Kyle Larson becomes 20th driver to win for Hendrick Motorsports
For Kyle Larson, it has only been 14 starts since his last win, but the win came with Chip Ganassi Racing at Dover in October 2019, a time when driving for Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) seemed unlikely for Larson. Now, after an eventful one year and five months for Larson, he has become the 20th driver to win for HMS in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Larson won Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas by 3.156 seconds over second-place Brad Keselowski. Larson led 103 laps, including the final 30, en route to his seventh career Cup win and Hendrick Motorsports’ 265th win as an organization.
For Larson, it is a culmination of a return from a fall from grace stemming from an infamous April 2020 incident.
“Once I got the white flag and had the lead, I was all choked up,” Larson stated. “After I did my donuts and stuff, I had myself contained.”
Larson also bested a record for fewest starts before winning with HMS that was previously held by Terry Labonte. Labonte won his first race with HMS in his seventh start while Larson won in his fourth start.
Larson’s win was the first in the NASCAR Cup Series for crew chief Cliff Daniels, who worked with Jimmie Johnson in late-2019 and 2020.
Prior to serving as Johnson’s crew chief, Daniels worked under Chad Knaus as Johnson’s race engineer from 2015 to 2018, which was valuable experience for him.
“Some valuable things I learned from Jimmie and Chad, is to always think ahead,” Daniels said. “We had worked up two contingency plans so we knew what we were going to do if a caution came out.”
Larson is currently third in the regular season points standings, 40 points behind regular season points leader Denny Hamlin.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com