Kyle Larson faced disappointment early on Sunday at the Darlington Raceway. He crashed out after completing just four laps and had to go to the pits for repair. He was 160 laps down when he got back into the race. Eventually, he crashed out again with four laps remaining in the race and induced a caution that changed the fate of the day for other drivers.
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After all the hits he suffered, he salvaged a single point by finishing in 37th place ahead of J.J. Yeley. The entire showing after the initial spin was nothing but a valiant fight from the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team. They could have easily called it a day instead of fighting for whatever little they could take away. But they showed true character.
One of the many who were impressed by this was the former driver Kyle Petty. He said on the NASCAR Post Race Show, “That just absolutely fascinated me that that early in the race, they just went away. Now, I give him and I give that team tons of credit. He sat in that car. He watched the race. Those guys worked their rear ends off to put that thing back together.”
They put the car back together and went back to the race. All for a single point. Petty can’t help but marvel at the resolve despite admitting that he would have been back at home instead of waiting to secure one point. But then, he also pointed out why that point must have mattered so much for Larson and the No. 5 team.
How a single point made all the difference in 2024
Larson could not participate in the 2024 Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway [On Memorial Day Weekend] due to his attempt at completing the Double and bad weather. Missing out on the event made him lose several points. Points that mattered a lot when the regular season championship ended, and Tyler Reddick edged him out by a single point.
If anyone, it is Larson who knows the value of a point. He is already in the playoffs thanks to his win at Homestead-Miami. But winning the regular season championship is a task that needs to be completed this time around. The lessons learned last year could be the reason why the No. 5 team stayed put on Sunday and took whatever they could out of it.
Notably, Larson influenced the outcome of the race despite not being in contention for the win. His spin towards the end caused the caution that derailed Ryan Blaney’s hopes of winning and gifted the honor to Denny Hamlin. Hamlin remarkably said after the race, “There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson.”
