NASCAR
How Kyle Larson, Hendrick No. 5 Team Broke The Chase In Year One
Any way you slice it, Kyle Larson just endured a historic 10-week stretch to win his third NASCAR Cup Series championship. The first year of the revitalized Chase for the Cup format saw a return to form for Hendrick Motorsports’ premier crew. The No. 5 team put up a 10 race run mirroring their predecessors on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48. Here’s a look back at how Larson summited the mountaintop to title number three and where he thinks the Chase run ended.
Calling Kyle Larson’s regular season run subpar by Hendrick Motorsports standards would be apt. The opening 26 weeks saw the 5 go winless, earning only nine top-fives, 13 top-10s, and 659 laps led. These pedestrian numbers for the defending Cup champion saw Larson limp into The Chase as the seventh seed, admittedly lacking confidence. To start the 10-week marathon, Larson would have to rally from a 55-point deficit.
A Hail Mary play at Darlington proved to be a glimmer of the old No. 5 team’s return. Larson took command in the Southern 500 with a clutch pit stop, appearing en route to ending his 50-race winless drought. Staying out on slightly older tires to inherit the lead late, Larson ultimately backslid to fifth at the finish. While this result may look average on paper, Larson retrospectively called Darlington one of a few key turning points in his season.
The very next week at Gateway saw Larson return to victory lane, ending his losing streak at 51 races. In more ways than one, Gateway was a perfect storm for Larson. So many other Chase contenders ran into issues that day, vaulting the No. 5 up to second in the championship, only nine points behind Denny Hamlin.
Starting on the pole in Chase race three at Bristol, Larson was poised for a banner night at one of his best tracks. Only leading 45 laps, though, Larson was a bit off from his usual dominant self in Thunder Valley. Late-race chaos did shake up the running order, however, and gave Larson second at the checkered flag. This runner-up gave the 5 the championship lead by one point over eighth-place finisher Hamlin. Little did anyone know at the time, but Larson would never relinquish the points lead from here onward.
Kansas saw Larson take the proverbial ball and run with it, earning a second Chase win in three weeks. Adding insult to injury for the competition, Larson saw a max-points day with 235 laps led. This extended his championship gap to 26 points, and sent shivers down many spines. Through The Chase’s opening four rounds, Larson’s worst result was fifth. Despite this sustained lights-out performance, Larson still expressed some skepticism over being the title favorite midway through the postseason.
Las Vegas saw the 5 team stumble for the first time all Chase long, and be on their back foot. Larson’s Chevrolet was undrivable to start. As a result, the 5 team made wide-sweeping changes on a lengthy pit stop, losing the lead lap in the process. Through sheer grit and determination, Larson picked off cars late and got up to second on the last lap. Larson did break loose and slam the turn four wall coming to the checkers, but still left Vegas in second place. Halfway through the 10-week run, Larson still had an undefeated top-five record and now led the points by 40.
Larson’s perfect top-five run ended at Charlotte…by finishing sixth. Hendrick’s home race saw Larson lead almost 100 laps, but fade late with loose handling. Charlotte also saw Hamlin get into Larson on an early restart. But this contact between rivals amounted to nothing, with the No. 11 finishing fifth.
Averaging a fifth-place finish through six Chase races, Larson was on the verge of a history-making run entering Phoenix. To say the 5’s wheels fell off in the desert would be fitting, as nothing went right this whole weekend. Qualifying 22nd, the championship leader spent much of this afternoon fighting to stay in the top-20, before a blown tire ended his day. No Chase run ever had 10 mistake-free races for any past champion, with Larson using up his mulligan here. A 34th-place finish drained Larson’s points lead to only five, now putting seven drivers within striking distance.
If Phoenix was Larson’s Chase race from hell, then Talladega was a heaven-sent miracle. Larson entered Alabama 0-for-58 in career drafting races, despite many recent strong runs at Talladega. Driver 5 had the chance to put a dagger in many others’ Chase chances if he broke through to victory lane, and he led at the white flag. Falling back to 12th in turn two, however, Larson’s chances seemed over.
The next half-lap would live on in infamy for other title hopefuls. With Chevrolet help behind him, Larson zigged and zagged his way through the jumbled pack, enough to be ahead at the finish by 0.04 seconds. Now with a very timely Talladega triumph, Larson’s stiffest competition knew their championship aspirations were on life support.
Now heading to Martinsville’s penultimate race up by 73 points, Larson knew he just needed an average day. While teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott dominated at the Hendrick playground, Larson did just enough to maintain. The 5 taking the Martinsville checkers in 10th saw him maintain a 67-point edge for the season finale.
Playing with a nearly insurmountable championship lead for Homestead, Larson only needed a handful of points to clinch the title early. When Stage 1’s green-and-white checkered flag fell on lap 80, the 5 was in fourth and had done enough to win the war. Let loose to run free for the win, Larson soon made too much wall contact to be a front-running threat. The damaged 5 took the checkers in 12th, and rode off into history. Larson is now only the 11th man to win three NASCAR Cup Series championships, and also the 11th to go back-to-back. No driver has won consecutive Cups since Jimmie Johnson’s five-peat 16 years ago.
Through 11 past years of The Chase, each eventual champion saw a seventh-place average finish, one bad race, and roughly two wins in the final 10 weeks. Larson’s 2026 Chase stat line was: a 7.3 average finish, one mulligan, and three wins en route to the Cup. Having tamed both formats thrown at him the last two years, there’s little reason to doubt Larson’s winning ways are done. The quest is now on for an unprecedented three-peat, where Larson could potentially tie Jeff Gordon’s four titles. Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team is NASCAR’s standard of excellence once again. Can anyone adapt far enough over this offseason to knock Larson off the championship throne in 2027?
Written by Peter Stratta
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