Tag: Kyle Larson

Larson dominates in emotional Cup Series victory at Bristol

He did it for Jon. For the second straight day at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson dominated a NASCAR race and dedicated the victory to friend and PR representative Jon Edwards, who passed away suddenly during the week leading up to the race …

He did it for Jon.

For the second straight day at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson dominated a NASCAR race and dedicated the victory to friend and PR representative Jon Edwards, who passed away suddenly during the week leading up to the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

On Sunday, Larson won the Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series race in overwhelming fashion, leading 411 of 500 laps and sweeping both stages.

The victory was Larson’s second of the season, his second straight at the 0.533-mile high-banked short track and the 31st of his career, and it came one day after the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ran away with the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Thunder Valley.

 

“This one’s definitely for Jon,” said Larson, who finished second in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, one spot short of sweeping the weekend. “He’s just a great guy. Successful weekend here. Wish he was going to be here with us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating with us in spirit.

“Just a flawless race once again here at Bristol for the No. 5 team. Really, really good car. That was a lot of fun.”

Larson, who brushed the outside wall at the apex of Turns 1 and 2 with five laps left—without consequence—finished 2.250s in front of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, who fell one spot short of a third straight Cup victory. Hamlin’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, was 6.679s back in third in a race that ran without caution for the final 235 laps.

“However many laps of green we ran there was a lot of fun,” Larson said. “I was pretty comfortable with things, and then Denny came on really strong there before the pit cycle and kind of kept the pressure on from there.”

After the final pit stops, Hamlin could close within a second of Larson in traffic but never threatened to take the lead.

“You have to give that team their due—just a dominant performance,” Hamlin said. “It looked like a pretty flawless day for them. It looked pretty easy. It was all I had to try to keep up there. I’m glad we were able to give him a little bit of a run with our Progressive Toyota.

“But this weekend, we are all thinking about Jon Edwards’ family, (racing journalist) Al Pearce, (team owner) Shige Hattori (all of whom passed away within the last eight days). We’ve lost a lot of great people in our sport over the last week, so our thoughts are with them.”

“Wish we could have got one more spot, but I just wanted to keep him honest there at the end. That was all I was trying to do, but he was a little too much to handle.”

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Hamlin and Larson have finished 1-2 on seven occasions. Sunday’s race was the first of the seven times Larson has come out on top.

Contrary to strong indications from Saturday’s practice, Bristol’s concrete surface rubbered in, and tire wear was not the factor that most teams and drivers anticipated. Ryan Blaney, for instance, ran 175 laps on one set of tires before pitting on lap 440.

Chase Briscoe came home fourth, as JGR claimed the three positions behind Larson. Blaney ran long during the final green-flag run, led 48 laps after Larson pitted on lap 390 for tires and fuel and worked his way back to fifth at the end.

Pole winner Alex Bowman led the first 39 laps before Larson grabbed the top spot for the first time. Larson went to win the first stage over Hamlin and the second over Bowman, who later fell out of the race when his engine expired.

The Stage 2 victory was the 66th of Larson’s career, tying him with Martin Truex Jr. for the most since stage racing was introduced in 2017.

William Byron charged forward to a sixth-place finish after starting 26th. Ross Chastain ran seventh, followed by Christopher Bell and AJ Allmendinger, the last driver on the lead lap. Austin Dillon was 10th, the first driver one lap down.

Larson positively trounces the Xfinity field at Bristol

Pole winner Kyle Larson brought a bazooka to Saturday’s shootout at Bristol Motor Speedway. His 37 opponents brought pea shooters to the Last Great Coliseum-or so it seemed, given the degree of domination Larson exhibited in winning the SciAps 300 …

Pole winner Kyle Larson brought a bazooka to Saturday’s shootout at Bristol Motor Speedway.

His 37 opponents brought pea shooters to the Last Great Coliseum—or so it seemed, given the degree of domination Larson exhibited in winning the SciAps 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

The driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led 277 of 300 laps in securing his first victory in two series starts this season, his second at Bristol and the 16th of his career. At the finish, there were only 12 cars on the lead lap.

Larson finished 2.054s ahead of Carson Kvapil, who passed series leader Justin Allgaier for second place in traffic on Lap 298. Allgaier held third and collected his record seventh $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers.

