Kyle Larson finally returned to Victory Lane at Richmond Raceway. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. – Perhaps Kyle Larson hit the reset button following last October’s heartbreaking Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After all, the 30-year-old Elk Grove, California native typically raced with gusto, aggression and tenacity, sometimes pushing his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro beyond its limits. While such intensity can be commended, it compromised Larson with seven Did Not Finishes (DNFs), dropping him from his 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship to a seventh place points result.
One of Larson’s goals heading into the season was to do as much as the car can give, taking the best finish possible versus his high stakes, everything on the line approach.
While Larson entered last Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway with two DNFs, both were not as a result of unforced errors. In this case, he was a victim of circumstances with the accidents at Daytona and Atlanta.
Still, he entered the seventh round of the season ranked 10th in the points battle, recently regaining the 100 points previously taken from an L2 penalty doled out to the Californian’s No. 5 team and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
Larson seemed like one of the top two best drivers at Richmond Raceway. (Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
Following a hardy, improbable rally to finish on the lead lap in the 14th position after the prior Sunday’s race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Larson was more than up for the challenge at Richmond.
Starting in the ninth position due to rain cancelling last Saturday’s practice and qualifying rounds, Larson wasted little time climbing up the leaderboard. Placing second in Stage 1, trailing William Byron, his Hendrick teammate, the 2021 champion fell back to an eighth place result in Stage 2.
However, the circumstances leading to his eighth place finish in Stage 2 provided some context with his pit road collision involving Daniel Suárez.
“I wouldn’t say that ever crept into my mind. I was just kind of hoping and praying that the damage was the reason why it got slow,” Larson said. “Obviously, couldn’t see the damage. Still haven’t seen how it was dented, but I was definitely a lot slower then. So I was hoping once we got to the end of the second stage that they could fix it and then that our car would go back to normal because I was surprised at how bad I was after that.
“So I felt like before that pit stop we were going to cruise to a stage two win and then I kind of fell apart there. So I was just mad at the situation and mad at just not knowing if it was the damage why I was bad or if the track had gone through transition and we were going to be average the rest of the race.”
Average best defined Larson’s prior results at Richmond with results of fifth and 14th in last year’s races. However, last Sunday’s race was anything but ordinary for the 11-year Cup racer, especially when he learned what slowed him down toward the end of Stage 2.
“Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and we were able to get refocused there to start the third stage and inch our way forward and then have some things work out for us, cautions work out at the right time, and our pit crew executed a great pit stop at the last one,” he said.
After the No. 5 team repaired the damaged right front prior to the first green flag laps of Stage 3, Larson rallied to the front of the field.
On this occasion, Larson made sure he was back in the winner’s circle in the Dominion State. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
Smooth spotting by Tyler Monn and steadfast communication and leadership by Kevin Meendering, the interim crew chief, propelled Larson to his first win of the year.
Naturally, the versatile racer had a great week after the COTA race weekend, especially once the National Motorsports Appeals Panel presided over and returned the 100 points deducted each from the teams of Larson, William Byron, and Josh Berry.
Learning about the appeals result during a Goodyear tire test at Charlotte, Larson does not intend to change the course with his new, refined approach.
“It doesn’t really change my outlook for the rest of the season,” he said. “I felt like, yes, we got hit with 100 points and all that, but I felt like our race car is really fast all year long.
“So I knew we were going to have many opportunities to win. Yeah, we were just able to do that today, and I know we’re going to have more opportunities going forward. It really doesn’t — nothing has changed my confidence. Just try to keep executing.”
Part of Larson’s focus on maximizing with on-track execution has been reducing the self-inflicted errors. He acknowledged that a few were made after his contact with Bubba Wallace and learned from it especially after the pit road contact with Suárez.
“I feel like a lot of the races — even looking at (COTA), my race was going good in the beginning, and then one small mishap turned into me trying too hard, and I made a lot more mistakes and kind of hurt our day going forward,” he said. “So when I was going backwards in the second stage and mad, I just needed a caution to take a break and then tell myself just to not overreact and just we still have 170-something laps left or whatever it was.
“It’s plenty of time to get back to the front. So our car was good enough to do that too.”
Certainly, Larson maximized with his No. 5 ride at Richmond, leading 93 of the 400 laps run. Moreover, Larson’s 20th Cup career win had some special timing.
“Then, yeah, the impact of Hendrick Motorsports has been amazing for my career obviously,” he said. “I’ve won a lot of races with them and a championship in 2021. It’s Ricky Hendrick’s birthday today. That I learned about as well.
“Just a great day all around for Hendrick Motorsports. Great week especially. So, yeah, a lot of significance to this week, and I’ll probably remember it now for a long time.”
It was a fitting tribute to Hendrick, who drove a No. 5 Chevrolet nearly identical to Laron’s regular, weekend ride. Along with good communication with Meendering paid dividends, especially at the 0.75-mile paved speedway, Larson’s pit crew delivered with a money pit stop inside the final 25 laps.
It was just another sunshiny Sunday afternoon for Larson. (Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
Undoubtedly, Larson will pursue Sunday night’s Bristol Night Race trophy especially given his propensity to succeed on dirt tracks. That said, a little reminiscing seemed to do wonders for Larson with his latest Cup victory.
“Me racing this 5 car has been special, but especially this paint scheme,” Larson said. “I was watching just flipping through old YouTube videos this week of my 2021 season so I could remind myself that I used to be good.
“But I didn’t realize after watching it that Vegas was my first win with Hendrick. And that was my first race with that paint scheme and the colors that year.”
