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Hendrick Motorsports president Jeff Andrews laughed off social media theories that Chevrolet drivers handed Kyle Larson his win at Talladega Superspeedway, saying, “I did not get that memo,” and that the team has no team orders.
Andrews spoke on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week.
https://x.com/SiriusXMNASCAR/status/2115837925623537738
Andrews: ‘Some incredible stuff on social media’
“Haha, I did not. I did not get that memo. There’s been some incredible stuff on social media this week, and we just try to ignore all that stuff and go about doing our business,” Andrews said.
He credited Chevrolet’s engineers. “Hats off to Eric Warren and Tony Lunders and everybody at the GM Tech Center there,” he said. “We’re proud to be obviously partners of Chevrolet ever since we’ve been racing, right, for 42 years now. And so looking forward to doing our best to bring them another championship at the end of 2026.”
‘We don’t have team orders’
Andrews said William Byron, who finished second to Larson by 0.041 seconds, was free to race his teammate for the win.
“Those are the kind of guys that you want as teammates, and the kind of guys you want pushing you up through the field, and staying with you. But when it comes down to the win, we don’t have team orders here at Hendrick Motorsports,” Andrews said. “If it had come down to the two of them, I can promise you they were both going to be racing for a win there at the start-finish line.”
The theories
After the race, fans questioned whether Larson went below the yellow line on the last lap and whether other Chevrolet drivers lifted to let him win. NASCAR ruled Larson’s tire stayed on the line and told The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck that SMT data showed Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Byron and Cole Custer did not lift.
Larson said after the race that he had help from Chevrolet drivers all day. Before the race, SiriusXM’s Danielle Trotta posted that Chevrolet had told its teams to help Larson collect stage points. Denny Hamlin said this week that every Chevrolet team answers to team owner Rick Hendrick, as Pit This Time reported.
What’s next
Larson leads Hamlin by 73 points with two races left and can clinch the title at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday with a lead of at least 77 points. The Xfinity 500 is Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC from Ridgeway, Virginia.
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