 

To Larson, the victory was a fitting tribute to his friend and PR representative, Jon Edwards, who passed away suddenly during the week leading up to the Bristol race weekend.

“It’s awesome,” said Larson, who finished second in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. “I wish I could have won last night—just came up a little bit short. It’s cool to get a win this weekend for Jon and everybody’s who’s been a part of his life.”

“We’ve got one more tomorrow (in Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Cup race). There’d be nothing better than to cap it off with a Cup win for Jon and all of Hendrick Motorsports… I’ve got a great car there for [Sunday]. We’ve just got to execute like we did today.”

Kvapil matched his career-best finish, having run second at Dover last year. His No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was at its best in the closing laps.

“We just kept working on it and made it better and better every pit stop,” Kvapil said. “I felt like toward the end we had a pretty fast car, but there was just so much traffic, it was hard to really get into a good rhythm.”

Sammy Smith ran fourth, as JR Motorsports drivers took the three positions behind Larson and locked into Dash for Cash eligibility for next Saturday’s race at Rockingham, along with fifth-place finisher Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Larson was cruising to a wire-to-wire victory in the first stage, having lapped Jeb Burton in the 14th position, when Sheldon Creed’s Ford spun sideways off Turn 4 after a bump from Dean Thompson’s Toyota.

Charging through the corner behind the spin, Brennan Poole couldn’t avoid Creed’s car, and his Chevrolet collided with Creed’s Mustang in a vicious crash that destroyed both machines and eliminated two of the four eligible Dash 4 Cash drivers from the race. Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center. “For Brennan’s sake, it happens so quick,” Creed said. “And I was sitting right there in the middle of the track.”

NASCAR red-flagged the race for 14m8s, and Larson lost the 3.4s lead he held over second-place Justin Allgaier and the advantage of more than 10s over Connor Zilisch in third.

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After the red flag was lifted, Larson and Allgaier paced the lead-lap cars to pit road—with the exceptions of Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg, who stayed on the track and finished 1-2 in Stage 1 after a three-lap dash that ended on lap 85.

Larson finished third in Stage 1, and after Mayer and Sieg pitted during the break, Larson regained the top spot for a restart on lap 97. The clinic continued, with Larson winning Stage 2—his 17th stage win in the series—by nearly nine seconds over Allgaier.

After pit stops and wave-arounds, 16 drivers took the green flag for the final stage on the lead lap, and Allgaier snatched the top spot from Larson moments after the lap 182 restart.

It didn’t last. Ten circuits later, Larson gave Allgaier’s Chevy a bump in Turn 1, moved him up the track and shot past into the lead. Allgaier kept Larson within shouting range until the lapped car of Mason Massey blocked Allgaier’s line off Turn 4 and turned sideways near the start/finish line after contact between the Camaros.

Collected in the incident and eliminated from the race was the Toyota of William Sawalich, who had been running in the top 10.

For Allgaier, the Dash 4 Cash bonus was something of a consolation prize.

“I’m just bummed about the day a little bit, to come out of here in third,” he said. “You know, I had the mistake there with the lapped car, and I wish it had gone green, because it probably would have helped us…

“But to lock three of the four [JR Motorsports drivers] into the next Dash 4 Cash is huge. I got out front there, and I just felt like we needed a little bit more to keep up with Kyle. He was obviously really good, and his pace in traffic was phenomenal.”

Larson’s lengthy crash repairs offer ideal education opportunity

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway went from another opportunity to win, to a training exercise for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 team. Kyle Larson spun off Turn 2 on Lap 4 of the Goodyear 400. The long slide ended with his …

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway went from another opportunity to win, to a training exercise for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 team.

Kyle Larson spun off Turn 2 on Lap 4 of the Goodyear 400. The long slide ended with his Chevrolet hitting the inside wall with the front end, which appeared significant enough to be the end of the day. Initially, Larson tried to drive the car back to his pit crew, but the car was too damaged, and it came to a stop. Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief, was quick on the radio to tell his driver to stay in the car so it could be towed to the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) work area.

“I don’t think we’re done,” Daniels said.

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The repairs took nearly two hours. Larson sat inside his car throughout as the team worked, and he returned to the race 160 laps down.

By returning to the race, Larson gained one position. He finished 37th and took one point.

