Kyle Larson’s 2025 campaign had just about everything. Early promise, a period of slump, a quiet grind, and a payoff that arrived only when it mattered most. The year opened on a strong footing, but momentum wore off after his second attempt at double duty, an effort that ended without him completing either race. That knock chipped away at his confidence, even as the No. 5 group continued to lay bricks behind the scenes. Progress rarely flashed on the scoreboard and surfaced fully only on the final Sunday of Championship weekend at Phoenix.
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Larson, however, never lost faith in the work happening inside the shop. He could sense improvement building, particularly once the playoffs began, even if the results lagged behind the effort.
Reflecting on the journey during Race Industry Week while speaking with Epartrade, Larson admitted the title run felt unusual given the turbulence in the middle stretch.
“I mean it is incredible and crazy cuz like I don’t feel like it was like that good of a year, but I think we’re also I think our standards and what everybody’s standards are for the #5 team is very high,” the 2025 champ said.
Larson piled up more playoff points than any other driver, totaling 1,195, and matched the field with 15 top-five finishes. Even so, he acknowledged that the production never felt dominant from the driver’s seat.
“But I think it just shows like how inconsistent everybody is in the Next Gen era,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver added. “Like it’s so easy to get caught up in crashes or have mistakes happen and whatnot. So, we’re able to be just a little bit more consistent than the others.”
Consistency became Larson’s north star. He explained that he invested energy in understanding what sustained execution demanded, particularly in a terrain where a single incident could undo weeks of progress. That pursuit extended beyond simply staying clean. He also worked to sharpen his balance between control and attack.
“I’ve just worked really hard on trying to figure out what it takes to be consistent, and also kind of still being aggressive and whatnot. But yeah, it’s a difficult thing.”
The grind tested everyone involved, which is why Larson credited the entire No. 5 operation for weathering unfamiliar frustration without losing its footing. He admitted the stretch felt foreign, even uncomfortable, as he briefly resembled a midfield rather than a perennial contender. Still, nobody flinched.
Larson’s belief in his team anchored him during those lulls. It allowed him to keep emotion in check when performance dipped, backing patience over panic. While the drought became “worrisome and frustrating,” Larson emphasized that the team refused to let that tension bleed into daily work.
Instead, adversity sharpened motivation. Larson pointed to crew chief Cliff Daniels as the steady hand who kept the group aligned. Daniels’ guidance, Larson said, served as the compass when the path forward looked unclear. The solution, in their view, was never to reinvent the wheel but to double down on the fundamentals that had delivered success before.
Larson summed up the approach, saying the only way out of a slump was to go straight ahead, trust the process, lean on the foundation, and refuse to abandon belief. That commitment carried him across the line, sealing his second Cup championship when the season finally asked for everything at once.
