Champion Kyle Larson Ready to Return to Winning Ways
After setting the racing world on fire in a sprint car, Kyle Larson did the same in his return to the Cup Series. In his first eight full seasons he won a grand total of six Cup races. In his first season with Hendrick Motorsports last year, he won ten races on his way to winning the championship.
Larson has certainly cooled off this season, with just one victory through 14 races. It has been quite the up-and-down season for the 29-year old. He finished 29th or worse in four of the first six races, but the other two he finished 1st and 2nd. His feast-or-famine season continued with three consecutive top-six finishes, followed by a 36th place result at Darlington. He backed that up with a runner-up finish at Kansas.
The Coca-Cola 600 last weekend at Charlotte was the perfect microcosm of Larson's 2022 season.
That weekend began with a wreck in practice that forced him to start in the back of the field after missing qualifying. He spun on Lap 166 of the race, hit the wall several times, had a fuel cap catch on fire, and he served three penalties during pit stops, which sent him to the back of the field each time.
While running in 25th position, Larson told his crew on the radio: “I think this is the worst race of my life and we’re only halfway.” Cliff Daniels is Larson's crew chief, and also his motivational speaker. Daniels was able to get Larson focused on the positives and they began to work their way back through the field.
On Lap 354 Larson took the lead and appeared to be headed for an improbable victory. A late caution set up a wild overtime finish in which Austin Dillon triggered a seven-car crash that included Larson as they battled for the win. His hopes for a victory were gone but he still managed a top-ten finish.
"The first half was a struggle for all of us," Larson said. "I was especially frustrated with myself. To rebound from that and have a shot to win there late was something to be proud of. Wish we would have just been a little bit better so he never would have got to me, ultimately spinning. I don’t know, I just kind of had to clear my mind, I guess. I was just mad at myself."
Larson made 197 passes in the race, by far the most among all drivers. It was an impressive run, but Larson gives all the credit to his crew chief.
"The first half was not good on many levels, but then Cliff gave a great speech, and we were much better in the second half of the race. I didn’t really think I was going to have a shot to battle for the win there and really had a shot the last 100 laps or so. I’m proud of my team, Cliff did a great job leading our team and keeping us all calm and focused."
Going into today, Larson is riding a 12-race winless streak, his longest since joining Rick Hendrick's team. He qualified 15th yesterday, the highest of the team’s four drivers. Still, he was listed as the favorite by odds-makers heading into the weekend. Larson was given +800 odds, or an implied 11.1 percent chance to win the race. This marks the 11th time this season that Larson has been named the betting favorite.
Today's race at World Wide Technology Raceway is the first for the Cup Series, but 22 of the 36 drivers in the field have run an Xfinity or Truck race here before. Larson is not one of them, making today's challenge even greater.
Nearing the halfway point of the season, Larson's 15.2 average finishing position is his worst since the 2015 season. After leading 2,581 laps a year ago, he has just 247 this season. More importantly, the top-five finishes are still there, but he just hasn't been able to convert those into wins. The execution is something that he and Daniels plan to work on over the next few weeks.
One aspect that is somewhat out of their control is the bad luck. In the 36 races last season, Larson failed to finish just twice. Those came on the superspeedways at Talladega and Daytona. Larson already has twice as many DNF's this season, which has been a big reason why their average finishing position is so low.
Larson has led laps in 11 of the 14 races, including each of the last six events. They have been in contention for race wins, they just haven't materialized. The question now is whether or not the bad luck will continue, or if they will finally turn the tide. Should the latter happen, it could be bad news for the rest of the competition.
The NextGen car has provided a sizeable dosage of parity this season, but nearly halfway through the 36-race schedule, teams and drivers seem to have a firm grip on things. There are still some unknowns, dealing with variables like today - racing at a track for the first time.
Larson is one of the few drivers without any experience at this track. "I haven’t raced here. I’ve raced at Tri-City Speedway, which is 15 minutes from here. Pevely Raceway, which is probably 35 minutes away and then at the Dome (in downtown St. Louis) so I’ve raced all around it, but never here."
"I’m excited. I haven’t had too much time at all to prepare. I hadn’t gotten to run any laps here to test or nothing on a simulator. I’m excited about the opportunity. I’ve always wanted to race here, so it’s nice that we have Cup weekend here now." Despite still learning, Larson will have 240 laps this afternoon to figure it out. That should be more than enough time for him to find his way to the front.
