HEADS CAROLINA, TAILS CALIFORNIA: In the most recent NASCAR weekend, Kyle Larson ran double duty at his home premier series track, Sonoma Raceway. The Elk Grove, California, native drove Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet during the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 1.99-mile long Northern California road course. Larson dominated the field in practice, earned the pole position during qualifying, won stages one and two before finishing third. In the NASCAR Cup Series race, the No. 5 Valvoline driver was at the top of the board in practice. Larson started 16th for Sunday’s race and gained eight positions during the 218.9-mile-long race, finishing in eighth place.
DIRT ON MY BOOTS: Pacing the field for 264 circuits, Larson has led the most laps in the two Ally 400 races at Nashville Superspeedway. This is more than double that of the second-place competitor with only 114 laps led. He has also run the most laps in the top five at the 1.33-mile oval (361). Larson holds the best average finish (2.5) and is one of only two drivers to finish in the top five during both races (first in 2021 and fourth in 2022). This year's Nashville event comes after the Cup Series off weekend and in the past, the 30-year-old driver has had no problem swinging back into full gear. In August 2021, following a two-week break for the circuit, Larson won the premier series race at Watkins Glen International.
FAST CAR: The 2021 Cup Series champion has led 588 laps in 2023 - in all of 2022, he only led 635. He trails only teammate William Byron (717) in this stat and has 154 more laps led than the third-place competitor. Larson ranks third for the most laps run in the top five this season (1,722) and the most laps run in the top 10 (2,631).
CHASIN’ YOU: The two-time points race winner in 2023 has the second-most top-five finishes this season (six), just behind teammate Byron (seven). With five wins in the Next Gen car, Larson is in a four-way tie along with teammates Byron and Chase Elliott for the most wins to date in the current generation stock car.
WAGON WHEEL: The No. 5 HendrickCars.com pit crew has the second-fastest average four-tire pit stop time in 2023 at 11.070 seconds. They shaved 0.018 seconds off their average during the race at Sonoma. The team’s five-man pit crew consists of Blaine Anderson (front-tire changer), R.J. Barnette (tire carrier), Brandon Harder (fueler), Brandon Johnson (jackman) and Calvin Teague (rear-tire changer). Anderson and Barnette are featured in “4 Tires and Fuel: Pit Crew Challenge” that premiered on Wednesday, June 21st, on RacingAmerica.TV, their FAST channels and MAVTV. Learn more about the episode here.
RECORD YEAR: Larson is the only NASCAR driver nominated for the "Best Driver" award in the 2023 ESPYS. Following the No. 5 driver’s championship winning "record year" in 2021, Larson was nominated for the "Best Driver" honor at the 2022 ESPYS and won. Other 2023 nominees include Brittany Force (NHRA), Josef Newgarden (IndyCar) and Max Verstappen (F1). Fans can vote for Larson here and tune in on Wednesday, July 12, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC to see who takes home the hardware.
DIRT: In addition to the Cup Series race at Nashville, Larson will also compete in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event at Huset’s Speedway from Wednesday, June 21, to Saturday, June 24. He won the opening night feature at the Brandon, South Dakota, track.
MY KINDA PARTY: Special edition home race hats are back! This weekend marks the eighth “home” race weekend for the No. 5 team. For every HendrickCars.com home race this season (15 total), there will be an exclusive hat that is only available for sale on the trackside merchandise haulers, or available to win on HendrickCars.com. Less than 100 of each limited-edition hat will be made available to the public. This week’s Nashville themed hat will be released Thursday, June 22, and can be found here.
GET YOUR SHINE ON: The Nashville market is home to three Hendrick Automotive Group dealerships. Customers can shop at three different showrooms with Darrell Waltrip’s name on them or at one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s other 92 dealerships nationwide. In shopping from the convenience of their home, consumers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at HendrickCars.com.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at night at Nashville Superspeedway: "I think more night racing is better. It’s a better show for the fans. You get some sparks and stuff like that. It should be cooler at night too, so that will be good. I do love night racing."
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on how the team is preparing for the Nashville race: "We are certainly looking forward to going to Nashville (Superspeedway). Love going there. Love the track. It’s a super unique track. It’s concrete and both ends are a little bit different from each other, which adds character and is a little bit fun. We are certainly studying everything we can from recent intermediate races and our experience there last year to try to get it all right for this weekend. A lot of it is going to be about execution at the end. The race starts in the evening, so the sun will be out and then it will transition into nighttime, which is a little bit different of an aspect. I think it’s going to be fun and we are just trying to check all the right boxes."
Micah Roberts' take on Kyle Larson this week at Nashville:7th-place finish: #5 Kyle Larson (5/1) - He has two wins this season coming at Richmond and Martinsville and probably should have two more. He is one of two drivers with two top-fives at Nashville, winning in 2021 and finishing fourth in the NextGen car last season. This is the perfect spot for him to win because of having lots of grooves and lots of room to maneuver but I can’t bet his inflated odds when he’s had issues that forced him to finish 29th or worse in six races this season.
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