“Given the opportunity to go through what we had to go through, which was replacing the front bumper bar, a lot of the components within the nose, that was a really good education for our team of just understanding the process with NASCAR (and) their level of expectation,” Daniels said. “There are a lot of safety items on the car; there are tethers to the different parts of the nose, the splitter, so there are a lot of little details that if you’re going to embark on crash repair at Talladega in a couple of weeks or other tracks down the road, just from the learning and a process standpoint, today was really valuable for that.”

NASCAR revised its DVP policy ahead of this season. It is now at the discretion of the race teams whether their race is over after they can take the car to the garage for repairs and damage assessment. A crash like Larson’s on Sunday would likely have been the end of his race in years past because there was an eight-minute clock to make repairs.

And not in the Next Gen era has a team had the chance to undergo crash repair like Larson’s did Sunday.

The rule now allows a car to be driven or towed to the garage for both mechanical and damage-related issues. A team is allowed to begin their work when the car reaches the designated DVP area in the garage area.

“To be honest, I think it was good for NASCAR, too, because the criteria was pretty interesting with our car,” Daniels said. “The front clip wasn’t hurt, the suspension wasn’t hurt, the steering wasn’t hurt, and nothing in the radiator or oil cooler was hurt. It was really just the aluminum bumper bar, and that’s a lot of work just to get one of those changed. So, we learned all we could and tried to maximize our day.”

Daniels acknowledged that part of the reason for making the repairs was the team’s desire to finish the race, as is their nature. But it also gave them a chance to continue to learn during the race by going through pit stop reps, making adjustments, and learning the pit cycles. If a similar situation arises in the future, such as at Darlington Raceway in the fall when it’s a playoff race, Daniels believes they could cut their time in the garage by about 20 laps.

So, while there was nothing to gain in the finishing order by returning to the track, “There is still plenty of chance to learn any time you get a chance to be back on the racetrack,” Daniel said.

Larson “just wanted to kick everybody’s ass” but had to go to backup plan at Homestead

Kyle Larson says he was ‘extra motivated’ to win Sunday’s Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, given his history at the track. “I just wanted to take the green flag and kick everybody’s ass today, honestly,” Larson said. “I wanted to get the …

Kyle Larson says he was ‘extra motivated’ to win Sunday’s Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, given his history at the track.

“I just wanted to take the green flag and kick everybody’s ass today, honestly,” Larson said. “I wanted to get the lead early and just dominate like I was yesterday.

“But then the green flag flew, and it was like the opposite. I was going backward and getting pissed off in the helmet and just frustrated, but I just figured that that day was not going to go like that. Then you just forget about all that.”

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Larson is considered one of the best drivers at Homestead-Miami because of his ability to run as close to the wall as possible. However he had only one Cup Series victory at the track (in 2022) before Sunday’s triumph. There were three other occasions when Larson failed to win after leading 90 or more laps.

There was also what happened on Saturday afternoon. Larson dominated the Xfinity Series race and was looking to go two-for-two on the weekend after winning the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night. The Xfinity Series win came down to overtime, where Larson – the leader – chose the bottom lane and had Sam Mayer behind him. Mayer mistimed the restart and hit Larson too hard, too soon, and it took Larson’s wheels off the ground. Larson finished fourth.

On Sunday, Larson didn’t dominate the race, leading just 19 laps, but still won. He overtook his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman with seven laps to go when Bowman scrubbed the wall in Turn 4.

“I think just leading into the race, that’s what your thought process is,” Larson continued. “But then, after 10 laps or so, I quickly forgot about the wanting to kick everybody’s ass all race long. It was, all right, let’s work hard at this and get a win, and that’s how the race played out.

“I’m proud of myself for overcoming that immature mindset before the race and just digging down deep to stay in it because it wasn’t a typical Homestead for me.

“I was never able to get the lead until it really mattered, where typically, I lead all the laps that don’t matter except for the last one. I’m just proud that we were able to keep our heads in it today.”

Kyle Busch remains the only driver to sweep all three NASCAR national series races on one weekend. He did so twice at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017.

Larson, however, will have another chance to accomplish it this season. He will be entered in all three races next month at, coincidentally, Bristol.

“Maybe as I go home tonight and lay down and think about the week more,” Larson said of missing the triple at Homestead-Miami. “But honestly, right now, I don’t think about it at all. I wasn’t thinking about that as I took the lead (or) anything like that.

