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The NASCAR Cup season ends with races at Talladega, Martinsville and Phoenix<\/p>\n
Haas Factory Team \u2014 Good news: Cole Custer finished fourth at Daytona in August in the most recent race at a drafting track. \u2026 Custer has finished in the top 20 in each of the last three races at drafting tracks. Bad News: Custer has finished 22nd or worse in nine of the last 11 races.<\/p>\n
Hendrick Motorsports \u2014 Good news: Kyle Larson has scored back-to-back runner-up finishes. \u2026 Larson enters Talladega 35 points above the cutline. \u2026 Larson placed second at Talladega in April for his best result in 21 starts there. \u2026 Larson will make his 400th career Cup start Sunday at Talladega. \u2026 Hendrick Motorsports had all four cars in the top 10 at Talladega in April, only the second time the organization had done so at that track. \u2026 William Byron has scored five consecutive top-10 finishes at Talladega, the longest active streak. \u2026 Chase Elliott is one of two current playoff drivers (Ryan Blaney is the other) who has won at Talladega in the last nine races. \u2026 Elliott has three consecutive top 10s on drafting tracks, the best active streak in the series. \u2026 Alex Bowman finished seventh last weekend at Las Vegas, his best result since placing second at Richmond in August. \u2026 Bowman has seven top 10s in the last 13 races at drafting tracks. Bad news: Byron is 15 points below the cutline after his crash with Ty Dillon at Las Vegas. \u2026 Elliott is 23 points below the cutline after finishing 18th at Las Vegas, a result impacted by a penalty for an uncontrolled tire on pit road. \u2026 Larson is winless in his last 21 races, one short of his longest winless streak since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. \u2026 Larson is winless in 52 races at drafting tracks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Chase Elliott enters Sunday\u2019s Cup race below the cutline, but he is one of two current playoff drivers who has won in the last nine races at Talladega.<\/p>\n Hyak Motorsports \u2014 Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.\u2019s 14th-place finish at Las Vegas gives him back-to-back top 20s for the first time since Kansas and Charlotte in May. \u2026 Stenhouse has more wins (2), top fives (8) and top 10s (11) at Talladega than any other Cup track. \u2026 Stenhouse\u2019s average finish of 14.4 at Talladega is his best among all active tracks. \u2026 Stenhouse won last year\u2019s playoff race at Talladega. Bad news: Stenhouse has 14 finishes of 22nd or worse in the last 18 races this season.<\/p>\n Joe Gibbs Racing \u2014 Good news: Denny Hamlin is the first driver to advance to next month\u2019s championship race after he won at Las Vegas for his sixth victory of the season and 60th of his career, which puts him in a tie with Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time list. \u2026 Hamlin\u2019s six wins this season are his most since 2020 when he won seven times. \u2026 The organization has won four of the seven playoff races and done so with three different drivers (Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe). \u2026 Bell has three consecutive top-three finishes. \u2026 Bell has scored points in each of the last seven stages. \u2026 Briscoe has the best average finish in the playoffs, among all drivers, at 6.3 (Bell is next at 7.4). \u2026 Ty Gibbs has led 64 laps this year on drafting tracks, ranking fourth among all drivers. Bad news: Hamlin has two top 10s in his last 11 races at drafting tracks. \u2026 Briscoe has one top 10 finish in the last 10 races on drafting tracks. \u2026 Bell\u2019s average finish of 20.9 at Talladega is his worst among all active tracks. \u2026 Gibbs\u2019 average finish of 25.7 at Talladega his second worst among all tracks.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n