The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs kicked off at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500, where Hendrick Motorsports drivers rolled in carrying big expectations from their strong regular season. Yet the night told a different tale, as all four cars landed outside the top 15 — Chase Elliott grabbed the team’s best spot in 17th, Kyle Larson crossed in 19th, William Byron settled for 21st, and Alex Bowman ended up 31st. This is by far the worst finish for HMS under their four-car format.

Elliott later shared his take, saying, “It was a really long night. Yeah, we had clawed our way up to the top 10 and tried to run really long on that one run.” But with those finishes, questions started bubbling about what went wrong at a track that’s often kind to Hendrick crews. Kyle Larson, w

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