NASCAR
How Does Team Chevrolet Look Heading into the 2023 Postseason?
Five bowties representing four different Chevrolet teams have made the 16-man 2023 NASCAR Playoff field. Legendary teams look to add onto their steeped histories, as well as new teams looking to leave a mark. Between these five drivers, Chevrolet is chasing their record 37th Cup Series title. Can a Camaro cap off a stellar 2023 season with the Bill France Cup? These five drivers will all be gunning for top honors over the next 10 weeks.
William Byron – 2,036 points
The winningest driver of 2023, William Byron enters the postseason tied for the points lead. The 24’s five trips to victory lane in the opening 26 weeks included a few pivotal Playoff tracks. Byron found early season success at Las Vegas, Phoenix, Darlington, Atlanta and Watkins Glen. Those first three tracks all make repeat appearances as arguably the three most important Playoff dates. Darlington kicks everything off this weekend, while Las Vegas opens the Round of 8 and Phoenix is the finale. Byron is definitely in uncharted waters for himself, in the midst of his best season yet. Team 24 will try and win a record 15th title for Rick Hendrick.
“Just thank you to everyone at Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports, our whole No. 24 RaptorTough.com team,” Byron said. “But it’s good to get a top-10 (at Daytona) and go into Darlington with some momentum. That’s a really good racetrack for us, I feel like. We have a couple little things to work on at Darlington, just to get a little bit better, but I feel like the first round sets up well. We just need to have a solid first couple of races and put ourselves in a good spot.”
“It feels good. It looks like we’re tied with Martin (Truex Jr.) for Playoff points. That’s a lot better position than we’ve been in the past, so we’ll try to take advantage of that. Last year, I think we were in the teens for Playoff points, so I feel good about that. The good thing is we can still get some more in the first round, so hopefully we can maybe get a Stage win or a victory in the first couple races and see how it plays out.”
Starting off as the co-points leader, William Byron is in rarified air. Barring a major collapse, the 24 does not need a win across either of the opening two rounds. Top-10s will suffice to deliver Byron to the Round of 8, a feat he’s looking to repeat from last year. Byron has asserted himself as a championship favorite. Many have already penciled the 24 into Phoenix as a Championship 4 finalist. Thanks to 36 bonus points which will likely grow, it is hard to not see at least this one Hendrick car going for the big trophy.
Kyle Busch – 2,019 points
Making his first Playoff appearance with Richard Childress Racing, Kyle Busch hopes to better the 8’s 2022 results. Bad luck saw this team eliminated in the Round of 16 one year ago, ironically alongside Busch. Scoring a trifecta of wins from Auto Club, Talladega and Gateway, Busch has stockpiled up plenty of bonus points. The two-time champion believes he knows his team’s strengths and weaknesses ahead over the next 10 weeks.
“We know we just have to cross our T’s, dot our I’s and be a little bit more perfect,” Busch said. “Just not let some things happen during the races that have taken us out. A lot of it hasn’t been our fault, hasn’t been our doing, but just circumstantial. Better luck, I guess. I used it all up about eight weeks ago.”
“To me, it’s talking about some of the stuff that I just mentioned. Not making mistakes, that’s where I feel like our detriment has been. And some of it isn’t self-induced, you know. Like the engine issues at the Indy Road Course – how do you know that’s going to happen? So just things like that, but it’s racing. There’s a lot of different circumstances that will happen, but you just have to work your way around them.”
Over a seven week span from Darlington to Atlanta, Busch’s team rallied from 11th to third in points. Perhaps this team’s most glaring weakness early this season was short tracks, which have already seen improvement. The 8 was third at Richmond in July, possibly previewing upcoming strength at Martinsville or Phoenix. Lined up as the fifth seed, Busch is positioned nicely for another Championship 4 appearance. Bad luck and execution errors have been this team’s pitfall though. If they can keep the wheels pointed forward, then RCR will make some noise this postseason.
Kyle Larson – 2,017 points
2021 champion Kyle Larson yearns for a chance to back up his title at Phoenix. An uncharacteristic mistake took the 5 out of contention last year. Now on the back of two wins at Richmond and Martinsville, team 5 envisions being part of the Championship 4 once again.
“Yeah, there are some good tracks for us in the Playoffs and just ready to get started and hopefully get some momentum going,” Larson said. “Yeah, I mean you just hope you have got the same speed this time around that you had earlier this year. We were really strong and I would like to get off to a good start.”
