Prior to Sunday’s (April 6) Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, Kyle Larson was undoubtedly one of the pre-race favorites. Perhaps he was not the undisputed driver to beat, but it was a strong bet that he would be fast and at least have an impact on the battle for the win. As it turned out, influencing the fight for the race win was the only part of that prediction that came true.
Just four laps into the race, Larson spun off the exit of turn 2 and crashed nose-first into the inside backstretch wall. The No. 5 crew spent most of the race repairing the damage, and Larson eventually returned to the track. He was poised to limp to the finish in his wounded car until another shocking twist occurred.
Ryan Blaney had been chasing down leader Tyler Reddick, trying frantically to catch the No. 45 before all the laps ticked away. With four to go, Blaney pulled alongside Reddick in turn 2, making the pass at the exit of the corner. Reddick, trying to will every ounce of speed he could out of his car, smacked the wall. Larson just happened to be right behind the leaders and slammed on the brakes to avoid Reddick, only for Bubba Wallace to hit Larson and send him spinning, again, into the backstretch wall. Larson’s day was done at that point, but the caution allowed the leaders to make one last pit stop and settle the race in an overtime finish. Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road and held on during the final restart to earn his fifth Darlington victory.
From Larson’s standpoint, Sunday’s race was the latest example of his feast or famine record at Darlington. Larson generally has a reputation as a boom-or-bust driver, and his results at Darlington, especially since joining Hendrick Motorsports, are particularly extreme. In nine visits to The Lady in Black in the No. 5, Larson has four top fives, including a win in the 2023 Southern 500. Those races also include a narrow loss to Hamlin in 2021 and last year’s Southern 500, where Larson led 263 laps but fell to fourth during the final green flag run.
However, in the other five races, Larson has no finish better than 12th and three results of 34th or worse. In addition to Sunday’s 37th place, Larson wound up 36th in Darlington’s spring race in 2022. In that event, he drove right to the front and led 30 laps early on, then spun out while racing in the top five. The spin may have contributed to an engine failure that Larson experienced during stage two, which took him out of the race completely.
Larson’s other bad finish at Darlington was last year’s spring race. It was another event where he drove to the front early and won the first stage. But with 40 laps to go, Larson was running seventh when he cut down a tire and his No. 5 Chevrolet snapped around on him in turn 3. The damage took him out of the race and left him with a 34th-place finish.
You would think that Larson would not keep running into trouble at Darlington, given how fast he is at the track. It is one of those venues in NASCAR that some drivers just have a better natural feel for than others, and Larson is undoubtedly in that group.
Sunday’s race was only the fourth time in 15 Darlington starts that he failed to lead a single lap. Larson was also very solid at Darlington with Chip Ganassi Racing, earning three top fives in six starts in the No. 42 car.
Of course, those races did not come without heartbreak either. The biggest was the 2018 Southern 500 when Larson led 284 laps and looked virtually untouchable all night. Yet it all came unraveled with 22 laps to go when Brad Keselowski beat Larson off pit road during the race’s final caution. Larson never got the lead back and Keselowski rolled to victory.
It is only with Hendrick that Larson’s Darlington results have varied so much. But it does not make sense that Larson’s Darlington inconsistency is a Hendrick problem either. The team has won 15 races at Darlington with eight different drivers, led by Jeff Gordon who has six alone. Hendrick’s Chevrolets are routinely fast at Darlington, and Sunday was no exception. William Byron won the pole for the race and did not relinquish the lead for 243 laps. Byron only surrendered the top spot during a cycle of green flag pit stops. Although he was never able to get the lead back, it was obvious that the No. 24 was the class of the field.
So, getting back to Larson, what is at the root of his feast or famine results at Darlington? He is a gifted driver, with a strong team, who is fast nearly every time he races at Darlington, but Larson always seems to wind up either narrowly missing out on victory lane or crashing out well before the checkered flag flies.
The answer is in the combination of how Larson drives a stock car and what it takes to be successful at Darlington. The age-old track rewards drivers who can run the high line lap after lap, risking their car with each trip through the corners. You can get away with a Darlington stripe a few times, but hitting the wall too much or too hard ruins your day.
Larson is always fast at Darlington because he is more comfortable running the high line than most drivers. However, Larson’s natural style puts him at greater risk of stepping over the edge and making those costly errors that can take a driver out of contention. It is a high-risk, high-reward style of driving, which is only exacerbated by Darlington’s unique characteristics.
Larson will not change his driving style at this point in his career. In fact, he shouldn’t. His riskiness and car control are crucial components of what make him successful as a racer. Even though Larson’s Terry Labonte/Frosted Flakes-inspired throwback car wound up wrecked on Sunday, he could just as easily come back on Labor Day weekend and win the Southern 500.
After all, a tiger cannot change its stripes.
Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past eight years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.