Chase Elliott’s pole extends NASCAR record for Hendrick Motorsports

Chase Elliott’s pole position for the NASCAR Cup Series race Phoenix Raceway extended an all-time record for Hendrick Motorsports.

Chase Elliott took the pole position for Sunday afternoon’s FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway, the fourth of 36 races on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, by recording a top lap time of 26.065 seconds (138.116 miles per hour) in his #9 Chevrolet in the single-car qualifying session around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) oval in Avondale, Arizona.

This pole position was the 24-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native’s first of the 2020 season, and was also Hendrick Motorsports’ first pole position of the year. As a result of the latter, it extended all-time Cup Series record for Rick Hendrick’s organization.

Hendrick Motorsports have competed in the Cup Series since 1984, so the 2020 season is their 37th season of competition. They have taken at least one pole position in all 37 of their seasons at NASCAR’s top level.

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Second place on the all-time list is a tie between Petty Enterprises and Team Penske, and neither team came even remotely close to setting their mark in every season of competition.

Petty Enterprises, one of the teams that competed dating back to NASCAR’s maiden season in 1949, took at least one position in 29 seasons in a 45-year span from 1954 to 1999 while Team Penske, an active team that began competing in 1972, just tied this mark last year. They took their first pole position in 1974 but did not compete in 1978, 1979 or from 1981 to 1990.

Last week, Hendrick Motorsports tied the all-time record for most seasons with a victory when Alex Bowman won at Auto Club Speedway. That record is 36. This is a record that had been held solely by Petty Enterprises. The now defunct (since 2008) team earned their final victory in 1999 with the late John Andretti.

Hendrick Motorsports’ only winless season in team history was their second season of competition back in 1985. Geoffrey Bodine was the team’s lone full-time driver and was unable to win a race despite a solid fifth place finish in the championship standings, and Dick Brooks competed in one race and finished in 10th.

Aside of Chase Elliott on the pole position in his #9 Chevrolet, Alex Bowman is set to start the FanShield 500 in eighth place in his #88 Chevrolet while William Byron is set to start in 17th in his #24 Chevrolet and Jimmie Johnson is set to start in 21st in his #48 Chevrolet. Tune in to Fox at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon for the live broadcast of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season’s fourth race from Phoenix Raceway.