{"id":60387,"date":"2021-03-10T15:34:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T22:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/?p=60387"},"modified":"2021-03-10T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T22:34:14","slug":"larson-phoenix-a-fun-track-with-different-corners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/10\/larson-phoenix-a-fun-track-with-different-corners\/","title":{"rendered":"Larson: Phoenix A Fun Track With Different Corners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\u00a05 KYLE LARSON\u00a0<\/strong>
Age:\u00a0<\/strong>28 (July 31, 1992)\u00a0
Hometown:\u00a0<\/strong>Elk Grove, California\u00a0
Resides:\u00a0<\/strong>Mooresville, North Carolina\u00a0
Crew Chief:\u00a0<\/strong>Cliff Daniels\u00a0
Standings:\u00a0<\/strong>3rd\u00a0<\/a><\/a><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\" <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE\u00a0VEGAS VICTORY:\u00a0Kyle Larson<\/strong>, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, led 103 laps en route to victory in Sunday\u2019s 400-mile race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway<\/a><\/strong>. It marked Larson\u2019s seventh career NASCAR Cup Series win and first as a Hendrick Motorsports <\/strong>driver. Visiting victory lane in only his fourth race for the 13-time Cup Series championship organization, Larson won in fewer starts than any previous driver for car owner Rick Hendrick.

BRIDESMAID NO MORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Prior to Sunday\u2019s victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson had scored nine runner-up finishes \u2013 the most all-time without a Cup Series victory \u2013 in 71 career starts on 1.5-mile tracks. The win in his 72nd attempt moved him up to third in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings \u2013 40 markers behind leader Denny Hamlin \u2013 and all but secured him a spot in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

RANKING UP:<\/strong>\u00a0In four starts in 2021, Larson is tied for most wins (one), most top-10 finishes (three) and has run the most laps inside the top 10 (676) \u2013 87 more than any other competitor. He is one of only three drivers to complete all 804 laps this season \u2013 Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott being the other two to do so. Larson\u2019s 109 laps led trail only\u00a0Hamlin (150) and teammate William Byron (127).

DESERT HEAT:<\/strong>\u00a0Although he has not won at Phoenix Raceway <\/a><\/strong>in 13 Cup Series starts, Larson has scored six top-six finishes there \u2013 all in his last eight starts at the 1-mile oval. His best finish of second occurred in this race in 2017.

NICE TRIBUTE:<\/strong>\u00a0The No. 5 HendrickCars.com paint scheme Larson drove to victory last weekend and will drive again Sunday is based on the design Ricky Hendrick<\/strong>, the late son of owner Rick Hendrick, drove\u00a0to a win in Kansas Speedway\u2019s inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in 2001. The following season, the paint scheme appeared on the No. 5 Chevrolet driven by the younger Hendrick in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

CLIFF\u2019S NOTES:<\/strong>\u00a0Sunday\u2019s victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway marked Cliff Daniels\u2019 first as a Cup Series crew chief. The Smithfield, Virginia, native was atop the pit box for seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson during 2020 and a portion of the 2019 season. In Johnson\u2019s final Cup Series start, Daniels guided him to a fifth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway in November 2020.

YOUR CAR NEEDS:<\/strong>\u00a0This weekend, Larson will again drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. From the convenience of home, customers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality\u00a0pre-owned\u00a0and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at\u00a0HendrickCars.com<\/a>.\u00a0The\u00a0website also makes it easy for customers to find\u00a0one of\u00a0Hendrick Automotive Group\u2019s 93 dealership locations nationwide.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on strategy now that he has a win:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWe put an emphasis on winning and approach every race wanting to win, so I don\u2019t think our strategy will change, but I haven\u2019t talked to Cliff (Daniels)<\/strong> about it yet. We can definitely be more aggressive during the stages to possibly get more playoff points.\u201d
\u00a0
Larson on early season success:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cPart of me is surprised, but part of me is not. I thought it might take a little bit of time for us to gel as a team. But we had all the tools to run well and battle for wins, and we were able to win at Las Vegas. But that was last Sunday and our focus is now on Phoenix and what we can do to run well and hopefully win there.\u201d
\u00a0
Larson on racing at Phoenix:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s a fun racetrack where each corner is different. I like tracks like that. We\u2019ve had a lot of speed this year and (teammate) Chase (Elliott) won there last year, so I\u2019m hoping we\u2019ll be fast again this weekend.\u201d

\u00a0Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on using last week’s win as motivation:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWhat we\u2019ve been through the last few years, I had the feeling that once we did get a win it would help reaffirm the focus of our team. We\u2019ve done a nice job of maintaining focus to go compete at a high level every week. The win reaffirms what we have been doing all along works and we don\u2019t plan changing much. We have good notes from Jimmie and we also have a lot of good notes from Chase and the 9 team \u2013 not only from their win in the fall but they have been really good there the past few races. Our company as a whole has been good there. We have been studying up on Kyle and his trends at Phoenix the best we can and are looking forward to this weekend’s race.”<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a05 KYLE LARSON\u00a0Age:\u00a028 (July 31, 1992)\u00a0Hometown:\u00a0Elk Grove, California\u00a0Resides:\u00a0Mooresville, North Carolina\u00a0Crew Chief:\u00a0Cliff Daniels\u00a0Standings:\u00a03rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0   No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE\u00a0VEGAS VICTORY:\u00a0Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":60388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2345,2346,2342,1443],"tags":[5335,56,7227,958,5700],"class_list":["post-60387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cup-press-release","category-cup-preview","category-cup-series","category-nascar","tag-cliff-daniels","tag-hendrick-motorsports","tag-instacart-500k","tag-kyle-larson","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pyPEW-fHZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/51013795978_f8c4733546_w-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60389,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60387\/revisions\/60389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workingonmyredneck.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}