Hendrick Motorsports has poor showing in Cup Series race at Richmond

May 23, 2019; Concord, NC, USA; NASCAR Cup Series car owner Rick Hendrick during qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Hendrick Motorsports had a surprisingly poor showing at the Cook Out 400 at Richmond on Sunday, with none of their cars finishing higher than 13th in the Cup Series race.

The No. 9 car driven by Chase Elliott finished 13th, which was their best finish for the day. After that, their other cars finished close together.

The No. 48 driven by Alex Bowman was 18th; the No. 5 driven by Kyle Larson was 19th; and the No. 24 of William Byron was 21st.

What’s odd is that Hendrick cars finished first and second in the April race at Richmond. Larson won that race, while Josh Berry, who was driving the No. 9 while Elliott was out, finished second. For the July short track race, the Hendrick cars finished lower down the list.

Three of the four Hendrick Motorsports cars even fell a lap behind during the second stage of the race.

"We're all identical and identically terrible" Cliff Daniels says on the No. 5 radio of how HMS is running today.

Three of the four HMS cars were lapped during that stage. Chase Elliott runs the best in 14th.#NASCAR

— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) July 30, 2023

While it was a bad day for Hendrick Motorsports, it was a good day for Stewart-Haas Racing. All four of their cars finished in the top 11. It was also a good day for Ford, which had seven of the top eleven cars, including winner Chris Buescher’s No. 17 for RFK Racing.

Joey Logano, who finished fourth, had a theory on why the Fords performed well at Richmond. He theorized that lack of grip at Richmond helped mask the weaknesses for Fords.

Joey Logano: "I saw them, I got excited but I needed one more caution."

He said the lack of grip at Richmond helps hide some of Ford's weaknesses.

"I'm glad Chris was able to capitalize and get a Ford to victory lane. We need to see more of them."

— PRN (@PRNlive) July 30, 2023

Hendrick Motorsports will have to confer to figure out what went wrong on Sunday.