TALLADEGA, Ala. — The Rick Hendrick Express rolls into Talladega Superspeedway with Joe Gibbs Racing nipping at its bumpers.
Good luck to everyone else in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Even at this high-banked madhouse in rural Alabama, which is usually as much of a crapshoot as any track on the circuit, there’s already a sense that 2024 is shaking out as a sprint to the championship between the two teams of four cars each.
Through nine races, the top six spots in the standings are split evenly between the Hendrick and Gibbs powerhouses. They’ve hoarded nearly all the wins, too, with Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez’s pulsating victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the second race of the season also the only one that prevented a clean sweep.
William Byron already has three wins this year for Hendrick, while teammate Chase Elliott took the checkered flag last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. A third Hendrick driver, Kyle Larson, leads the points standings and had won three straight pole positions until he was booted from qualifying Saturday because of an unauthorized change to his car, meaning he’ll start from the back of the 38-car field.