NASCAR Las Vegas Throwback: Kyle Larson Delivers First Victory for Rick Hendrick in Dominant Championship Season

The upcoming race at Las Vegas is a special one for Kyle Larson. Last year, the Elk Grove native won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway beating Christopher Bell by 0.082 seconds, and became the first driver to punch his ticket into the Championship 4. And as the third race of this year inches closer and closer, the 2021 Cup Series champion took a trip down memory lane to relive his victory in the fourth race of 2021 (of course, at Las Vegas), his debut season with Hendrick Motorsports.

The first three starts for his new team foretold Larson’s bright future behind the wheel of the number 5 car. After bagging a top-5 and two top-10 finishes, Larson revved his engine from P3 at the Nevada-based racetrack. He was able to steer up to the lead on lap 27 but soon lost it. What started as a good day found Larson way back in P12 by the end of stage 1.

However, after a series of battles for the lead, Larson could finally stay up front for 17 laps starting from lap 107 and ultimately, he won Stage 2 of the race. Over the last 62 laps of the final stage, Larson led 50 and won by 3.156 seconds. That win was the first for the #5 Chevy since 2017 and also the first for Cliff Daniels as Larson’s crew chief.

“That victory was a great one for me,” recalled Larson. “My first at Hendrick Motorsports… we dominated, and it was just a good feeling for me to get back to the Cup Series, and getting that first win early on in my return was nice. Getting to celebrate with the team members. I had a handful of my friends there from California. It was just a great day, and that kickstarted a phenomenal season.”

Despite a busy schedule, Larson is not ready to let slip an opportunity

As we all probably know, Larson is about to undergo his double-duty of running 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s 600-mile Cup race at Charlotte, both in a single day. Besides that, he has his plate full with several other select sprint car and dirt late-model races. Considering how busy he is in 2024, someone asked if he would ever consider not competing in the High Limit racing and would prefer just to watch his employees race.

Larson’s response was, “No. I’m a racer. I don’t wear a headset. I’m a driver.” But at 31, is he fit enough to pull off the Indy-Charlotte double-duty? “What do you mean? I’m ripped, man,” exclaimed the veteran racer. But is racing in every event that comes his way necessary? Isn’t it wiser to conserve energy for his day job at NASCAR? Indeed, he doesn’t need to take part in the series that he co-owns. But he will do it. And that will be to compete for the win and not just to oversee the operations of his series.

Brad Sweet, Larson’s brother-in-law, is the co-owner of the High Limit Racing. He reaffirmed Larson’s love for racing and said, “I don’t know if you know Kyle…there’s no stress. Kyle is all about when and where he can race. This is more opportunities, so he’s happy.” According to him, Kyle Larson was put on this Earth to drive a race car.