Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is in the midst of one of the most dominant runs that the NASCAR Cup Series has seen in the last decade. Dating back to May 9 in Darlington, he has finished no worse than second place, Led 915 out of a possible 1,806 laps, and now has won three consecutive races. Four if you include NASCAR’s All-Star Race. Larson, who was essentially blacklisted from NASCAR early last year, has made the most of his second chance. His latest win last weekend in Nashville was his most dominant yet. That leads to the million-dollar question in motorsports: Who can stop Kyle Larson?
The Fall to Rock Bottom
Before this mind-numbing run of Larson’s is addressed, his banishment from the sport in 2020 has to be first, as it is a major part of the story. A part that feels like NASCAR has intentionally avoided, outside of a few brief mentions here and there on broadcasts. Once the pandemic first brought everything to a standstill, drivers streaming iRacing became a major hit. One night there was a race hosted that featured a slew of professional drivers, Larson included. He was caught on stream talking to someone that he likely thought he was in a private chat with, and instead publicly used a racial slur (you can probably guess the one). Word of this spread near instantaneously throughout the motorsports community and action was taken almost immediately.
Soon after, sponsors and his then-team Chip Ganassi Racing caught wind of this. Sponsors including McDonald’s and Credit One bank discontinued their on-track support for Larson almost instantly. Manufacturer Chevrolet suspended its support for him as well, which was the most significant of the bunch. This led to Larson being let go from Chip Ganassi Racing and indefinitely suspended by NASCAR. All of this took place inside of 24 hours, and quite frankly was deserved. A major black eye to racing as a whole, and to Larson, who could likely carry it for the rest of his career.
Road to Redemption
As a part of his suspension, Larson had to take a mandatory racial sensitivity course, completing it in about a month. Larson is also following up with the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality non-profit through 2023. Good first steps, but he seemed determined to go further, doing so with the help of some old friends. Anthony and Michelle Martin are a couple from Philadelphia. Anthony founded the Philly-based Urban Youth Racing School back in 1998. The UYRS is a program that helps underserved urban K-12 students get acclimated to career paths that motorsports has to offer, doing so through a variety of STEM programs. An all-around fantastic program.
Larson had a relationship with the Martins and school prior to the incident. He personally went there to apologize for his actions. In a fantastic piece with the Charlotte Observer last week, Michelle Martin said that she needed to see that Larson was sorry for what he did, and not the fact he was caught. “Kyle was sorry that it ever happened, so I felt that he deserved a second chance,” she said. Moreover, Larson stayed at the school for nearly four hours that day. He was listening to Martin give an African American history lesson.
This year, Larson (through his own foundation) is putting his money where his mouth is. He is donating five dollars per lap he runs, and $5,000 for every top-five he gets to the UYRS. If you are of the mindset that Larson cannot be forgiven, that is fair. What he said was horrible, reprehensible, and most of all racist. However, based on his actions, a second chance felt warranted and NASCAR would agree, as he was reinstated at the beginning of 2021.
Hendrick Power Play
Larson’s lifeline, in this case, would be none other than Rick Hendrick. Hendrick happened to be in the market for a new driver with Jimmie Johnson retiring. This was a move that had been speculated on for what felt like years by fans and pundits alike. The deal would be unveiled before last season concluded in October. While fan intrigue was high with this move, sponsors were not matching that enthusiasm. Not a shocking turn of events, but Hendrick could pay out-of-pocket for at least some races with his Hendrickcars brand.
The first set of outside sponsors to bite would be Cincinnati and Freightliner. Both companies have sponsored other Hendrick cars in the past. They would pick up a pair of races each for Larson’s No. 5 car. NationsGuard would also hop on board, sponsoring Larson for this year’s Daytona 500 and two additional races. Valvoline additionally jumped on the five-car around a month ago, as well.
Larson’s new beginning would start off well, all things considered. A 10th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a fifth at Homestead would sandwich a 30th at the Daytona Road Course to begin 2021. That next weekend in Las Vegas, Larson would pick up his first NASCAR Cup Series win in a year and a half. He led 103 out of 267 laps. From there, there were some hits and misses. The lowlight being a 29th at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt race that he was heavily favored in. But just after the calendar flipped to May, Larson found himself in the groove.
Summer of Larson
Larson would start May with a 19th at Kansas, in The Buschy McBusch Race 400. Dead serious about that race name, by the way. From there, he would rattle off three consecutive second-place finishes at Darlington, Dover, and the Circuit Of the Americas. The latter would have likely been a win, had NASCAR decided to keep the race going, albeit under unsafe conditions. At this year’s Coca-Cola 600, Larson would lay down a 400-lap master class, leading 327 laps en route to winning one of NASCAR’s crown jewels.
A week later an hour away from his hometown of Elk Grove, CA, Larson would win on the road course at Sonoma. For good measure, he would take home his second-ever NASCAR All-Star race in Texas, winning a crisp $1 million in the process. Finally, we hit this last Sunday, where in NASCAR’s return to Nashville, Larson would once again win in no doubt fashion, leading all but 36 laps in the Ally 400.
To this point in the season here is how Larson stacks up. He accounts for over half of Hendrick Motorsport’s eight wins, leads all Cup drivers in wins, and is sitting second in points to Denny Hamlin, with 32 bonus points to take into the playoffs. That nearly doubles up the driver with the second most, Martin Truex Jr. (18). If the question is “Who can stop Kyle Larson”, the answer right now is nobody. As long as he is running like he is, the rest of the Cup Series field is in for quite the summer.
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