5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 29 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 9th
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Patriotic Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
MAKING HISTORY: Last year in the 600-mile event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson led 327 of 400 laps from the pole position and swept the stages to capture Hendrick Motorsports’ record-breaking 269th NASCAR Cup Series victory. The win kickstarted a stretch of four consecutive victories for the driver of the No. 5 entry that included a win in the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race.
GREAT COMPANY: Larson was the first driver since Jeff Gordon in 1998 to win the 600-mile event at Charlotte and the championship in same season. Only five drivers have accomplished this feat: Gordon (twice), Dale Earnhardt (twice), Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty and Larson.
NEW TRADITION: In May 2021, Charlotte Motor Speedway began taking the previous year’s winner of their 600-mile event to Arlington National Cemetery for the Laying of the Wreath Ceremony at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Earlier this month, last year’s race winner Larson and the team’s vice chairman Gordon participated in the ceremony at the Virginia cemetery. Learn more about the visit by clicking here.
OVAL OFFICE: In 12 points-paying starts at the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval, Larson has one win, one pole position, two top-five finishes and five top-10s. In 2019 when the annual All-Star Race was held at Charlotte, the Elk Grove, California, native won the Open to gain entry into the All-Star Race, then led the final 13 laps to capture the victory in the exhibition race. Larson also won the Open in 2016.
FAMILIAR SIGHT UP FRONT: During his 2021 championship year, Larson set the record for most laps led during a season on 1.5-mile tracks with 1,317 circuits at the front of the field. This season on all lengths of tracks, he is tied for second for most races led with 10 – the most he has ever led through 13 races in his career. The reigning Cup Series champion has led at least one lap in the last five races, which is tied for the longest active streak in the Cup Series.
SECOND IN COMMAND: Larson ranks second this season in top-five finishes with six, trailing only Ross Chastain who has seven. Larson has a victory at Auto Club Speedway, runner-up finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, fourth-place finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt) and Talladega Superspeedway and a fifth-place finish at Richmond Raceway.
WON.5 MILERS: Prior to his victory at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track in March 2021, Larson had scored nine runner-up finishes – the most all-time without a Cup Series victory – in 71 career starts on 1.5-mile tracks. The 29-year-old driver now has four victories in the last 11 races held on tracks of that length.
TWICE AS MUCH: Since his first race with Hendrick Motorsports at the beginning of 2021, Larson leads the Cup Series with four victories on 1.5-mile tracks. Kurt Busch and Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron are the only other drivers (both with two) to post multiple wins on that length of track during that span.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND REMEMBERANCE: This Memorial Day weekend, the No. 5 team will honor U.S. Army Specialist (Spc.) Rel Allen Ravago IV, who was killed at age 21 while serving in Iraq in November 2003. Ravago was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Attending the event this weekend at Charlotte are Jax Young, who served with Rel and was his very close friend, and Lynda Sullivan, Young’s fiancée.
OUR PATRIOTS: This weekend as we honor those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will carry a special patriotic paint scheme. To view the paint scheme and to learn more about the company’s commitment to hiring veterans, click here.
HOME RUN: This weekend at Charlotte, Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team will wear their “home” white uniforms. Home races occur in markets where there are Hendrick Automotive Group dealerships nearby, and the Charlotte metro area is home to more than 24 of them. Be sure to follow Hendrick Automotive Group’s social media channels and visit HendrickCars.com to view the complete home and away schedule.
NEARING 100,000: Hendrick Motorsports needs to lead 305 miles to cross 100,000 miles led. To date, the organization has led 99,695.90 miles in its storied history with 1,238.43 miles led coming this season. In last year’s race on Charlotte 1.5-mile layout, Hendrick Motorsports led 559.5 of a possible 600 miles.
HISTORICAL HIGHS: In this race last year, Hendrick Motorsports earned its 269th NASCAR Cup Series win to pass Petty Enterprises to become the all-time winningest team in Cup history. All four Hendrick Motorsports cars placed in the top-five marking the first time in the history of the Memorial Day weekend event that a team had four drivers finish in the top five. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott’s 1-2 finish was the third instance that teammates finished in the top two in this 600-mile race.
BLACKJACK: Hendrick Motorsports has 21 wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway among nine drivers, which are tied (with Junior Johnson and Associates’ 21 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway) for the third-most Cup Series victories at any one particular track by an organization. The team also holds the top-two spots on this list with its win totals at Martinsville Speedway (27) and Dover Motor Speedway (22). Interestingly enough, Hendrick Motorsports has won at both Martinsville (with William Byron) and Dover (with Elliott) this season.
ENDURING STRENGTH: The 600-mile race at Charlotte is a test of everything – machine, pit crew and driver. The longest race on the Cup schedule has been won 12 times by Hendrick Motorsports – that’s more than the second- and third-place teams on the list combined (Richard Childress Racing with six wins and Petty Enterprises with five).
DEEP SIX: Six drivers have won this race in the team’s history. Jimmie Johnson’s four wins (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2014) as part of his track-best eight wins serve as the team high and are followed by Jeff Gordon with three wins (1994, 1997 and 1998). Darrell Waltrip was the first Hendrick Motorsports driver to win this crown jewel event and he won it in back-to-back years (1988 and 1989). Casey Mears (2007), Kasey Kahne (2012) and Larson (2021) each have one win.
FLASH BACK: Since last year’s race on the Charlotte oval, Hendrick Motorsports has won 17 of the 35 points-paying races (a 48.6% winning percentage) held in the Cup Series. That mark is one less than the combined total by every other team in Cup over the same span.
MIDWAY MARK: At the midway point of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Hendrick Motorsports has five wins in 2022 – the most in the series. The organization is the fastest to have its entire four-car lineup win in one season as it achieved that in the first 11 races of the season.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on win in this race last year: “That was so cool to get Mr. (Rick) Hendrick that historic win. It wasn’t spoken about, but I think every team wanted to deliver that win for him and we were fortunate enough to be the ones who did. Hopefully, we can have the same type of performance this weekend. Track position will be important, so a good qualifying session on Saturday helps a lot for Sunday.”
Larson on Fan Fest at Hendrick Motorsports: “This will be my first one as a Hendrick Motorsports driver. It’s great they are opening up campus again to the fans and it’ll be great to see them all out there this weekend.”
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on if there will be big swings from daytime to nighttime racing in 600: “I don’t really know. Yes, there will be some swings from daytime to nighttime, but the biggest swings with this Next Gen car may be due to track position. Your car tends to get ‘free’ when running up front because of all the air on the car. Back in traffic, when there is not much air on the car, you tend to get tight. It’s a different balance requirement depending on where you are in traffic. There will be some changes based on daytime to nighttime racing, but the bigger swings or adjustments may be when you are out front versus running in traffic.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
