LEBANON, Tenn. — When Kyle Larson parked his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the Nashville Superspeedway pit road on Sunday, June 1, it didn’t look like a car that was supposed to finish in the top 10.
After 300 laps, Larson had survived starting in 28th place, a lap one bump that sent him further back in the field and then being involved in a crash on lap 114. After everything, not many would have expected the Californian to rally to finish eighth.
But he did.
“We had a lot of craziness happen,” Larson said post-race. “Missed a few wrecks, almost wrecked myself a few different times. Then just had some good restarts, and I was able to kind of get track position, and it was just really hard to pass, so people couldn’t pass me, and I couldn’t pass in front of me so, happy with the fight, but we need to be better here.”
Coming off a disappointing Indianapolis 500-Coke 600 double attempt in which he failed to finish either race, Larson entered Nashville race weekend looking for a much-needed positive result.
It didn’t start off well. He qualified 28th on Saturday’s qualifying session – his worst starting position that wasn’t penalty-induced since Kansas Speedway in spring 2021.
Things did not get any better on lap five. The driver of the No. 5 entered turn 1 among the rest of the meat of the Cup Series field, hoping to gain positions before the field began to spread out. While behind Ty Gibbs, Larson appeared to check up in front of Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith. The No. 38 Ford nudged the back of his Chevrolet and sent him sideways. Larson righted himself, but not until he had fallen all the way back to 36th, mired in the very back of the field.
“I got a good first couple laps,” Larson began. “And then, I can’t remember who I was behind, but I think I was unsure of like which lane to go, and I kind of checked up, and I think [Smith] was right inside me.
“I haven’t seen a replay. Maybe he just drove in hard and got me, but there was some stack up a little bit, so, yeah, thankfully I didn’t crash.”
As the laps ticked away, lap times mostly remained the same between everyone in the back of the field. It wasn’t very long until the leaders caught the tail end of the pack, including the No. 5.
Larson was saved only by the proverbial bell that was the end of the first stage.
What followed was a slew of crashes that involved four separate caution flag periods. One of them was lap 114 involving teammate Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson, and Larson had a front row seat to it.
“They just started crashing in front of me,” Larson remembered. “I was crashing myself but thankfully got it well down enough and didn’t get into the wall and then didn’t get into them. … I almost crashed once into [turn] 3 by myself, then the [Nos.] 48 and the 4 crashed. I was basically in the middle of that.”
The 31-year-old wasn’t able to begin the recovery process until near the end of stage two and the beginning of the final stage. After one more caution, the No. 5 began picking its way through the field.
It didn’t take long. With 100 laps to go, the Hendrick Chevrolet was back in the top 10.
After one more green flag pit stop cycle, Larson’s crew was able to literally get him back on track in eighth place – the highest he had been the entire night. He stayed there until the checkered.
With missing out on stage points, the No. 5 crew gained only 29 points at the end of the night for their efforts. It’s a whole 19 points fewer than his teammate and regular-season championship rival William Byron earned on Sunday night. The result is a 48-point deficit to the No. 24 team.
But if it weren’t for the efforts of he and his crew, it could have been so much worse.
“It’s really good to have a team that stays in it,” Larson said. “A pit crew that stays in it, crew chief, driver, all of that.
“So, you don’t want to have days like today, but it does encourage you, and you can kind of fight your way through it and get your best finish possible.”
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT