Kyle Larson celebrates his maiden Martinsville victory on Sunday, Apr. 16. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. – While Kyle Larson has a somewhat contentious relationship with short tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series, he is making a regular habit of winning at these tricky venues this year.
If it were not for a run-in and skirmish with Ryan Preece during the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, perhaps the 30-year-old Elk Grove, Californian would be a perfect 3-for-3 at these technical bullrings.
Still, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion is off to a stellar start with two victories and a Playoff spot likely sealed about four months in advance. Moreover, Sunday’s victory was the total team win with the return of Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief.
Things were not off to a smooth start for the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro team at Martinsville Speedway. Namely, Larson qualified 19th out of 36 drivers vying for the NOCO 400 win and grandfather clock.
Prior to the 400-lap race at the 0.526 mile charter track, Larson shared his thoughts about pursuing a victory at Martinsville.
Larson and his No. 5 team kept working on the car and precious track position. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
“I want to win at any track that I haven’t won at,” Larson said in a team press release. “Martinsville has been a place I’ve struggled at pretty regularly. Last year, we had two good races at Martinsville. I feel like it is potentially in our future to win a race there.
“If I did, that would probably be the all-time biggest win of my life, because any time you can accomplish something that is difficult to you or you don’t think you can accomplish, it means a lot.”
Despite starting 19th, Larson marched his way inside the top 10 in the first 50 laps, settling for a ninth place finish in Stage 1.
Once Stage 2 was underway, the track conditions changed with the track surface becoming more slick thanks to the clearing skies. The decreasing amount of grip placed an emphasis on near to precisely neutral handling.
Larson’s No. 5 car needed some adjustments to keep up with the changing track conditions as he slipped to a 10th place result in Stage 2.
However, crew chief Cliff Daniels and Larson’s over-the-wall crew kept working on the handling of the car. In tandem with some well-timed caution periods, Larson, much like his Richmond rally, started to climb up the scoring order.
A couple of yellow flag periods brought Larson in contention, starting with the Lap 302 caution for Anthony Alfredo’s loose right rear tire before the start/finish line stripe on the frontstretch.
Before the race changing caution, Larson pitted for four tires and fuel, driving his way back into the lead lap. Once the caution was out, Larson found himself in second, on the lead lap and with a shot to win the race.
By all means, Larson capitalized on some well-timed cautions and pit strategies by Daniels and his No. 5 team. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
To his credit, Larson maintained his second place running position before a Lap 344 caution for JJ Yeley’s Turn 3 accident. Setting up for a sprint to the finish, for Martinsville standards, the Californian dropped from second to fifth as a quartet of lead lap contenders stayed out for track position.
After the Lap 355 restart, Larson capitalized on his two fresh right side tires, quickly working his way up to second by Lap 367.
From there, it was a matter of time before the versatile racer challenged Joey Logano, the two-time and defending Cup champion, for the lead.
On Lap 372, Larson took the lead from Logano and drove to a 4.142 second victory.
Following a lengthy, clockwise burnout lap around the short track, Larson reflected on his 21st Cup win with pride and a sense of accomplishment.
“I think when you can accomplish something that you don’t see possible, when you do accomplish it, it moves up the ladder pretty high,” Larson said. “So this is an extremely special win for me. I’ve worked very hard to get better here. I feel like every time there’s a test available, I get put on that list to test here because I struggle. We want to get better.
“I’ve got tons of laps around here, and not many top tens. Honestly probably more races where I have finished a lap down than on the lead lap. So it’s been difficult.”
Given the Californian’s success on intermediates and natural superspeedways, it is a bit of a surprise that Larson’s two wins have come at short tracks. Regardless if it is a dominant or last lap comeback, it is a win given how difficult NASCAR is on any competitor and their team.
Moreover, a win by a Hendrick driver at Martinsville is bound to bring up intense emotions. Aside from some struggles around this track, Larson recognized the significance of his victory, especially for Daniels, who raced late models at this venue, and the Hendrick family.
“When you can win at a place like this, it is definitely up there,” he said. “I was teared up the whole last lap. I heard Cliff was teared up too. So that feels really, really special because he is so strong and, like, emotionally strong. To hear that means a lot.
“This win here today means a lot for everybody and, too, Hendrick Motorsports as well with everything that they’ve — everything that this kind of racetrack and trip means to them.”
Once Larson joined the No. 5 team in 2021, Daniels made it a point to catalyze the former’s efforts at Southwest Virginia venue. Namely, it went beyond mechanics and data.
“I think just the fact that all the conversations he and I have had here, he has had so much doubt in himself, but we’ve continued to stay true to our process, how we prepare, the data we look at, everything that we study,” Daniels said. “He has been very open to any adjustments he has needed to make on his end.
“It’s kind of a two-way conversation from what can he do better and different and what can we do better and different with the car that really I would say the work behind the scenes, the work in preparation to get here today is what I’m most proud of because you saw at the end of the race when our car was good and he knew he had a shot, he did a great job to go through some of those guys, get to Joey, have a clean, for the most part, race for the win and laid down some really good laps to finish out the day.”
From a historical standpoint, Larson ended a near 39-year winless drought for the No. 5 car at Martinsville. Significantly, the only other occasion in which Hendrick’s original entry won at this facility was on Apr. 29, 1984, the first ever win for Geoff Bodine and the Hendrick Motorsports team, then known as All-Star Racing.
Larson saluted the race fans with a rather unique clockwise burnout lap. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
It has been said that Bodine’s 1984 win saved the Hendrick organization. Little did a car salesman, an outsider to the stock car scene in the 1980s, realize how he would see his organization win 294 more times.
On Apr. 16, 2023, the win was a reminder of the hard work put forth by Hendrick, those who contributed to his team’s legacy and those who have taken it to the next level in 2023.
“I think any time you can win in the 5 car, it’s got special meaning,” Larson said. “Winning at Richmond on Ricky’s birthday was special. Then any Hendrick Motorsports win across any of the cars at Martinsville is always special for the reasons there.
“Yeah, it’s just a place that means a lot to the organization and feels great to win and then get to hear from Rick and hear how excited he was.”
Editor’s Notes
Seth Eggert of Kickin’ The Tires contributed to this article directly on-site from Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.