“I was pretty disappointed all of the time after the race yesterday, but I woke up this morning feeling for the most part fine. Motivated, but fine. Kind of over the finish of yesterday. I’m sure when I lay down tonight, I’ll probably think about it. But I’m just happy to get a Cup Series win. They’re so tough to get.”

Larson pounces on Bowman error to win another at Homestead

Kyle Larson took advantage of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman scrubbing the wall late in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to grab his first win of the season. Bowman led with seven laps to go when his Chevrolet got too close to …

Kyle Larson took advantage of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman scrubbing the wall late in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to grab his first win of the season.

Bowman led with seven laps to go when his Chevrolet got too close to the wall in Turn 4. By the time Bowman could pull off the wall, Larson was driving by on the inside, and he then drove away by 1.2s to secure the victory.

“It was far from perfect,” Larson told Fox Sports. “I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots there, by getting in the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there. I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs and just thought if I could hold off the [No.] 11 and the [No.] 45 behind me, I could get … the top, and the [No.] 19 too. Then I got in the wall and let him by.

“I just kind of had to keep plugging away at what I know and what’s good for me. I am just proud of myself, proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty, hard work there today between damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restarts, all that stuff. Just super pumped. One of the coolest wins, I think, in my Cup career just because of the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday, and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”

The victory is the second for Larson at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the 30th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. He led 19 laps Sunday.

Bowman finished second after leading 43 laps and starting from the pole position. Bubba Wallace, who led 56 laps, finished third. Chase Briscoe finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin finished fifth. Hamlin also won the second stage.

 

“I guess I choked that one away, for sure,” Bowman told Fox Sports. “I just kind of burned my stuff up; saw the [No.] 5 coming, so I moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that, I hit it pretty hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel, and then I pulled it off the wall too far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad.

“I hate that for this Ally [No.] 48 group. They deserve better than that, and just a couple of mistakes there. I felt like we were okay all day. That last run was the best we were. Hats off to Ally and Blake [Harris] and everybody for supporting this [No.] 48 team. I hate it for Mr. Hendrick — congrats to Kyle – and we’ll go try to get another one this week.”

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Chris Buescher finished sixth, AJ Allmendinger seventh, Tyler Reddick eighth, Ryan Preece ninth and Justin Haley rounded out the top 10.

William Byron remains the points leader after finishing 12th. Joey Logano finished 14th after rebounding when he and alliance teammate Josh Berry spun on pit road at the end of the first stage. Logano fell a lap down after the incident.

Berry finished 17th. Chase Elliott finished 18th after he was penalized for not staying single file coming to pit road under the caution at the end of the second stage.

Christopher Bell finished 29th. Bell spun on lap 70 and brought out the first caution of the afternoon.

The final stint of the race went green with 51 laps to go. It was set up by the final caution of the day, which came when Ryan Blaney blew an engine. Blaney dominated the event, leading a race-high 124 laps and winning the first stage.

There were four cautions during the afternoon and two of them were for the stage breaks. There were 27 lead changes among nine drivers.

Larson won two of the three races he entered over the weekend. He missed out on the trifecta by not winning the Xfinity Series race.

“That’s what I’m thinking every time in the lead, especially here at Homestead,” Larson said of not having a caution come out. “Yeah, just crazy. I knew me coming towards those guys, they were going to start moving around and making mistakes. I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex, I would hope that he made a mistake and he caught the wall there, and I got by him easier than I expected to.

“I still had to work hard, though. My balance once I got in clean air was really loose, just like those guys were. Hats off to the whole team, Hendrickcars.com, Chevrolet, Prime, Valvoline, the whole Hendrick engine shop, everybody involved, Hendrick Automotive Group. A lot of Hendricks.”

Larson, Berry advance to Clash after messy LCQ at Bowman Gray

Kyle Larson and Josh Berry survived the demolition derby that was the Last Chance Qualifying race to advance into Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Larson led the most laps, 36, and led Berry across the finish line. The race …

Kyle Larson and Josh Berry survived the demolition derby that was the Last Chance Qualifying race to advance into Sunday night’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Larson led the most laps, 36, and led Berry across the finish line. The race restarted for the final time with 10 laps to go, with Larson taking the lead from Berry for the final time with four laps to go. Austin Dillon finished third.

