Hendrick Motorsports cars show progress but work remains to be better at Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Hendrick Motorsports left Phoenix Raceway placing all four of its cars in the top 10, an accomplishment that could be seen as a significant step in the team's bid to be stronger at the 1-mile track that will host the championship race in November.

But Hendrick Motorsports did not win Sunday.

That's what matters at Phoenix.

After losing the championship last November to Team Penske for a third year in a row, Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon told NBC Sports: "This is not our best track. … But those guys (Team Penske) don't really show the speed until they really need to. That's what we have to figure out. Where are they finding that? What are they doing different than what we're doing to extract that and that's what motivates us."

There's been a concerted effort by Hendrick to be better at Phoenix and that continues. The organization seeks to avoid its longest championship drought this season since 2006.

So after not being good enough at Phoenix last November to win the title, Sunday provided a measuring stick for the organization.

William Byron, who started on the pole, was strong all race. He led 83 laps but saw his chances to win end when a caution came out on Lap 268 while he was on pit road. He lost a lap and had to take the waive around and still finished sixth.

"I feel like the … team put together a good weekend," Byron said. "We learned a ton, and we got a solid finish, so that's something to be proud of."

Chase Elliott also was caught by that caution having pitted just before it, but he only made it back to 10th. Kyle Larson finished third but did not lead any laps. Alex Bowman started 32nd and finished seventh.

Larson is the last Hendrick driver to win the title when he capped his 10-win season with the crown in 2021.

Asked about the team's progress at Phoenix after Sunday's race, Larson said: "I don't want to come across as harsh, but I felt like we had a lot of hope in what we brought here this weekend — and there were definitely times in the race and the weekend where I thought I was better, but relative to the field I feel like we were a little bit worse. … It's good to not be exactly how you want to be because it leaves a lot of room for improvement.

"There's a lot of smart people at Hendrick Motorsports that will dig down deep and try to figure some more things out."

Jeff Andrews, president and general manager at Hendrick Motorsports, saw signs of progress from the weekend.

"Feel like we made some improvements," he told NBC Sports. "We certainly were more optimistic after practice and then once the race started, we were still working with a lot of the same things that we worked here in the fall. So, we'll go back, get our notes out and go to work on taking another step to getting better when we come back in November."