Kyle Larson, who qualified second on Saturday, fought a loose condition in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 early in the 400-mile event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. He fell to fifth before a caution waved on lap 30 and pitted during the ensuing caution period. But something didn’t feel right, so Larson pitted twice to ensure no wheels were loose on his No. 5 entry. After confirming there were no issues, Larson restarted 32nd and battled his way up to sixth by stage end at lap 80.
After stopping for tires and fuel, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion restarted 10th for stage two. Larson worked his way inside the top five by lap 110 and was battling for the top spot on lap 113 when his Camaro got loose in turn 4 and he slid up the track. However, he did not make contact with the outside wall. Larson fell to fifth before a caution waved at lap 134. Fast work by the No. 5 crew allowed him to win the race off pit road, but Larson fell to third by the time stage two ended at lap 165.
Larson restarted from that position and fell to fourth before a green-flag pit stop at lap 219. When a caution flag waved one lap later, Larson was scored eighth – but he was forced to restart at the rear of the field due to a pit road speeding penalty during the pit stop. The 29-year-old driver restarted 24th but maneuvered up to sixth before the final caution waved three laps from the end.
Another fast pit stop – this time for two tires – by the No. 5 pit crew moved Larson up to the lead for the final restart. But Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman was able to get by Larson in the two-lap shootout to the checkered flag to capture the victory.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers led 51 laps total, and the organization committed to donating $2,000/lap led to Ukrainian relief efforts. All together, the Hendrick organizations donated $302,000 to Samaritan's Purse.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON
“I was happy we made that call (for two tires on the final stop). It’s kind of what I wanted to do and when I heard them say we were taking two tires, I was pleased by it. The grip was surprising. I had good grip there on two tires. I just got a little too focused on side-drafting [Alex Bowman] into (turn) three. Maybe if I could play it back again, I would try and just get a better arc and angle into three because when I got in there next to him, I just got really tight and had to lift out of the throttle.
“Congrats to Alex and their team. They were really fast all day. We had our moments where we were good and we just fought really hard. I’m happy with the effort from our team and look forward to Phoenix (Raceway) next week.”
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