Kyle Larson’s Unexpectedly Long Path to Darlington Victory Lane

by
Peter Stratta
September 9, 2023

Photo Credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images

The Darlington Curse is Finally Over for Kyle Larson

The twelfth time was a charm for Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway, taking his maiden South Carolina triumph in last week’s Cook Out Southern 500. Over the course of his 11 previous Darlington attempts, Larson was snakebitten multiple times.

After Denny Hamlin’s issues on Sunday, Larson at long last was able to tame The Lady in Black, parking his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in victory lane. Here’s a look back at how close Larson came to conquering The Track too Tough to Tame before this week.

“The biggest challenge at Darlington is the track itself,” Larson said. “I think it’s a little less challenging now, with the way the cars are and how tough the bodies are. Before, if you sniffed the wall you’d have to at least change right side tires. Otherwise you’d risk blowing a tire and hitting the wall. Now it’s a little more forgiving, you can get in the wall and not really be affected the first few times. It’s still tough to maximize speed and grip though. It’s the toughest track we go to honestly. Just with the way the cars are it’s a little less tough.”

Across his first three appearances at Darlington, Larson was a top-10 finisher. Falling one week after his first career Cup Series win at Michigan, the 2016 Southern 500 saw Larson finish a then-best third.

The next season was Larson’s best Darlington showing yet. The 2017 Southern 500 saw the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet lead 124 laps after starting fourth. Larson positioned himself among the leaders for much of the night. Fading late to a 14th-place result does not tell the whole story of Larson’s race.

2018 was when everything clicked for Larson at Darlington, with a historic-level domination on throwback night. The No. 42 paced the field for a whopping 284 laps, taking both Stages with ease. Larson only lost this race after a late trip down pit road. The Ganassi team was upset by the Penske-perfect pit crew on the No. 2 car. Brad Keselowski just edged Larson by inches for the top spot off pit road. Larson would be unable to get past the 2, also losing second to Joey Logano. To this day, Larson still regrets losing this race with how strong his car was that night.

Larson’s next three trips to Darlington all ended very similarly, in second place. Larson would play runner-up to Erik Jones’ breakthrough win, to Martin Truex Jr’s domination and to Denny Hamlin’s 2021 Playoff victory. More than a year before Ross Chastain’s Hail Melon move, Larson attempted a wall ride of his own to try and get by Hamlin’s 11 at Darlington, to no avail.

“I wouldn’t say there’s anything that really kept me from winning it. I’ve overachieved some times and finished second. Keselowski beat us off pit road by like a foot with a short run to the end, after we dominated the whole race. That one is the one I remember that really kind of got away. In the others though, I feel like I maybe overachieved to get to second.”

The next three Darlington races saw Larson with a best result of 12th, and no more than 30 laps led. It appeared as if his Darlington luck had run its course, until Labor Day weekend 2023.

Hamlin’s loose wheel and a lightning-quick pit crew were able to put the ball in Larson’s court last week. For the final 55 laps, Larson’s No. 5 was in command and never looked back. Now with almost 800 laps led around Darlington, Larson checked this track and its crown jewel race off the winless list.

“It feels really good, honestly, just to get a win and finally win at this track,” Larson said. “We’ve led lots of laps here, so to lead lots of laps here, you have to be good at a number of different races through the different years.”

“Yeah, this is just a track that I really enjoy, suits my style, and just haven’t won yet here. It was good to do it today. I knew we were going to have a good car. We just didn’t qualify as good as we had hoped.”

“This race — all these crown jewels only come around once a year. There’s been lots of times where I’ve left here bummed out and sad that I had a good shot to win and it just didn’t work out. I felt like I was going to have that feeling again today, but things were able to work out, and yeah, get a really big win. This is in the top three or four for crown jewel prestigious races of our season.”

The past year alone has seen Larson take a first career victory at three very different tracks. The 5 has ended up in victory lane at Homestead last fall, Martinsville this spring and now at Darlington. Conquering Darlington was an endeavor 10 years in the making for Larson. The only crown jewels still left vacant from Larson’s trophy case are the Daytona 500 and the heavily-rumored returning Brickyard 400. Over the coming years, it will be compelling to see if and when Larson ever crosses off those milestone wins.