In some ways, Kyle Larson winning the Knoxville Nationals on Saturday night was a victory for Hendrick Motorsports, even though the Cup Series team is not directly involved with the Paul Silva No. 57 program.
When Larson races Sprint Cars, he does so with a degree of sponsorship support from Rick Hendrick, but he otherwise drives out of a stable owned by the veteran crew chief and car owner of the No. 57.
It’s been a challenging season thus far for Larson on the Cup Series side, as despite a championship last season, is mired in a 37-race winless streak and has fallen to eighth in the standings.
Overall, Hendrick Motorsports has been slightly off the pace this season and Larson has been involved in several incidents that likely cost him a spot in the top 5 of the regular season standings. This has made for some tough conversations during weekly debriefs but HMS has never made Larson second guess his commitment to racing Sprint Cars either.
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In fact, when the organization felt convinced a rain delay in the Knoxville Nationals would allow Larson to fly back to Iowa to compete from the pole, they hatched a plan while the driver was completing a comeback towards sixth place at Richmond Raceway.
Team president Jeff Andrews and crew chief Cliff Daniels handled the logistics throughout the day even with Larson not even feeling that invested in the idea.
“It’s just really awesome that they support me in my dirt racing to this sort of magnitude,” Larson said during a Tuesday NASCAR media availability. “Hendrick Motorsports pays me to drive their Cup cars and I feel like any other race team would probably not care as much to the extent of updating their driver or organizing the fine details that bought me enough time to get there in time.
“Spire with Hocevar and all the things he’s into might be the only other organization that comes close. But like, Cliff and Jeff Andres, Jeff Gordon, I even think Mr. Hendrick likes seeing me race the Sprint Car every now and then.”
So was there some moral victory for the entire company in being able to celebrate Larson’s victory in the biggest dirt race in the world amidst a challenging Cup Series season?
“I mean, I'm a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, so they're a fan of me and a supporter of mine in anything else that I race,” Larson said. “I’ve had some many people in the shop and at the gym congratulate me. Even Chad Canaus paid attention to the Knoxville Nationals.
“He had no idea that it was a big race. So it was cool to hear him say how he was tuned in late at night on Saturday night.”
This is on brand for the Hall of Fame crew chief turned vice president of competition as he is entirely focused on all things HMS at all times.
“I mean that stuff goes a long way for me and makes me feel good and all that,” Larson said. “But I mean, at the same point, I want to win races in the 5 car at this point and bring happiness and joy that way.
“So we're working hard at it though.”
To that end, Larson is currently eighth in the standings, which would place him at a 60-point deficit to start the Chase for the Championship. He would start with a 50-point deficit if he can get back to sixth.
If he falls to 10th in the standings, he would fall to a 70-point deficit so every position matters. However, winning comes with 15 points more than second place each race so winning would cure all of Larson and Daniels can keep building.
“I think everybody cares for sure, because every position matters as far as points go,” Larson said. “I mean, it’s been hard enough for us to win 40something races, so it’s not going to get any easier for us once we get to the final 10.
“So we need every point we can get. I’m sure Denny (Hamlin) has felt that way all season, and he’s been the dominant team right now. So yeah, we need to not lose anything over these next two races, just so we can give ourselves a shot to execute over the final 10 races.
“We need to be consistent, hopefully find some speed, get a win, and we’ll take lucking into one at this point. We just need to keep grinding it out.”
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