For much of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, some wondered what was going on with Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team.
He was coming off a three-win 2025 campaign that culminated in his second Cup championship for Hall-of-Fame car owner Rick Hendrick. Many expected Larson to pick up where he left off last season: winning races and contending for another title.
Through the opening 26 races of the 2026 regular season, Larson failed to reach victory lane as he entered The Chase in rare territory, seeking his first win of the season. A strategy call from crew chief Cliff Daniels at Darlington Raceway nearly paid off, with Larson finishing second after being passed in the waning laps by Christopher Bell.
Last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Larson silenced the doubters by scoring his first victory of the season, holding off Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman and Joey Logano after two overtime attempts. The win vaulted Larson from seventh in the Chase standings to second, nine points behind current points leader Denny Hamlin.
“We’ve definitely been building to get back to victory lane,” Larson explained. “I don’t know if we’re quite yet to where we can dominate like we have in the past. … It’s been neat to see all the hard work pay off to a moment like this, just proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for working hard but staying patient and just doing everything possible to try and find some grip and some speed and all the things it takes.”
After a 51-race winless streak, Larson has reinserted his name into the championship conversation after one win, an important one at that. At times throughout the regular season, Larson struggled and wasn’t close to contending for victories.
From Talladega Superspeedway to Watkins Glen International, his best finish in those three races was 23rd. After the race at Nashville Superspeedway in June, he rattled off four consecutive top-five finishes and showed the form we’ve come to expect from the two-time Cup champion.
The momentum came to a screeching halt almost instantly, though.
Over a five-race stretch leading up to The Chase, Larson finished 34th, 34th, 15th, 39th and 33rd. With a win and a pair of top-five finishes to open the postseason, perhaps we’re witnessing the Larson of old, who dominated races and was a contender week in and week out.
As the Cup Series prepares to race for the second and final time this season at the high-banked, half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, it won’t be difficult to pick a winner this weekend. Throughout his Cup career, Bristol has been Larson’s personal playground, especially in the fall.
In 10 prior starts in the Bristol night race, Larson has seven top-10 finishes, including two wins in the last three fall races in 2024 and 2025. Between the two races, he led 873 total laps and swept the stages in both races, never really being challenged for the win.
With the pressure off his shoulders after his first victory of the season following a winless regular season, the Cup field should brace for the final eight weeks of the season. For a driver of Larson’s caliber, it won’t take much to swing momentum in his favor, especially with one of his best tracks on the horizon.
Additionally, the race at Kansas Speedway offers Larson another chance to continue his recent hot stretch. A three-time Kansas winner, he nearly scored a fourth victory in the spring before Tyler Reddick passed him on the final lap.
While Hendrick as a whole has had a down year in wins, the organization knows how to find momentum when a championship is on the line. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson sometimes struggled in the late stages of the regular season, only to regain his form when the postseason began.
All it takes is one win to change a driver’s season. With a solid stretch of tracks coming up, Larson may have regained some of his past mojo and is in the driver’s seat to claim his third Cup Series championship.
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