There were nine cautions in the 75-lap race. Some of the most eventful included Berry spinning Ty Gibbs and Justin Haley, and then later getting into Erik Jones.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun Bowman Gray favorite Burt Myers with 14 laps to go. Stenhouse hit Myers on the frontstretch, sending Myers spinning through the grass and across the track before hitting the Turn 1 wall.

Under the caution for Myers, fellow Bowman Gray favorite Tim Brown pulled behind the wall. Brown’s car needed repairs to the right rear. But with only green flag laps counting, Brown stayed on the lead lap and rejoined the race.

On lap 62, Gibbs was spun by Haley. Gibbs attempted to show his displeasure with Haley under caution, hitting the right side of Haley’s car, but it sent Gibbs airborne.

The incident between Berry and Jones occurred on lap 65. Jones was leading the race when he, Berry and Larson came off Turn 4 three wide. As Jones fought to control his car, more contact from Berry spun him in front of the field.

Berry was the leader for the final restart. Cole Custer restarted outside Berry but had a damaged car he was trying to fight to the finish. Larson restarted third.

The top two finishers from the Last Chance Qualifying race advanced into the Clash.

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Ryan Blaney and Team Penske chose to use the provisional (as the highest driver from the 2024 points not locked into the Clash) after changing the radiator, amongst other parts, after discovering problems earlier in the day. Blaney ran 23 laps before pulling off the track during the Last Chance Qualifying race.

Cook Out Clash starting lineup:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Chris Buescher

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Tyler Reddick

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Joey Logano

8. Christopher Bell

9. Noah Gragson

10. Shane van Gisbergen

11. William Byron

12. Ryan Preece

13. Kyle Busch

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Carson Hocevar

16. Austin Cindric

17. Ross Chastain

18. Daniel Suarez

19. Alex Bowman

20. Todd Gilliland

21. Kyle Larson

22. Josh Berry

23. Ryan Blaney

Those who failed to qualify for the Clash: Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek, Michael McDowell, Zane Smith, Stenhouse, Haley, Ty Dillon, Brown, Cody Ware, Custer, Garrett Smithley, Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Jones, Riley Herbst, and Myers.

The green flag for the Clash is after 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

After four seasons with Hendrick, Larson still making up for lost time

The saying is true: time does fly when you’re having fun. Or, in the case of Kyle Larson, when you’re one of the most successful active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. And it’s hard to believe that Larson, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet, is going …

The saying is true: time does fly when you’re having fun. Or, in the case of Kyle Larson, when you’re one of the most successful active drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. And it’s hard to believe that Larson, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet, is going into his fifth season with Hendrick Motorsports.

“It is,” Larson told RACER. “I think life just goes by faster as you get older. I feel like I was at Ganassi (Racing) for a super long time, and I’ve already been at Hendrick for close to the same length. But we’re having more success now, so that helps things go by quicker.”

The success was instant. In 2021, Larson got behind the wheel of his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, with crew chief Cliff Daniels leading the team. He then had a 10-win season that ended with the series championship. In the last three years, he has added 13 more wins, giving him 23 in four seasons.

And to answer the question that is sure to follow those numbers: yes, Larson has won the most races in the Cup Series since 2021. William Byron, Larson’s teammate, comes the closest to Larson with 12 wins since 2021.

“I’m getting older, too,” Larson continued. “I’m at a much different place in my life than I was at 22 or 23. I’ve got three kids now, and that keeps things going crazy. I love being at Hendrick Motorsports; they’re the best. I hope to be there until I’m done.”

Larson was in party mode from the start with Hendrick in 2021, but if anything the consistent success has just furthered his ambitions. Rusty Jarrett/Motorsport Images

In four seasons, Larson has cemented his place in the sport but, perhaps even more significantly, shed any doubt that he could be one of the best in the process. The juxtaposition of his career is clear. Larson at Ganassi was also on the fringe of bigger success, showing he was more than capable. Larson at Hendrick is a powerhouse, and with that has come more respect and interest from the media.

Larson won six races in six years driving a Ganassi car and it became predictable where he would excel. There were three wins at high-speed Michigan International, one at Fontana’s high-speed Auto Club Speedway, and two short-track triumphs at Richmond and Dover. The highest Larson placed in the championship standings was sixth, and he never made the Championship 4.

