Hendrick Motorsports to mark NASCAR Xfinity Series return with 3 races in 2022

Hendrick Motorsports will compete in three NASCAR Xfinity Series road-course races in 2022, with major sponsorship from HendrickCars.com. The 14-time NASCAR Cup Series championship team will participate on the circuit for the first time in more than a decade.

On Thursday, the team announced that defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson will race the No. 17 car at Road America on July 2.

Alex Bowman will drive at Indianapolis on July 30 and William Byron will drive at Watkins Glen on August 20. The three drivers have a total of 17 victories on the Xfinity Collection.

Speaking to the press, Hendrick Motorsports President and General Manager Jeff Andrews said that:

“Our drivers are always looking for more opportunities to compete. We believe the additional road-course experience on Saturdays (in the Xfinity Series) will translate well to Sundays (in the Cup Series). It will be exciting to see the No. 17 return to the race track for Hendrick Motorsports, and we’ll do everything we can to take it back to Victory Lane.”

Hendrick has a long history with the No. 17, having raced it for Darrell Waltrip from 1987 to 1990 and winning the Daytona 500 before running the same number for Ricky Hendrick, the late son of team owner Rick Hendrick, in the Camping World Truck Series.

The HendrickCars.com color scheme used in Xfinity will be based on Ricky Hendrick's 2001 Trucks paint scheme.

Hendrick Motorsports' first NASCAR Xfinity race since 2009

More track time on Saturday will result in greater results on Sunday. Statistics back up this claim, and Hendrick Motorsports is taking it to the next level with its first Xfinity race since 2009.

The last time Hendrick Motorsports entered a lower-tier Xfinity race was on Feb. 14, 2009, when Tony Stewart won the Nationwide Series at Daytona. Stewart finished eighth in the Daytona 500 the next day.

Kevin Meendering, who has three wins, 39 top-five finishes, and 77 top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series, will lead the three-race effort.

From 2016 to 2018, he was the crew chief for JR Motorsports, where he led driver Elliott Sadler to top-five finishes in the series standings, including two second-place finishes. In 2017, Meendering and Sadler won the Xfinity Collection regular-season championship.

Cup Series drivers competing in the Xfinity Series is always a good thing for rookie drivers because it allows them to see where they stand and where they need to grow. This is significant news for one of NASCAR's strongest teams returning, and it will undoubtedly be both good and negative for Xfinity Series regulars.