Top-five effort for Larson, HendrickCars.com team at inaugural Chicago Street Race
TRACK: Chicago Street Race
LENGTH: 2.2-mile street course
DATE: July 2, 2023
STARTED: 7th
FINISHED: 4th
STANDINGS: 8th (-70 points)
Kyle Larson earned the best qualifying spot of the four Hendrick Motorsports Chevys in NASCAR’s inaugural race Chicago Street Course. The 30-year-old driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Patriotic Chevy drove the team to a seventh-place starting position for the Illinois-based race.
Rain leading up to and during pre-race activities caused NASCAR to delay the start of the race. Following the green-flag, the Elk Grove, California driver was able to defend his track position. Despite several on-track incidents in the race’s early laps, the caution was called on lap 13. Under the yellow, crew chief Cliff Daniels called for the No. 5 team to stay out when pit road opened. Larson restarted single file from the seventh-place position with only five laps to go in the stage. At the conclusion of lap 20, Larson scored a seventh place stage finish.
With no stage breaks on road courses, racing continued on the 2.2-mile track. Nine laps into the stage, Larson came to the attention of his crew under green for four slick tires and fuel. Following the green-flag pit cycle, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion cycled to the sixth-position. Just one lap later, a caution occurred. The No. 5 driver stayed out when pit road opened. After the restart, Larson was able to quickly advance his way to the runner-up position before two cautions occurred within the last five laps of the stage. Larson defended his position and scored a second-place finish in stage two.
At the conclusion of stage two, NASCAR announced an abbreviated length of the race, making the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) race 75-laps due to ensuing darkness. With the caution coming out at the end of the stage, the No. 5 driver pitted for four tires and fuel from his HendrickCars.com crew. With some teams staying out, Larson restarted 16th for the start of the final stage. A caution occurred just one lap later, involving the majority of the field. NASCAR credited Larson with a 13th-place position for the restart. Following the green, the No. 5 driver was able to gain four positions before another caution occurred. Sustaining slight damage during the on-track incident, he was able to stay out when pit road opened and restarted ninth with 15 laps to go. Within just five laps, Larson gained four more positions. The last caution of the race occurred with just two laps to go. Heading into a green-white checkered flag finish, Larson secured a fourth-place finish at the inaugural Chicago Street Course.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
”I was trying to get my confidence built up while it was wet and I knew as long as it didn’t rain, it was eventually going to dry out. So, just didn’t want to hurt my car in the wet and tried to maintain the best I could, which we did. As soon as the lanes started to dry out, we were much better than the people braking. We just had a lot more confidence than the people braking around me and was able to get to second and the pit strategy cycle stuff happened and it kind of messed our race up a little bit. But we were able to rebound to finish fourth. So, a great points day for our team and we needed that.”
NEXT RACE:
Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet head to the ATL where they will compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 9. The 400-mile Home track race goes green at 7 p.m. ET on USA.
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