“It’s nice to show up to the racetrack pretty much every week and know you’ve got a shot to win,” he said. “I think that helps keep you hungry and striving to do what you can to win. Back when I first started, there were only a handful of races throughout the year where I felt like I could maybe win (that) weekend, and you got really excited about that.

“But now, being at Hendrick, you get excited every week because you feel like you have a shot to lead lots of laps and execute and have it turn out to win. Back in the day, if you executed perfectly, you got an eighth, which was great, but it’s not a win. So, it feels good and just a lot of hard work by everybody at the race shop and each team.”

Most of Larson’s statistical categories have reached new heights since getting to Hendrick Motorsports. In four seasons, 143 races, Larson has more wins, championships, Championship 4 appearances, and poles than in the 219 races spent with Ganassi. It won’t be much longer until the same applies to top-10 and top-five finishes.

It’s good to be Kyle Larson. Or want to be him. Larson and his team have become the standard in the Cup Series. He is the driver put No. 1 on all lists, whether it be about talent, championship favorites, or who a team owner would want. His stock rises after each completed NASCAR season, the ever-growing list of accomplishments in dirt racing, and being an Indianapolis 500 attraction.

He might not have gotten the last laugh in 2024, but Larson’s No. 5 was always in the mix. Danny Hansen/Motorsport Images

Larson is also far from done. At 32 years old, he still has many years ahead, and there is no sign of the pace slowing down or his team falling behind.

The ’24 season didn’t end in a championship, but it could have. Larson led the series in victories (six) despite missing one race, having the third-best overall average finish (12.9) and appearing to be the all-around fastest driver.

There will be more of the same in year No. 5 for driver No. 5. It’s only unclear of just how much for Larson as he continues to fulfill what he always seemed destined for in the series.

“Everybody wants to end up racing for a team that can showcase their abilities and talents and hopefully (they) can win lots of races and championships,” Larson said. “Thankfully, we’ve been able to do all of that. So, I’ve enjoyed my time at Hendrick Motorsports and being surrounded by great people is awesome, too. Rick Hendrick is probably the greatest person I’ve ever had in my life besides my wife, kids, and parents, as far as being a role model and all that. Rick and Jeff Gordon, especially. There are just so many great leaders there.

“It’s been a great time, and part of me wishes I could have been there a long time ago, and maybe my numbers would be closer to the great-greats of the day. But I’m also grateful for my time at Ganassi because I think it’s definitely helped shape me into a better, more well-rounded race car driver like I feel like I am today. I hope to be at Hendrick for a very long time and hopefully win a lot more races and a couple more championships.”

 

Larson builds his brand Down Under with Perth sprint car win

As is his custom, Kyle Larson took the big money and ran. Before he left Western Australia at the end of an all-nighter that spanned Dec. 30-31, however, Larson had established himself as the pre-eminent racer on a continent halfway around the world …

As is his custom, Kyle Larson took the big money and ran.

Before he left Western Australia at the end of an all-nighter that spanned Dec. 30-31, however, Larson had established himself as the pre-eminent racer on a continent halfway around the world from his usual NASCAR haunts.

Roughly seven hours after he broke James McFadden’s heart — denying the Australian driver a sweep of the first High Limit International 410 sprint car events at extraordinary Perth Motorplex — Larson was high above Western Australia on a 5:10am flight to Sydney, hoping to make practice for the Tulsa Shootout on New Year’s Eve.

By then, Larson had claimed the richest prize in Australian sprint car history, $100,000 Australian ($62,000 U.S.) to win the main event of the three-day show in High Limit Racing’s first venture outside the United States.

By then, Larson had signed his last autograph, cracked his last Australian beer and sold his last T-shirt. After the flight to Sydney, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion faced a 15-hour flight to Los Angeles and an impossibly tight 24-minute connection to Tulsa, Okla., hoping to clear customs and change airlines in the process.

That left Larson’s brother-in-law and High Limit co-founder Brad Sweet to assess his partner’s impact on sprint car racing specifically and motorsports in general. To Sweet, Larson’s presence transcends the term “generational talent,” a description often used to encompass his ability to drive any vehicle on four wheels faster than anyone else.

