Hendrick at Phoenix: Alfredo fills in, Larson and Byron fight for top-10s
AVONDALE, Ariz. — With one regular driver out and the three others struggling for speed Sunday, two top-10 finishes was like a win for Hendrick Motorsports at Phoenix.
Kyle Larson led the way for Hendrick, finishing third after picking up two bonus points in stage two. Although he started the day in second, he dropped to 13th at the end of the first stage and was fighting a loose racecar.
Larson put crew chief Cliff Daniels’ changes to the test after NASCAR officials nabbed the two-time champ for speeding on pit road. He worked through the field and found himself in ninth when the second stage ended.
In the final stage, Larson avoided the carnage that came from the six cautions and finished third on the day.
The first true test of the season with the new Chevrolet body netted some concerning results. However, Larson had a mixed impression of it based on the team’s history at the track.
“It’s concerning. But we’re always really bad here at Phoenix, at least I am. We were just worse. Maybe it was just a combination of needing to learn the body a little bit more and horsepower or whatever but I had the same sort of feel I always have here, but worse,” Kyle Larson said.
William Byron mirrored Larson in the stages, earning two bonus points in the first stage. A blown tire kept him from earning points in the second stage but he survived and recovered to finish seventh on the day.
Survival wasn’t in the cards for Anthony Alfredo, unfortunately.
Filling in for Alex Bowman and getting comfortable with the No. 48 car, Alfredo found himself outside of the top-30 for much of the first stage.
However, a call for scuff tires started to change his fortune as he found himself in 12th on lap 168. Although he finished 22nd in the stage, on lap 185, the strategies swung back in his favor on lap 217 when he restarted eighth.
Unfortunately, that was the last glance Alfredo had at not only the top-10 but any time on the track. Joey Logano clipped Ross Chastain in the dogleg and set off a wreck that wiped out Alfredo and others.
Ultimately, Alfredo finished 33rd — out of the race just 95 laps shy of the finish.
The day wasn’t much better for Chase Elliott, who finished the race on the lead lap but ran into trouble much earlier. Near the start of the second stage, on lap 107, he sustained damage in a crash with Daniel Suarez and Josh Berry in turn two that required multiple pit stops. Elliott didn’t have much pace and struggled to hang on, even when restarting up front after not pitting.
The final nail in Elliott’s coffin was getting in a dogleg wreck himself with Logano on lap 255. That led to him finishing a very quiet 23rd on the day.
“Performance-wise that’s not where we should be running. I’m proud of the team but for Phoenix, we gotta get way way better,” Larson said about his team but also in reference more broadly to Hendrick Motorsports.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a much better track for Hendrick. They have won two of the last three spring races there with William Byron (2023) and Kyle Larson (2024).
Hendrick has three drivers in the Chase as of now — Chase Elliott (fourth, +25), William Byron (seventh, +15), Kyle Larson (13th, +8). In the championship hunt, Elliott is 107 points back, Byron is -117 and Larson is -124.
“It’s concerning. But we’re always really bad here at Phoenix, at least I am. We were just worse. Maybe it was just a combination of needing to learn the body a little bit more and horsepower or whatever but I had the same sort of feel I always have here, but worse,” Kyle Larson said.
“Performance-wise that’s not where we should be running. I’m proud of the team but for Phoenix, we gotta get way way better.” “We’re working with the right people so that shows a lot and that’s why we’re running really great. They believe in me and are really loyal people and that’s important in racing and we’ve been running well. We were really good with 8-10 races to go last year just didn’t really finish well… to help teammates out but now I can really race and we’ve been fast all year,” Ty Gibbs said.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com