Kyle Larson, who qualified 21st, battled a loose condition in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 early in Sunday’s 400-lap event at Richmond Raceway. No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson to pit road for new tires and chassis adjustments during a lap-9 caution period, and Larson restarted 31st on lap 15. The Elk Grove, California, native began picking off spots and was scored 20th on lap 34. When stage one ended at lap 70, Larson was up to 15th.
Still fighting a loose race car, Larson stopped during the stage break for four tires and chassis adjustments. He restarted 13th and was just inside the top 10 on lap 129 when Daniels called Larson to pit road for service. With some teams electing a different pit strategy and staying on track longer on older tires, Larson returned to the track in 20th. Once all stops were completed, Larson again was running just inside the top 10. On lap 178, the 29-year-old driver made his second green-flag stop of stage two. Quick work by the No. 5 crew allowed Larson to return to the track in 13th, but many of the leaders were trying to run the remaining laps of the stage on older tires without a second stop. Down a lap to the leaders, Larson was able to use new tires to unlap himself, then gain four positions prior to the end of stage two at lap 230.
Larson started the final stage in ninth but had fallen to 12th when a caution waved at lap 257. After stopping for new tires at lap 259, the plan was for Larson to stop for new tires two more times during the final 141 laps. After restarting 13th, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion worked his way up to eighth by lap 300. When Daniels called Larson to pit road on lap 324 for four new tires and fuel, their strategy had changed – this was the last time the No. 5 entry would visit pit road.
After the stop, Larson returned to the track in 15th. On lap 337, he moved back inside the top 10 and, on lap 355, he was scored third. Although he cut a 10-second deficit to the leader down to less than four seconds, he was unable to hold off eventual winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up finisher Kevin Harvick – both of whom stopped for new tires one extra time – and finished fifth.
Larson’s third-top five result of the 2022 season propelled him four positions to 12th in the points standings after seven races.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
“I assume we netted out good with our strategy or better than we were. I didn’t think the 11 (driven by Denny Hamlin) and the 4 (driven by Kevin Harvick) were going to get to us, but then all of a sudden, our tires kind of fell off a cliff there and got really slick. We just kind of had to nurse it home. Glad we got a top-five after three bad finishes in a row. We will move on to Martinsville and try to get a good run there.”
NEXT RACE:
Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team will compete at Martinsville Speedway next Saturday, April 9 for 400 laps around the paperclip-shaped race track. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on FS1.
AdChoices