In last Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, all five Chevrolet drivers advanced to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
That includes all four drivers from Hendrick Motorsports, who are competitors as well as teammates. As such, they are chasing the same prize, the Bill France Cup symbolic of the series championship.
That said, the four drivers and their teams at HMS have been remarkably helpful to each other as the season has progressed.
“I feel like it’s always a really open book with us,” said William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “I feel like about since 2021 when Rudy (Fugle, Byron’s crew chief) and (teammate) Kyle (Larson) came on board, it’s really been an open book.
“So we’ve shared a lot of notes. I feel like our setups are pretty similar, and that’s been the case for a little while now.”
On the track, it’s more difficult for the teammates to work together, even at a track like Talladega (the second track in the Round of 12) where cars need to team up in order to pass.
“We try to, for sure,” Byron said. “We try to draft together, but you always kind of get mixed in with other guys, and you just have to try to make your lane go forward.
“It’s hard, but definitely pitting together and strategy, we do all that stuff together, for sure.”
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