DOVER, Del. — The Earth has completed a full orbit since Kyle Larson last visited Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series. The two-time series champion is fully aware.
The one-year anniversary of Larson‘s last checkered flag at Kansas Speedway was on Monday, May 11. In that time frame, he was crowned the 2025 champion, consistently pushing through the playoff format.
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“I think you guys pay attention to it way more than I pay attention to it,” Larson sarcastically said last weekend at Watkins Glen International. “But yeah, obviously I would have loved to have won to this point, but we just haven’t been good enough. I feel like at times, we’re really close to getting a win. And then at other times, I feel like we’re far from getting a win.”
Recently, it‘s been the latter.
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The No. 5 team is on a streak of three straight finishes of 23rd or worse, barely racking the top 20 at any point of the 100 circuits at Watkins Glen. All three Hendrick Motorsports cars finished outside the top 20 for the first time on a road course since 2005 at Sonoma Raceway. The week prior at Texas Motor Speedway, Larson crashed out from 18th position.
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Through the first third of the season — nearing the halfway point of the regular season — Larson ranks eighth in the regular-season championship standings, a distant 235 markers behind five-time 2026 winner Tyler Reddick. He sits 106 points below Denny Hamlin in second and 90 markers below HMS teammate Chase Elliott in third.
“I would say we‘re not where we want to be — that‘s pretty obvious,” Larson reiterated on Friday at Dover Motor Speedway. “I feel like we started the year off better than where we‘re at right now. We had a couple of good races with Bristol and Kansas, but the last few have not gone well. Talladega, we got caught up in a crash, was miserable at Texas and almost as miserable at Watkins Glen. It‘s been disappointing, but we‘re working really hard.”
That leads to optimism for Larson. However, his three top-five finishes and 17.3 average finish is his worst through 12 races in six seasons at Hendrick.
“The good thing about Hendrick Motorsports is they always figure it out,” Larson stated. “Whether it takes a week, a year, two years, they are going to be dominant once they do. That keeps me motivated and excited going to the race track every week because you always have belief.”
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Despite the dry spell, Larson remains confident in the No. 5 team. Chevrolet is still adapting to its updated body, with Elliott and Carson Hocevar being the only drivers to breakthrough to Victory Lane for the manufacturer.
The Cliff-Daniels led team has “just got to work hard.”
Larson stated: “It‘s honestly what made the drought and struggles fun because you can see everyone working hard and know there‘s light at the end of the tunnel wherever that might be.”
That effort paid off during practice for the All-Star Race on Friday at Dover, with Larson sitting atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of the 90-minute session.
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