Larson, HendrickCars.com team score seventh top-five of the season at Nashville
TRACK: Nashville Superspeedway
LENGTH: 1.25-mile oval
DATE: June 25, 2023
STARTED: 7th
FINISHED: 5th
STANDINGS: 9th (-101 points)
Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team raced in the Music City at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend. During qualifying, the 30-year-old driver secured a seventh place starting position for the 400-mile race.
After the initial green flag on Sunday, the Elk Grove, California driver quickly reported that his Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was tight. He slowly slipped back a few positions in the field, waiting to receive adjustments when he would pit. He raced in the top-15 for the first half of stage one. On lap 43, the HendrickCars.com driver pit for four tires, fuel and adjustments. Larson was then able to better manage his car and started earning back track positions. By the end of stage one, Larson made a significant comeback scoring an eighth-place finish.
During the stage break, the No. 5 driver pit for four tires, fuel and additional adjustments. Crew chief Cliff Daniels called for adjustments in efforts to tighten the vehicle more. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion chose seventh and was able to hold a top-10 position until coming to the attention of his crew on lap 137, receiving four tires and fuel. A caution occurred shortly after and Larson stayed out when pit road opened. He took the outside for the restart with 39 laps to go in the stage. Another caution immediately followed, but following that restart, Larson raced around the top-10, scoring 11th overall in the stage.
Before stage three, Larson came back down pit road for four new tires, fuel and additional adjustments from the HendrickCars.com crew. Larson chose 10th to kick-off the 115 lap final stage. The No. 5 driver lost a few track positions following the restart and battled amongst the top-15 overall. On lap 236, Larson pit once more for four tires and fuel. Following the pit stop, the No. 5 driver found speed with his Chevy and advanced back into the top-10. With five laps left, Larson entered the top five. At the final checkered flag, Larson earned a fifth-place finish for the HendrickCars.com team.
QUOTING KYLE LARSON:
”Our team did a good job with the pit cycles to leapfrog a few guys, and then we were actually somewhat decent on that last run and passed a couple of cars. So, I am surprised we ended up fifth. Happy with the effort and happy with another week of keeping our heads in it and getting a good finish out of the day. Proud of the team. We just have to get the race cars a little bit faster now or I need to look at data on what I need to do because we just haven’t been as strong as we were through the first couple of months. But now, I think we are executing way better than we did, you know, ever so far through the season. I am very happy with that; just wish we could have some of those early races back at this point. All-in-all, happy with a top five, just frustrated that we didn’t have the speed to really go battle.”
NEXT RACE:
Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet head to the Windy City where they will compete in a street race around downtown Chicago. The inaugural Chicago Street Race goes green at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
AdChoices