5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 31 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 5th
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, will be available to members of the media in the Richmond Raceway media center on Saturday, March 30, at 9:15 a.m. local time.
DEFENDING WINNER: On Sunday, Kyle Larson will look to defend his win at Richmond Raceway after going to victory lane there in April of 2023. During that race, Larson led 93 laps (his most ever at Richmond). The 31-year-old driver has earned two wins, four top-five finishes and eight top-10s in 18 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Virginia short track. During the Next Gen era (2022-present), he has run the fourth-most laps in the top five (622) and the sixth-most laps in the top 10 (904).
THREE OF FOUR IN 5: Larson has four short-track victories, three of which have occurred since joining the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team in 2021. The trio of wins occurred in his last 13 starts with visits to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021 and Richmond and Martinsville Speedway in 2023.
EIGHT IS (NOT) ENOUGH: Larson leads several statistical categories over the last eight Cup Series short-track races. The 2021 Cup Series champion is tied for the most wins (two), poles (one), top-five finishes (six) and top-10s (seven), while he is tops in second-place finishes (two) and average finish (5.13). Larson has finished in the top six in seven of the last eight short-track events.
NEXT GEN(ERATIONAL) TALENT: Larson only trails Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron in wins in the Next Gen car. Byron, the Cup Series’ most recent winner, has 10 wins, and Larson has eight in the most recent iteration of the car in NASCAR’s premier series. Since 2022, Larson has the second-best average finish (7.18), second-most wins (two) and third-most points (416) on short tracks.
PUTTING IN WORK IN THE PITS: The No. 5 HendrickCars.com pit crew has this season’s fifth-best average four-tire pit stop time (11.085 seconds). The five-person crew is comprised of Blaine Anderson (front-tire changer), R.J. Barnette (tire carrier), Brandon Harder (fueler), Brandon Johnson (jackman) and Calvin Teague (rear-tire changer).
HENDRICKCARS.COM IS HOME: Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com crew will wear their white “home” fire suits this weekend at Richmond. Every HendrickCars.com home race this season will feature a unique hat released the week of the event that is exclusively available for purchase at trackside merchandise haulers or to win on HendrickCars.com. Less than 100 of each limited-edition hat will be made available. Check out this weekend’s Richmond hat here. The No. 5 team celebrates home races in markets where Hendrick Automotive Group car dealerships are located.
THE (CAR) CAPITOL: The River City is also a car town. The Richmond, Virginia, market is home to Hendrick Automotive Group dealership Rick Hendrick Chevrolet Buick GMC Richmond. Not located in Richmond? Customers can pick from any of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealerships nationwide and shop from the convenience of their homes by visiting HendrickCars.com. The website offers searches by category, make, model and vehicle packages from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs.
FABULOUS 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Among the categories that the Rick Hendrick-owned organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for are all-time wins (304), poles (247), laps led (80,066) and championships (14). With William Byron’s victory at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the organization has won at least three races a year in each of the last 31 seasons.
NINE BY SIX BY THREE: Byron’s win at COTA marked the ninth time the Concord, North Carolina, based team had at least three wins through six races. That mark is the highest of all teams. The team accomplished this in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2022 and 2024.
PIT POWER: Based on Racing Insights data, all four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top six among Cup Series teams for the fastest average four-tire pit stop. The No. 24 RAPTOR pit crew ranks second (10.960 seconds). The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts pit crew is fourth (11.058 seconds) followed by the No. 5 HendrickCars.com pit crew in fifth (11.085 seconds) and the No. 48 Ally Racing pit crew is sixth (11.257 seconds).
XFINITY GETS THE DUB: Kyle Larson gave Hendrick Motorsports its first NASCAR Xfinity Series win since 2009 with a last-lap pass for the victory at COTA last weekend. The organization did not race in the series from 2010 to 2021 before re-starting a limited schedule in 2022. In its history, Hendrick Motorsports has earned one Xfinity Series championship (2003) and 27 race wins in the series. Eight more starts are on the schedule for the 2024 season.
WINNING IN THE RIVER CITY: Hendrick Motorsports has tallied 12 wins at Richmond Raceway. Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte lead the way with three victories, followed by team vice chairman Jeff Gordon with two. Alex Bowman, Larson, Joe Nemechek and Tim Richmond each have one win at the 0.75-mile track. The seven drivers to win in Virginia’s capital city are the most by a single organization.
LAST SPRING AT RICHMOND: In last April’s race at Richmond, Larson’s victory highlighted a strong day for Hendrick Motorsports. Josh Berry, who filled in for the sidelined Chase Elliott, finished second. Bowman finished eighth in the 400-lap event, while Byron led a race-high 117 laps and scored a stage win. All told, the team led 228 laps on the day. For the second consecutive spring race and the sixth time at Richmond, the team placed three cars inside the top 10.
NO SHORTAGE: Hendrick Motorsports leads all active Cup Series teams with 57 points-paying victories on short tracks. Gordon’s 17 short-track wins lead all drivers in team history. The active driver lineup has a combined seven short-track successes for the organization: Larson (three), Bowman (two), Byron (one) and Elliott (one). The team has three points-paying wins on short tracks in the Next Gen era (since 2022) with Larson (two) and Byron (one). Larson is one of three drivers with multiple short-track wins in the Next Gen car.
VICTORY IN VIRGINIA: Team owner Rick Hendrick grew up in Palmer Springs, Virginia, and his teams have won 40 Cup Series races in his home state. Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane in Virginia at least one time in 28 different seasons, including each of the past four full seasons. The most recent 13 races in Virginia have seen one of his cars emerge victorious on six occasions, with all four active drivers winning.
GET TO THE POINTS: Larson (416 points), Elliott (340 points) and Byron (333 points) rank third, fifth and seventh, respectively, in points scored on short tracks in the Next Gen car since its debut in 2022. On average finish, Larson (7.18) and Elliott (9.60) are second and fourth in that statistical category.
NIGHT SHIFT: The organization’s five night race wins in the Next Gen car are the most by all teams. Byron leads all drivers with three victories. Elliott and Larson each have one win under the lights in the latest iteration of the Cup Series car.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his past results at Richmond Raceway: “It seems like Richmond (Raceway) has been hit or miss for us. We’ve done really well on short tracks recently and we won a race at Richmond last year. But we didn’t have a good race there in the summer, so we’re hoping to improve on that so we can challenge for another win there.”
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on if this is a “fun” race to call because of the very differing pit strategy that can be utilized during the race: “For the most part, it’s a lot of fun – especially when you’re reasonably competitive like in the top 12 or top 15. We’ve had cars that were running in the top five or top six. If you’re a short-run car, you pit a lot of times, but if you’re a long-run car, you stay out and take advantage of that. It does make it fun from a pure strategy standpoint.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
