The official start of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series is almost here.
Sunday marks the return of the 38-race season with the 65th running of the DAYTONA 500 and Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team are off to a great start.
The Elk Grove, California, native posted the second-fastest lap time during Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session that secured his front row start for the second straight year after winning the DAYTONA 500 pole last year. He will start alongside his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman who earned the pole.
Larson will make his 18th NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona International Speedway. The 2014 Cup Series rookie of the year has earned five top-10 finishes and led 18 laps at the "World Center of Racing." In the DAYTONA 500 specifically, Larson’s best finish is seventh (2016 and 2019) and four of his top-10 results have come in the season-opening, points-paying event.
"I would love to (win the DAYTONA 500)," Larson said. "I am sure at some point in my career the stars will align, and I will. I need to do a better job of putting myself in the right spot. I used to always say I’ve got bad luck at these places, but I don’t think those guys that are always in contention have better luck than me. They are putting themselves in better position to avoid crashes. I seem to always find my way to around 10th and that is where you get swarmed up in a crash. I’ve just got to continue to evolve and figure it out quickly to be upfront."
In Sunday’s DAYTONA 500, which is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on FOX, the No. 5 team will once again don their blue HendrickCars.com firesuits, signifying Sunday’s main event as an Away race for the automotive organization. Despite not having a dealership in the Daytona Beach, Florida area, fans can shop for a new or pre-owned vehicle online at HendrickCars.com 24/7.
Larson enters his third consecutive full-time season driving the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He’s once again paired with crew chief Cliff Daniels as the duo look to add to their series-best total of 13 wins over the past two seasons and embark on a hunt for their second championship together.
"I’m excited to get going,” stated Larson. “It’s definitely a historic year with NASCAR’s 75th anniversary. I’m glad I’ve won one of the championships out of the 75 years. It’s pretty cool to think about your name on a fairly short list of champions."
Don’t miss what HendrickCars.com has in store for the 2023 season by bookmarking HendrickCars.com's racing page. There, you'll find limited edition merchandise for every Home race, downloadable Home and Away hero cards as well as this year's uniform schedule.
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