BRISTOL, Tenn. — A week after Kyle Larson spent most of the race in the garage at Darlington, he spent most of the race in the lead at Bristol en route to his second victory of the season.
Both races may prove critical in Larson’s bid for a second Cup title and Hendrick Motorsports’ quest for its first Cup championship in four seasons — a drought for NASCAR’s most successful organization.
A week ago, Larson’s mistake sent his No. 5 car into the wall less five laps into the race. He spent more than 160 laps in the garage as his team made repairs. Larson only gained one position — going from 38th to 37th — but there was more that crew chief Cliff Daniels and the team got from the experience.
“There are so many valuable things that we took away just from a process standpoint and even working with NASCAR,” Daniels said. “Something I will highlight is how keen they were on us rebuilding the car with all the proper safety aspects still in the car. Daggone it, if we didn’t hit the wall again in the same spot, and the car was safe, and all those things were done.
“It was two-fold, and a team exercise of getting a car that was put together well, back on track that we could go work on performance.”
Sunday at Bristol, Larson led 411 of 500 laps to score his second consecutive victory at this high-banked half-mile track.
“ … To make a deep run in the playoffs, you have to know how to push that edge of your team to go do the execution items to qualify well, to pit from the front, to keep it up front, Kyle managing the lanes as the leader, restarts, communication, timing,” Daniels said. “A lot of those things are just vital components.”
But work remains for Larson’s team — and those of his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports — to give the organization its first title since Larson won the 2021 crown. Only once since 1995 has Hendrick Motorsports gone four consecutive years without winning the Cup crown.
“We have high standards,” said Jeff Gordon, chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. “So it’s been nice. And I think we’ve been happy (with performances this year). But no, we’re definitely not satisfied. … I think we’re still behind when it comes to looking at the 10 (playoff) races and the championship.
“There’s some real good tracks in there for us, but there are some tracks that are concerning, and we want to get to Phoenix. I think Phoenix right now, we’re not the team to beat, and we’ve got a long way to go, luckily, and I hope we can find it.
“We have the best people in the business to be able to do that. Race wins like today are rewarding in many ways and will motivate us, but this is not Phoenix, and I think we know that.”
The Hendrick Motorsports star dedicated the victory to his late PR rep.
Daniels also recognizes what remains ahead for he and his team.
“We still do believe that there’s more performance to go get at the Gateways and Loudons and Martinsvilles, and especially Phoenix,” he said. “That we’ve been a little bit behind some of those other guys.
“There’s work out there ahead of us that we need to go get and find the little bits of performance, but certainly having the dichotomy of such a dismal Sunday a week ago and the great Sunday that we had today is important for our team. We’re going to keep growing and building on it, and still a long season ahead.”
Sunday was a long race for Larson’s competitors.
“I think the (No.) 5 was the best,” said Denny Hamlin, who finished second to Larson. “Car and driver was the best today. That was all I had to to run them down and stay close to them. … I think it was a thing where he qualified well, set the tone early with the pace and never looked back. … They’re on their game. When they hit it, they’re hard to beat.”
