Last year, Kyle Larson joined the exclusive club of drivers who have won multiple Cup Championships in NASCAR, becoming the 18th overall and the third one to do so with Hendrick Motorsports. The 2025 championship could perhaps be the most unexpected and surprising one, as uncertainty reigned at Phoenix until the final moment over whether Denny Hamlin or Larson would pick up the big trophy.
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Ultimately, the No. 5 Chevrolet driver succeeded. Yet despite the drama and the surprise win, it doesn’t rank as the best moment of Larson’s NASCAR career, as he acknowledged recently.
During the latest episode of Out of Bounds, David Pingalore caught up with the HMS ace for a one-on-one conversation while the driver sat in the backseat of a car heading to the airport. When Pingalore pressed Larson about which accomplishment stands out most prominently during his career, he didn’t hesitate before recalling his 2021 NASCAR Cup Championship.
Larson reflected, “It was a great season. We won 10 races that year. And then, to cap it off with the championship at Phoenix was just a dream come true. And kind of celebrating with your team. The moment of all that was amazing.”
“And I know I’m with a great team, so I’ve got a good opportunity every year to relive that feeling. But it just takes a lot of hard work. But that championship is definitely one of the coolest moments of my career, but definitely the coolest in NASCAR,” he added.
When probed whether he considers having a reliable team or strong equipment more crucial to winning championships and races, Larson responded, “Oh, well, you need all of it because your team is what makes the car. So, I guess you would start with your team. But then, you need all the pieces, really, to have success in the Cup Series. It’s so tough.”
Before his HMS entry in 2021, Larson raced for Chip Ganassi Racing for seven seasons. Back then, though he praised the team repeatedly for building competitive cars and he cracked the top 10 in the driver standings multiple times, he never came close to the success he found at Hendrick Motorsports, in the first year with the team, no less.
The gap between Larson’s 2021 and 2025 championships
The 2021 season saw the No. 5 HMS driver racing on a different plane from his competition week after week as he had started dominating from the opening race onward. He started with a 10th-place result at the Daytona 500 and ended the season with a win at Phoenix. The California native won 10 races that year, finishing 20 times in the top five, 26 times in the top 10, pacing the field for 2,581 laps across 26 starts.
Larson led no less than 100 laps in 11 out of 36 races that year, including five in which he led 200 or more. Of those 11 events, he won seven and finished runner-up in three others. His most dominant performance, however, came during Memorial Day weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he led 327 of 400 laps.
His 2,581 laps led that season were the most in NASCAR’s premier series since his boss, Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon, paced 2,610 laps during his 1995 championship campaign.
But last year told a different story. Larson won three races overall, recorded 15 top-five finishes, collected 22 top-10 results, and led approximately 1,106 laps. While those numbers hardly spell disaster, NASCAR fans have grown accustomed to watching him tower over the competition.
He endured a slump following his second Memorial Day Double-Duty attempt, which collapsed spectacularly and battered his confidence. But once the playoffs commenced, Larson rediscovered his rhythm. Within 10 weeks, he stood exactly where his supporters expected.
His title triumph, however, also came in a completely different fashion, as he dashed longtime competitor and friend Denny Hamlin’s hopes of a title after a late caution, claiming the crown for himself.