“Kyle is such a great ambassador for sprint car racing,” Sweet said. “Sometimes I don’t think he knows exactly how much he brings to the sport. He’s like a kid — he’s an addict to racing… He’s turned into a global star.”

It was no surprise to Sweet that Larson charged from a sixth-place starting position to win the High Limit feature by more than three seconds after overtaking McFadden in traffic with nine laps left.

“Kyle’s just so captivating — the fact that he does all the forms of racing he does and do it so competitively,” Sweet said. “He takes a car he’s never driven, and in three nights he wins the race from the third or fourth row.

“Nothing really surprises me with Kyle anymore. I’ve just learned to smile when he does it.”

At the 0.31-mile Perth Motorplex dirt track, Larson teamed with local owner/driver Jason Pryde, who sacrificed his own participation in the event to support the efforts of the American superstar.

Larson sold out of T-shirts on the first day, and Pryde arranged to have more printed. A second-day sell-out necessitated a third printing. Before Larson took the checkered flag on Monday, Dec. 30, only a half-dozen hoodies and two T-shirts remained.

Australia native Max Ball, his wife and two young sons all came to the track sporting Larson attire. Ball lives in Bunbury, rough two hours south of Perth and the home of Western Australian sprint car legend Dayne Kingshott.

Surprisingly, Ball and his family became fans of Larson not through his sprint car exploits but through the limited exposure NASCAR racing receives in Western Australia.

“I actually didn’t really know he raced sprint cars until late last year,” Ball said. “He’s fast right from the get-go. He picks up the tracks easily, from what I can see — yeah, he’s just a go-getter.”

By contrast, Larson is quiet and unassuming off the track. He agrees with Sweet’s contention that he doesn’t fully appreciate the breadth of his global popularity — but only to a point.

“I think I’m just a race car driver, and that’s most of what I focus on,” Larson said. “But there are times when I finally do open my lens a little bit more and can pay attention and see it.

“I just made a lap around here (the Perth Motorplex pit area, where any fan with a ticket to the race has access). There’s a lot of neon green (Larson’s colors in the No. 1K Pryde car). So, yeah, I realize that I’m a big deal, and a lot of people have seen me, and all that.”

Livery for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Larson drives in the Cup Series also had a noticeable presence in the Perth grandstands.

“I’ve signed a lot of Hendrick stuff, and I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say they’ve watched me at Daytona or Vegas,” Larson said. “There’s a lot of fans here who have been to the States for some NASCAR racing.”

Larson acknowledges he had a role model when it comes to competition in a wide variety of racing platforms.

“As far as growing the sport, I look at it kind of like when Tony (Stewart) was around doing it a lot and how I viewed him and how the crowds were when he was there,” he said. “It’s very similar now. So, no, he didn’t pass me the torch, but I feel like the torch is in my hands a little bit, which is a fun opportunity and something I take a lot of pride in.

“But at the same time, I just love racing, and I don’t feel like I’m any different than I was 10 years ago.”

Though Larson has built an international fan base, he doesn’t expect to overtake Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott in the voting for the NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver award — though he’s convinced he’s gaining in the grandstands.

In 2024, Elliott won the award for the seventh straight time, and Larson finished second in the sport’s only honor determined exclusively by fans.

“I think he wins that award by a landslide,” Larson said. “His fans — they vote, for sure. They know to vote. I don’t know, I think the popularity contest, or whatever you want to call it, is much closer than what the NASCAR award shows.

“I feel like when you look in the grandstands at a NASCAR race, it’s probably close to 50-50, I would say, between Chase Elliott shirts and Kyle Larson shirts. I think it’s cool for Hendrick Motorsports that the two most popular guys are racing for them.”

Larson says he doesn’t even bother to kid Elliott about the Most Popular Driver award.

“No, ’cause I think we all know that he’s going to win it every year anyway,” Larson said with a laugh. “So, there’s no point in competitive banter.”

Larson, as always, prefers to save the competition for the racetrack, where he takes a back seat to no one.

Footnote: Larson’s flight to Los Angeles arrived early enough for him to make his connection to Tulsa, where he practiced, attended the drivers’ meeting and celebrated son Cooper’s second birthday, all on Dec. 31 — the same day he took off from Perth, on the other side of the International Date Line. Larson is competing in four divisions at the biggest Micro race car event of the year.

