NASCAR: One Hendrick driver is not in team’s Xfinity lineup

Hendrick Motorsports announced their schedule for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and their driver lineup looks the same as it did last year.

For the first time since the 2009 season opener at Daytona International Speedway when they fielded a car for Tony Stewart, Hendrick Motorsports competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series last year with their own (non-JR Motorsports) car.

The team entered the No. 17 Chevrolet in four races, their most in the series since 2007, last year. They competed at Road America, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Watkins Glen International, and Darlington Raceway.

They are set to return to the series for another four-race schedule in 2023, confirming that they plan to compete at Circuit of the Americas (Saturday, March 25), Sonoma Raceway (Saturday, June 10), Watkins Glen International (Saturday, August 19), and Darlington Raceway (Saturday, September 2).

The team have stuck with the same lineup as last year, calling upon Kyle Larson for two races and both William Byron and Alex Bowman for one each, just as they did last year.

Larson is again set to compete at Darlington Raceway, but with Road America off the schedule, he is set to compete at Sonoma Raceway instead.

Byron is set to compete at Circuit of the Americas instead of Watkins Glen International while Bowman is set to compete at Watkins Glen International instead of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Like last year, Chase Elliott is Hendrick Motorsports’ lone full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver who is not scheduled to make any Xfinity Series starts for the team.

Elliott hasn’t competed in an Xfinity Series race since finishing in fourth place for JR Motorsports at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course back in August 2021.

He would have attempted to qualify for the race at Darlington Raceway last May, also for JR Motorsports, but qualifying was rained out and his entry was one that ended up being left out because of his car’s position in the owner standings.

Elliott, who is currently sidelined from Cup Series competition with a fractured left tibia, does not have any starts planned with JR Motorsports — or any other team, for that matter — this year.