Kyle Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels fought for a podium finish at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
AVONDALE, Ariz. — From jump street to finish, Kyle Larson and his No. 5 team fought hard in the moments that mattered in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Starting from the 17th position, Larson dealt with handling issues in terms of lateral grip. His pace was respectable but it was not quite up to par with the heavy hitters like William Byron, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney.
Still, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet was not exactly an afterthought on the track. In Stage 1, Larson captured a 10th place finish, securing a valuable stage point.
A longer Stage 2 provided a fair barometer with Larson’s handling woes, firing off with decent speed before falling outside of the top 10. Despite the struggles, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion emerged with a ninth place result, tallying two more stage points.
With three stage points in the bank, Larson urged his Chevrolet to the best of his abilities even when he fell back to 13th at one point in Stage 3. Crew chief Cliff Daniels kept calm and composed, ensuring his driver that he and the team would keep working on the car.
Bit by bit, Larson worked his way up to 11th when contenders like Bubba Wallace hit the Turn 2 wall to bring out a caution on Lap 269. Another yellow flag for Blaney’s engine failure, resulting in fluid on the track prompted another caution on Lap 291.
By this point, Larson and the lead lap contenders opted for the option, softer tire compounds. Larson’s car seemed to come to life in these short run spurts with Tyler Monn guiding and encouraging the Elk Grove, California, native about some crisp lines.
Ty Gibbs‘ Turn 4 incident resulted in the race’s final caution on Lap 306 which resulted in NASCAR Overtime. Restarting on the inside of Row 2, Larson’s car cut well in the corners, able to keep up and challenge Bell and Denny Hamlin.
Kyle Larson battled the handling of his No. 5 Chevrolet before getting it right for the finish of Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
The only determent was time as Larson ran out of it, placing third and capturing his second podium in the first four races of the year.
“I felt like I did an OK job to give myself the best opportunity,” Larson said. “I was hoping to help Denny (Hamlin) down the back and then they would get racing, like they did, and then maybe they would make a bigger mistake in front of us and we could sneak by.
“It almost happened, but we just came up a little bit short. We still have a lot of work to do. William (Byron) seemed decent, but the rest of us (Hendrick Motorsports drivers) weren’t very good. We just have to keep working and try to make things a little bit easier.”
Given Phoenix’s unique layout, Larson tried to take advantage of it but went the safe route to preserve the best, possible result.
“I had a big enough line to go to the inside of it,” he recalled. “My angle can be really bad here, and I’m probably going to cause a crash. I’m already so bogged down, they’re already coming behind me.
“So, yeah, at the last second, I’m like, maybe I’ll go to the top in the straightaway and get them hopefully side-by-side, or who knows what would happen. So, yeah, I felt like I made the right decisions there at the end. I was hoping Bell would get a little bit more desperate and really wash up into Denny.”
Moving up to 11th in the points standings, Larson would like nothing more but to keep the strong results coming along.
Kyle Larson tallied his second podium of 2025 while overcoming handling issues in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
“Yeah, I think for sure it does. So, yeah, hopefully it stays that way,” Larson said. “It’s good to have good finishes like that.”
Perhaps the added wrinkle in the red, option tires kept things interesting for Larson although he and his team will debrief and review the data upon their return to the Hendrick campus in Concord, North Carolina.
“It’s right out of the race, so it’s hard to… I need to think about how the race played out for everybody, but it was cool at times,” he shared. “It’s hard to predict, obviously, so that’s good and bad, I think. But, I don’t know, just curious what other people think.”
Editor’s Notes
Michele Aerin contributed to this article onsite from Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