By the time Larson landed in Tulsa, High Limit Racing already had announced a return engagement at Perth for 2025, with the winner’s share increased to $110,000 AUD (roughly $68,000 USD) and dates to be revealed later.

Kyle Larson’s HendrickCars paint scheme for 2025 NASCAR season revealed

Kyle Larson’s HendrickCars paint scheme for the 2025 NASCAR season has been revealed. Check out the look on Larson’s No. 5 car!

[autotag]Kyle Larson[/autotag] and Hendrickcars.com have become one of NASCAR’s most recognizable duos, and that trend will continue going into the 2025 season. On Friday morning, Hendrick Motorsports revealed Larson’s Hendrickcars.com paint scheme for the 2025 NASCAR season, and there actually is a very slight change!

In 2025, Larson will have the side skirts on his No. 5 car painted blue, which differs from the 2024 NASCAR season. Outside of the new blue side skirts, there aren’t any other changes; however, this is the right idea. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson created their identities at Hendrick Motorsports by having one notable paint scheme, whether it was DuPont or Lowe’s.

Larson ended the 2024 NASCAR season with six Cup Series victories, and the hope is that he can replicate or exceed those statistics next year. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is arguably NASCAR’s best driver, and making a slight upgrade to improve his iconic No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet is an excellent decision for the organization.

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‘Welcome to life on the No. 5 team’ Daniels says of being battle-hardened by Cup playoffs

Cliff Daniels pulled out a familiar phrase this week ahead of the final race in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and then grinned when called on it. Daniels, the crew chief on the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Kyle Larson, …

Cliff Daniels pulled out a familiar phrase this week ahead of the final race in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and then grinned when called on it.

Daniels, the crew chief on the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Kyle Larson, was participating in a media availability when expressing that his team has been battle-tested in the postseason. It’s the exact phrase and feeling Daniels used one year ago in the same media availability.

“Welcome to life on the No. 5 team,” Daniels replied when told of the déjà vu. “Anybody who watches the highlight reel of the No. 5 team since we’ve been this incarnation of the team, that’s just kind of who we are.”

There is no exaggeration or dramatics when it comes to Daniels. One of the most straightforward and controlled crew chiefs in the Cup Series garage, he can dig into the minute details about his race team and how they stack up in the bigger picture.

Regarding this year’s postseason run, Larson and Daniels have indeed been battled tested and will be again Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. The group is in a seven-point deficit to begin the elimination race after finishing 11th in Las Vegas, suffering damage early in the race and a later pit road miscue, and then a 13th place finish at Homestead-Miami after a tire puncture and separate solo spin.

But the tale of the tape goes back deeper.

Larson crashed in the first race of the playoffs at Atlanta but won the last race of the first round in dominating fashion at Bristol. Then came a tire issue in Kansas and another strong victory when closing out the second round at the Charlotte Roval.

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“It’s kind of been what our identity has become,” Daniels said about riding the highs and lows. “Eventually you get enough seat time experiencing those things that I can think of races two, three, four years ago that I rode the highs and the lows too much as the leader of the team and on down the line of all of our teammates and everybody as part of the team, probably Kyle included. Now we know that, hey, there’s going to be races that we’re just flat out going to wreck or have something crazy happen from the lead or when we’re in contention. Don’t get too low in those moments.”

“Then you have races like Bristol and the Roval where afterward everybody talks about how dominating the day was. For us, we don’t walk away beating our chest saying, ‘Wow, we just dominated that race.’ OK, we did our job that day, and now we know going into the next week, it could all flip-flop on its head again.”

The journey, as Daniel also described it, provides maturing and growth opportunities for the team. He can also appreciate those moments more than ever before because he believes it’s made the group tougher and more resilient.

“Who knows what the outcome of all of this will be, but I think our commitment to our process and each other outweighs anything [else],” Daniels said. “That’s what our priority is — being true to ourselves and the process and the outcome is what it is.”

Larson praised his team this weekend for the perseverance they’ve shown to be in the hunt to advance. The 2021 series champion doesn’t believe there is a team that is still left in the round that’s gone through more.

The No. 5 team’s recent track record speaks for itself, too — they won at Martinsville Speedway in the spring of 2023 and finished second at the track earlier this year.