“We’re just very average”: Kyle Larson shares ‘on paper’ reality of Hendrick Motorsports

Kyle Larson illuminated the struggles that the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports group has been facing in recent weeks. While Hendrick Motorsports is still a top-tier team in the NASCAR Cup Series, Larson has finished 13th or worse in three of his last four starts.

So what’s going wrong for the Elk Grove native? During his pre-race interview at Sonoma Raceway, Zach Sturniolo from NASCAR asked him exactly that. He was curious where the 2021 Cup Series champion thought his team had been falling short.

“Honestly, I feel like we've been, for what we have on the racetrack, I feel like we've executed really well,” Kyle Larson told Sturniolo. “Just on paper, it looks like we're very average, which we have been.” (4:22 onwards)

However, there have been days when Larson’s team did not have a top-10 car and yet managed to pull off a top-10 finish or even a top-five finish. Speaking of which, the Chevy star added,

“Those days, although they are not fun, they are rewarding at the end of it, because I think a lot of times in my past, I'll try too hard and make big mistakes and crash.”

That being said, Kyle Larson is the defending champion of the 2024 event at Sonoma Raceway, which will host this week’s Cup Series race. He has a total of two wins at the 2.52-mile street circuit, besides a pair of top-10s. However, one of those top-10s came back in 2019 when he was driving the No. 42 for Chip Ganassi Racing.

All eyes are on Larson as he gets ready for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Fans can watch the race live on TNT Sports (3:30 pm ET) or listen to its radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

---

Kyle Larson warns his Cup Series colleagues about Trackhouse Racing’s 2025 hire

Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell have three wins each this year already. Not far behind is Cup Series rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who drives the No. 88 car full time for Trackhouse Racing. The Auckland native has two wins to his name and is just one win away from matching the series veterans like Larson and Hamlin.

Larson thinks that van Gisbergen is going to be a serious threat to everyone on the grid once the latter figures out NASCAR’s ovals. Gisbergen had proven his mastery at road courses, but his experience in oval racing is limited.

“You know, he's so good, and it's rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is," Larson said about SVG (quoted by Motorsport). “He's way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff. And he's got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own because the rest of the world does it ; right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff.”

“He's still new to the oval stuff, so he's going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he can figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant,” Kyle Larson added.

Shane van Gisbergen shocked the world by winning his debut Cup Series race two years ago in Chicago. He won there last week as well, besting Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs by 0.887 seconds. Sonoma is also a street circuit, which means Gisbergen is going to be one to look out for.