“You know, I think I have had the same mindset my whole career that I have ever made the Playoffs. That is just being consistent, finishing and not making mistakes. If you remember last year, I had a mistake at the Roval, and it bit me and cost us a chance to win the championship. So, if you can finish and be consistent and get good Stage points, you can help yourself out quite a bit. So, that is the mindset for me.”
There are few drivers for whom the Playoffs line up better than Kyle Larson. Talladega may be his only weak spot across the final 10 weeks, with the 5’s best tracks coming up. Larson is already a favorite for this weekend’s Southern 500 at Darlington. The South Carolina venue has kept Larson shut out of its winner’s circle, a stat that could change by this time next week. Beyond that, one of Larson’s strongest venues makes an appearance in each round, highlighted by Homestead-Miami Speedway. As long as the Florida track is in the Round of 8, sixth-seeded Larson cannot be counted out of a Championship 4 slot.
Ross Chastain – 2011 points
Last year’s breakout star, Ross Chastain has made the Playoffs once again. Nashville Superspeedway in June was the 1’s lone trip to victory lane so far in 2023, leading 99 of 300 laps. The nine races since then have only seen one top-10 for Chastain however. Entering the Playoffs as the eighth seed, Chastain’s path forward is a bit steeper than it was last season.
“That feels really good to hear, in the Playoffs again,” Chastain said. “I have to go back to 2021 and missing it in my first real attempt in a quality Chevrolet. Missed it with CGR in the No. 42 car and that hurt.”
“We have already been preparing (for Darlington). We have already been running in the DiL, working with Josh Wise and the Wise Performance Group that GM uses to prepare the drivers. And Trackhouse has been preparing the cars. Life is good.”
“There’s definitely things we’ve learned. It can be something as simple as my schedule, how we go about the 10 weeks and on the raceday what we build into my calendar. Fundamentally from a large point of view, we don’t have to do anything different. We didn’t do anything too crazy last year – the Hail Melon and some of that stuff was crazy. But in our preparation and our execution when we got to the track for all these Playoff races, we can’t reinvent the wheel this week for Darlington. We can’t reinvent it for the Roval or anything. We need to go race. That’s what we’ve done for two years and really three since a lot of us were at CGR together. We didn’t get here by accident, and it’s okay to go win some of these things. Somebody is going to.”
“I’ve got 140 employees at Trackhouse that are going to battle for Daniel (Suarez) and I. Whether we have a Playoff banner on the window or not, it doesn’t change the caliber of rocketship they are about to put on the track for us. We just go about our stuff, and we don’t hide from anything. I don’t have a higher or lower confidence level. I know that I learned a lot last year.”
Consistency is something Chastain desperately needs to return if he is to have any shot at another deep Playoff run. All of Trackhouse Racing in 2023 has been marred by up-and-down results. The 1 has not seen back-to-back top-10s since their win. Chastain was in position to possibly win Darlington in the closing laps of May’s race. If he’s in a similar spot Sunday, a top-five day would do wonders for this team.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 2,005 points
Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has known longer his Playoff status longer than anyone. Aside from February’s triumph though, the No. 47 has had a career season for JTG Daugherty Racing, finishing 17th in regular season points. Any result is a win for the team that ended 2022 a dismal 26th in the standings. Stenhouse is ready for a fighter’s chance at advancing however. The 14th seed is only three points below the cut line.
“I feel good,” Stenhouse said. “We’re going to take it week-by-week. I feel like Darlington was a good racetrack for us. That’s what we’ve been focused on was Darlington before we ever got back to Daytona. I feel really good about where we are as a race team. It was awesome to come back to Daytona and having a car that I felt like was capable of winning, and hopefully we can go to Darlington with that same mentality.”
Stenhouse’s best shot at moving onward aside from winning is simply surviving. The No. 47 cannot afford a single DNF in the opening three races, where others will inevitably stumble. Bristol in particular has been a great track for Stenhouse in the past. If Stenhouse can stay out of any trouble and possibly earn three Round of 16 top-10s, the 47 could out-score a few of their rivals.
Unlike both Ford and Toyota, all of Chevrolet’s Playoff drivers have years of experience and knowledge on winning. While it is a daunting task for some of these drivers to make deep runs, it is far from out of the question. Two past champions, this year’s debatable title favorite, last year’s hero and an underdog will all try and bring the Bill France Cup back to Chevrolet. All of them have the potential for memorable moments starting this weekend in Darlington.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Jeff Curry/Getty Images
