Kyle Larson’s dreams turned to dust during the past Memorial Day Weekend. Weather foiled his chances at the Double as rain hit Indianapolis hard on race day and delayed the start of the Indy 500. Finishing the race hours later than intended, he flew to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 only for rain to follow him and stop him again. Despite the disappointment, his crew chief Cliff Daniels believes that there were big wins to take away from the attempt.
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Appearing on the Harvick Happy Hour podcast alongside Kevin Harvick, Daniels noted the positives that he saw and underlined that people HAD to know them. He said that it was a great day for motorsports and that many in NASCAR and IndyCar came to know what a driver of Kyle Larson’s caliber could do. The driver had almost finished in top-5 in the Indy 500 before a speeding penalty put him outside the top-15.
Regardless, Daniels considers the performance the first win of the day. Continuing about how not running a single lap in the Coca-Cola 600 was a win, he reasoned that it was so because they’d managed to put Justin Allgaier in the car and get him to a competitive spot when the race ended prematurely. The replacement driver had unlapped himself after going a lap down and displayed tremendous skill.
Kyle Larson was disappointed, but crew chief @DanielsCliff says the “Double” attempt was still a big win. He tells @KevinHarvick why. #NASCAR #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/7cnjDeQxNk
— HarvickHappyHour (@HarvickHappyPod) June 13, 2024
Daniels said, “The win for us is we put Justin in the car, go a lap down like we predicted, work through that… he unlapped himself under green. Drives away from the leaders. That’s incredible.” He continued, “So, globally when I look at the whole thing. What a win for motorsports, for the opportunity, for so many people involved in that.”
Cliff Daniels had a strong message for Kyle Larson after Memorial Day
Daniels knew right from the day of the attempt that Larson had done everything right. He said to Harvick, “I really wanted Kyle to know that message the Monday after when he was second-guessing everything that he had done along the way which I just don’t think was proper. He did so many things right along the way. Sometimes in life things just don’t work out.”
“What choice do you make to learn from it, to appreciate it, and to move forward?” he asked. Larson and Daniels sure learned the right things from it as they bounced back quickly into contention for the 2024 Cup Series championship by winning the latest fixture at Sonoma. With the playoff waiver greenlit, they’re bound fast towards another Cup Series championship.
