action next Sunday with the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.

Note: Post-race technical inspection concluded without issue, confirming Larson as the race winner. The Nos. 24 and 48 cars will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further evaluation.

 

Contact on late restart spoils William Byron’s strong Richmond run

By Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — William Byron seemed poised to be a part of the Hendrick Motorsports sweep atop the leaderboard Sunday at Richmond Raceway. He led a race-best 117 laps, pocketed a stage win along the way and was in contention for his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season until nearly the end.

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

A restart jam-up was the undoing of the 25-year-old driver, whose No. 24 Chevrolet took the brunt of contact from Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota in a crash with 20 laps remaining. It sent Byron to a 24th-place result in the Toyota Owners 400 as the final driver on the lead lap.

“We definitely were a top-three car, which is good for this place,” Byron said. “You just want to kind of be in contention to have a shot. So yeah, good to have another great car. Sucks to finish in the 20s and hit the wall that hard. So that’s never fun, but it is what it is.”

Bell came home fourth, just behind third-finishing Ross Chastain — the other driver who was part of their three-abreast battle on the next-to-last restart. Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet took the green flag from the fourth row and dove inside of Bell as the field surged toward Turn 1. Bell’s car slid up into Byron’s, which backed into the outside retaining barrier.

Bell initially leveled blame for the lack of running room at Chastain, calling his move “banzai” and referencing his aggressive nature by saying, “Ross did what Ross does.” But Bell backtracked on social media after the race, apologizing to Byron and adding that replays confirmed he had more space in the first turn.


It was a measure of validation for Chastain, who did not trigger the Bell-Byron contact with any excessive crowding from the low groove.

“I didn’t touch anybody, and I got inside of the 20 entering Turn 1,” Chastain said. “That’s all I saw.”

Byron held off on fully assigning responsibility for the crash in his remarks immediately after the race.

“I don’t know all the details,” Byron said. “I haven’t looked at it in-depth to understand it, but I just know they were all funneling from the bottom, and it looked like the 20 just had the brakes locked up. So is what it is.”

 

Josh Berry celebrates career day as Richmond runner-up

Va. – Interim No. 9 crew chief Tom Gray had some fun with interim driver Josh Berry over the team radio during pace laps Sunday. Much had been made about Berry’s knack for racing on NASCAR’s smaller ovals, and Gray piled it on with his pep talk.

“All right, Mr. Short Track,” Gray said. “Let’s show ’em why they call you that today.”

By the end, Berry was beaming with a career-best runner-up finish in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, the highlight of his brief substitute stint driving Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 Chevrolet. The Xfinity Series regular recovered from an early spin, then took advantage of a pit-stop strategy call that bounced right to finish off a Hendrick 1-2 behind teammate Kyle Larson.

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

The result came in just his sixth NASCAR Cup Series start and his fourth appearance with the No. 9 team as a sub for Chase Elliott, who has been sidelined since early March with injuries from a snowboarding accident.

“I mean, it’s just super-awesome, you know, just to be considered for this opportunity, let alone have a couple good finishes out of it now,” Berry said. “I think you just never know what can happen, really.”

Berry started 30th in the 37-car field after Saturday practice and qualifying were washed away by rain. His efforts to make up much ground were stymied by a spin in the 95th of 400 laps when contact from Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford sent the No. 9 Chevy spinning at the exit of Turn 4.

After a pit stop for fresh tires, Berry was 35th. “We were struggling a little bit,” he said. “We had been in the pack, got tight, and I think Blaney was coming through the field and just got into me. It just was really light. I don’t think he meant to do it or nothing, but he did.”
Jared C. Tilton | Getty ImagesBerry’s rally was incremental through the longer green-flag runs, and most teams were set for a two-stop strategy that would split the final stage into thirds. Gray opted to keep the No. 9 out longer for the final scheduled stop, and by Lap 357, Berry cycled around to lead the first laps of his Cup Series career.

When the yellow flag flew for Tyler Reddick’s Turn 2 spin with 30 laps remaining, Berry was one of the prime beneficiaries. He was on the front row for the final two restarts and brought the No. 9 home for a podium.

“At the end of the race, it was a team effort, and it certainly was. He had to help hold up his end of the bargain, and he did that. So yeah, that’s what made it work,” said Gray, a senior engineer pressed into duty atop the pit box in place of the suspended Alan Gustafson. “Then, at the end there, we were banking on a caution, and even without a caution, I thought we were gonna still finish pretty well. Those other guys got smart when they saw us with the strategy, so we kind of had to do something different. It all worked out really well, so it was good. And kudos to him. Like I said, he’s a big part of that.”

Berry also cheered the decision to make an alternate plan with pit stops down the stretch.

“These guys, you know, they thought outside the box, and that’s what it takes in these races,” Berry said. “I think you never know what could happen. If you do the same that everybody around you does, then you’re gonna finish with them, and they made a bold call, a couple bold calls — one that kept us on the lead lap early in the race and that one at the end to get us some track position.”

MORE: Race Rewind: All the key highlights

Berry has helped to earn his keep as the team’s pick for Elliott’s stand-in. The 32-year-old veteran had already impressed many after his call-up by JR Motorsports to the Xfinity Series ranks after years of dominating on the Late Model circuit around the Southeast, and he competed for the Xfinity championship in last season’s finale.

Among those taking notice was Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman, who kept close tabs on Berry’s lap times through the race and lauded how he was able to manage his tires. He also touted Berry’s work ethic and his preparation, saying that his recent performance in the team’s equipment provided a true measuring stick for his driving talent.

“It seems like the longer the race, the better he does,” Gordon said. “We’re really happy with the job that he has done. Certainly, everybody has known his talent watching him in other forms of racing, late models, and the Xfinity Series. You have to put him in other cars with other teams and other people to really see how far he could take it. I think he’s got a future in the Cup Series.”

As Berry fielded questions about his banner day, he also received congratulations from a line of well-wishers – third-finishing Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports executives Chad Knaus and Jeff Andrews. Among those was Gordon, who clapped his hand on Berry’s back and offered an embrace.

“That must’ve felt good, huh?” Gordon told Berry. “You fought hard for that one.”

It wound up being a full-circle moment for Mr. Short Track.

“Jeff Gordon was my hero when I was a kid,” Berry said. “I mean, it’s pretty amazing, man. One of the first races I remember watching was the ’97 Daytona 500, and that went pretty well for this company. So to be able to drive for them and finish second place, it just really, just exceeds all of my expectations out of this deal.”