Kyle Larson starts 16th in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet in Sunday’s Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
LOUDON, N.H. — For Kyle Larson, the pursuit of excellence often means chasing down the last unchecked box on his ever-expanding list of achievements. This Sunday, he’ll roll off 16th in the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12.
The one thing missing? A win at “The Magic Mile.”
While Larson has scored three wins in 2025, standing tall as one of Hendrick Motorsports’ most reliable drivers in his fifth season with the team, he has yet to conquer the tricky 1.058-mile oval in Loudon.
Despite the absence of a checkered flag here, Larson’s recent history shows a knack for putting himself in contention. He finished inside the top five in both of the series’ most recent trips in 2023 and 2024, underscoring his growing comfort with a track that demands patience, precision and adaptability.
This season alone, Larson has been a fixture near the front of the field. Through 29 starts, he’s amassed three wins, a pole, 11 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s, along with 939 laps led and nine stage victories.
His average finish of 14.6 belies the consistency with which he’s kept his No. 5 Chevrolet in the mix, especially on tracks where car control and tire management separate the good from the great.
Career-wise, Larson’s résumé already speaks volumes. In 395 Cup starts, he has notched 32 victories, 22 poles, 130 top-five finishes and 198 top-10s. His career average finish sits at 14.1, a figure emblematic of the steady presence he’s provided since arriving on the Cup scene in 2014.
New Hampshire has often been a grind for Larson. In 14 starts, he’s posted six top-fives and eight top-10s, leading 22 laps along the way. His average finish of 11.2, however, reveals how he’s consistently within striking distance despite never sealing the deal.
With two straight top-fives in the Granite State, the California native knows he’s within arm’s reach of a breakthrough.
Kyle Larson showcased solid long run pace in Saturday’s practice session for the Mobil 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
“I always have hope,” Larson said to Dustin Long of NBC NASCAR. “I didn’t have as much hope as I had in May. We were running really, really well, which I’m still not quite there, probably, which our results don’t show that we should either. But I’m confident in my team and the people and the group of all the hundreds of men and women at Hendrick Motorsports (who) have been working really hard. I feel like we are close. It’s just gotta kind of all come together.”
That blend of realism and optimism defines Larson’s approach. He’s never been shy about assessing where his No. 5 team stands, and entering Loudon, he knows execution will determine whether his car can climb from mid-pack into contention.
Larson also shrugged off questions about Hendrick Motorsports’ absence from the Goodyear tire test at New Hampshire earlier this year, a session attended by drivers like recent Bristol Night Race winner Christopher Bell and three-time Cup champion and polesitter Joey Logano.
“I mean, I never really thought of it until you just brought it up,” Larson said. “So, I mean, sure, you’d like to have a Hendrick car here, but I’m sure we had Hendrick people here because of the technical alliance with RCR and Trackhouse. So there’s that. So I don’t know. I don’t really have anything on that.”
Instead of dwelling on potential disadvantages, Larson points to data gathered earlier this year at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he and crew chief Cliff Daniels felt they made strides on a comparable short, flat track.
“Everyone at [Hendrick Motorsports] has been putting a lot of emphasis on short tracks for a while now, really focusing on improving our performance,” Larson said in a team press release. “The speed we had at [World Wide Technology Raceway] was encouraging. I felt we were a top-two-or-three car, maybe even better. That gives us a lot of optimism for the rest of the year, especially at the shorter, flatter tracks like New Hampshire and Phoenix [Raceway].”
The Mobil 1 301 is not just another race; it’s the start of a critical three-week stretch in the Round of 12. With only four spots available to advance beyond the Round of 8, every point matters, especially for drivers like Larson who enter with momentum but not much margin for error.
A win would not only lock him into the next round, it would also erase one of the few asterisks in his otherwise robust track record.
“Yeah, I always love coming to this region,” Larson said. “Maybe they see a lot of racing up here. But I feel like they don’t. I feel like the season’s pretty short here. So I feel like the fans are really excited, you know, to see racing and especially see NASCAR.”
“So yeah, the atmosphere is always great. You pull in and drive in pretty much through the midway to get into the infield. It’s always looking pretty good. So yeah I like coming here.”
Sunday’s race presents challenges from the start. Larson will have to navigate traffic from his 16th-place starting position, a potential minefield if early cautions shuffle the field.
Kyle Larson starts relatively midfield for Sunday’s Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Track position at New Hampshire often dictates race outcomes, with clean air and pit strategy holding significant weight. Daniels and the No. 5 crew will need to capitalize on caution cycles and pit calls to help Larson gain ground.
Still, the No. 5 team has proven resourceful in adapting to race conditions, even on weekends where raw speed isn’t apparent early.
“I think there’s things that you can apply, but it’s still a different racetrack,” Larson said. “And I’m sure there’s different tendencies that go along with driving and setup and all of that. We didn’t qualify well, but, we’ll look at it all and hopefully, hopefully make the right adjustments going into the race.”
In many ways, Larson’s pursuit of a Loudon victory mirrors the larger themes of his career: persistence, refinement and the ability to rise when it matters most.
While his stats prove he’s among the sport’s elite, the hunger to conquer a new frontier keeps him sharp.
He enters Sunday with momentum, confidence in his Hendrick team and the track record of improvement that suggests his first New Hampshire triumph may be near.
And should he add a Granite State trophy to his collection, it would serve not only as his fourth win of the season but also as a powerful statement as the playoffs march forward.
For now, Larson is focused on the task at hand. As he’s shown time and again, he doesn’t need to start at the front to finish there.
If Loudon unfolds the way his last two visits have, fans in New England may finally see Larson’s No. 5 Camaro parked in Victory Lane, erasing one more gap in a career already packed with milestones.
