It was a respectable podium finish for Kyle Larson at Road America. (Photo: Logan Skidan | The Podium Finish)
While Kyle Larson has not put up the dominant statistics from last year into this season, he’s starting to turn the tide in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy Camaro.
After tallying a fourth at Nashville Superspeedway, Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports team approached Road America with a quiet confidence. In fact, the 29-year-old Elk Grove, California native had a shot at sweeping the races.
All in all, Larson had a solid Road America weekend. (Photo: Logan Skidan | The Podium Finish)
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion kicked off his weekend on a strong note by tallying the pole for Saturday’s Henry 180, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Making his first start in that division since 2018, Larson was a lap away from a victory before Ty Gibbs bested him on the final circuit.
Earning the third starting position for Sunday’s Kwik Trip 250, the Californian and his team, led by interim crew chief Kevin Meendering, opted for a traditional road course race strategy.
Rather than opting for stage win or stage points, Larson pitted within the final three laps of the first two stages. Suffice to say, this strategy, while safe, spared Larson from having to play catch up as seen at COTA and Sonoma.
In the early going, Larson seemed to match Reddick’s pace. (Photo: Mike Moore | The Podium Finish)
Certainly Larson had a fast car, evident by his ability to keep up with Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott during the open laps of a green flag run. However, as the run progressed, Reddick and Elliott pulled away which left Larson essentially fighting for best of the rest classification.
All things considered, with regular crew chief, Cliff Daniels, serving half of his four race suspension, Larson and his No. 5 team scored their second consecutive top five finish.
After placing third, a 13 position improvement over last year’s race results, Larson seemed content with his day.
“Tyler and Chase were really good throughout the duration of a run,” Larson said to NASCAR on NBC’s Kim Coon. “I seemed to be OK early and then just slowly fade away from them. I felt honestly pretty good. They must’ve had better grip and they’re really good road racers. Honestly, they’re probably a little bit better than I am.
“So, it was a good, clean race for us. I’m happy to get a top three. It was successful for my standards.”
Larson observed his team’s execution, particularly during pit stops, while noting more of his car’s best in class status.
Perhaps Larson and his No. 5 team are rediscovering the consistency that rewarded them with the 2021 Cup title. (Photo: Logan Skidan | The Podium Finish)
“Yeah, it was really smooth,” he remarked. “I knew the 8 (Reddick) was really good; and obviously the 9 (Elliott) was really good. I felt like we were third best and we finished third best. A nice, smooth day and our pit crew was great the few times we came down pit road. Our car was good enough to run where we did.”
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Larson should be locked into the Playoffs despite one win after 18 races. As his attention turns to next Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he praised the series’ newest and first time winner, Reddick, on his latest feat.
“That’s quite a lot of winners and it’s really cool (to have) a lot of first time winners,” he observed. “Tyler was outside the bubble, I think, coming into this week. For him to win was awesome.
“It’s special for the Northern California fans out there. Tyler and I grew up racing together in the West Coast. I know Lowell and Becky Morale will be proud. It’s really neat and hats off to them and their team.”
With the second half of the season kicking off at the newly refit Atlanta, Larson hopes to parlay some of his Talladega spring success for his second victory of the year. Races like Nashville and Road America may be a sign of things to come for the defending champion.
