5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 30 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 7th (2022)
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
RECAPPING THE CLASH: For two consecutive years, Kyle Larson has finished fifth at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. His fourth-place finish in the heat race resulted in a 14th-place starting spot for the main event of the Clash at the Coliseum. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com driver held a top-15 position for the entirety of the race and battled his way towards the front for a fifth-place finish.
WORLD CENTER OF RACING: This Sunday, Larson will make his 18th NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona International Speedway. The 2014 Cup Series rookie of the year has earned five top-10 finishes and led 18 laps at the “World Center of Racing.” In the DAYTONA 500 specifically, Larson’s best finish is seventh (2016 and 2019) and four of his top-10 results have come in the season-opening, points-paying event.
DEFENDING THE POLE: In 2022, Larson earned his first DAYTONA 500 pole position. This marked the fifth instance in the Cup Series where a driver won the pole position at Daytona the year after winning the championship (Cale Yarborough in 1978, Jeff Gordon in 1999, Dale Jarrett in 2000 and Jimmie Johnson in 2008 were the others). With teammate Alex Bowman on the outside, Hendrick Motorsports swept the front row for the start of “The Great American Race” for the eighth time in team history.
QUITE THE PAIRING: Larson is in his full-time season with the 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization. Paired with crew chief Cliff Daniels, the duo looks to add to their series-best total of 13 wins over the past two seasons and are on the hunt for their second championship together. Larson’s 13 victories place him fourth on the all-time wins list at Hendrick Motorsports.
OUT IN THE DESERT: Following the Clash weekend, Larson headed to his new home in Arizona for two events. On Tuesday, Feb. 7, the 2021 Cup Series Champion visited Phoenix Raceway to show support at Basket of Hope’s charity event preparing gifts for seriously ill children in local hospitals. Larson led a track tour for patients and volunteers following the event. On Wednesday, Feb. 8, Larson took part in Radio Row at the Phoenix Convention Center to talk football and NASCAR just before Super Bowl LVII and the 2023 DAYTONA 500.
GET IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT: Larson will pilot the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against 39 other drivers in this weekend’s DAYTONA 500 and you can see every angle of the paint scheme here. Prospective car buyers can pick their own ride at one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 95 dealerships nationwide. Customers can also shop from the convenience of their home selecting 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.
WE’RE HIRING: Join 10,000+ others nationwide in working at Hendrick Automotive Group. The company is hiring technicians and other positions at its dealerships throughout the country. Positions are open for all skill levels and offer tuition and training reimbursement. Individuals who are interested can apply at HendrickCars.com.
CLOSING IN ON 300: Hendrick Motorsports is nine points-paying victories away from 300 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Twenty drivers have combined to reach the organization’s current total of 291 wins, which is the most in the sport by any one team.
YEAR IN REVIEW: In 2022, Hendrick Motorsports notched a series-best 11 wins with Chase Elliott leading all Cup Series drivers with five victories and earning the regular-season championship. Kyle Larson and William Byron each posted multi-win campaigns. Alex Bowman earned a win for the fourth consecutive season. All four drivers made the playoffs and reached the Round of 12 with Elliott making the Championship 4 for the third consecutive season. The No. 5 HendrickCars.com team reached the owner’s Championship 4 for the second straight season. The organization’s 11 wins marked the ninth time that the team had won at least 11 races in a single season.
SETTING THE FIELD: The starting lineup for the DAYTONA 500 is set in a very different manner than any other race. Wednesday’s single-car, two-round qualifying will only set the front row for the DAYTONA 500. The remaining order of qualifying will determine the field for the two 60-lap Daytona Duels on Thursday night. The Daytona Duels will set the rest of the lineup for the 40-car field in the DAYTONA 500. The duel qualifiers also represent the first chance for drivers to earn points in 2023 with the top-10 finishers in each race earning as many as 10 points (for the win) all the way down to one point (for 10th).
POLE POWER: With 15 poles for the DAYTONA 500, Hendrick Motorsports leads all Cup Series organizations by a wide margin (the next closest team has six). Those 15 poles account for 38% of the poles for DAYTONA 500s that Hendrick Motorsports has competed in. Nine drivers have combined for the 15 poles: Ken Schrader (three), Bowman (two), Elliott (two), Jeff Gordon (two), Jimmie Johnson (two), Byron (one), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one), Larson (one) and Mark Martin (one). The organization has won seven of the last eight poles for “The Great American Race” with all four active drivers securing at least one pole position in that stretch.
FRONT ROW FOCUS: There have been eight instances of a front row sweep for the Rick Hendrick-owned team at the DAYTONA 500. Five of those have occurred in the last eight years (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022) including three of the last four.
DUEL DOMINATION: Hendrick Motorsports’ 16 wins in the Daytona Duels are tied for most among all teams in the Cup Series. Gordon leads the way with five victories followed by Earnhardt Jr.’s three. Elliott and Johnson each have two wins. Byron, Schrader, Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip each have tallied one win. The 2015 wins by Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson mark the organization’s lone sweep of the qualifying races.
GREAT AMERICAN VICTORIES: The eight wins for the Concord, North Carolina, based team in the prestigious season-opening event are the second-most by all teams and the most among active teams. Gordon’s three wins (1997, 1999 and 2005) are the most for the organization. Johnson has two wins (2006 and 2013), while Geoff Bodine (1986), Earnhardt Jr. (2014) and Waltrip (1989) each picked up one apiece for the squad. The five different drivers to win for one team in the DAYTONA 500 are tied for the most with Wood Brothers Racing.
ON THIS DATE: This year’s DAYTONA 500 is set to be held on Feb. 19. Hendrick Motorsports has won two of the past three DAYTONA 500s held on that exact date – Waltrip’s win in 1989 and Johnson’s victory in 2006.
HIGH FIVE: With a win in Sunday’s DAYTONA 500, Hendrick Motorsports would become the first organization to win the race in five different decades. Currently, it is one of two organizations – Petty Enterprises is the other – to win the DAYTONA 500 in four different decades.
DRAFTING SUCCESS: Last season’s six races at drafting tracks (Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway) saw the team emerge victorious on three occasions. Byron won the first race at the repaved and reconfigured Atlanta, while Elliott won in the summer at Atlanta and the playoff race at Talladega. In fact, Byron and Elliott combined to lead 27% of the laps on drafting tracks.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the 2023 DAYTONA 500: “I’m excited to get going. It’s definitely a historic year with NASCAR’s 75th anniversary. I’m glad I’ve won one of the championships out of the 75 years. It’s pretty cool to think about your name on a fairly short list of champions. I would love to add my name to the winner’s list at Daytona. That’s our biggest race.”
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what winning the pole at the DAYTONA 500 means to Mr. Hendrick: “I think what it represents to him is everyone in the company working together and really trying to put our best foot forward to start the season. With all of the newness and change that it (a new season) brings from rules, to people, to resources and technology. Can we be the ones to put our best foot forward in outright car speed? There’s not any quirkiness to how you qualify at Daytona (International Speedway). It is straight up car speed. You either got it or you don’t. I think that’s why it’s always meant a lot to him. He’s mentioned it to us again this year, He certainly wants the pole at Daytona.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
