DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Owen Larson called it when he said his dad wouldn’t win the Daytona 500 because “he probably needs to try really hard because he’s not good at superspeedway racing.”
The 10-year-old was right in his assessment. Kyle Larson can win just about anywhere in any type of car. But when it comes to Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR’s 2021 Cup Series champion is a disaster.
Larson dropped to 0 for 22 at Daytona International Speedway — it’s 0 for 42 in the Cup Series once Talladega Superspeedway’s stats are included — when he finished 20th in Sunday night’s Daytona 500.
The Associated Press was embedded with the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 team with a front row seat for his 201 frustrating laps in which Larson complained over his radio that “I make all the wrong moves. Any move I make is the wrong one.”
His exacerbation only mounted when all three of his Hendrick teammates led laps, William Byron won for a second consecutive year, and Byron and Alex Bowman finished inside the top-six. Chase Elliott was 15th.
Jeff Gordon, the vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports and a three-time Daytona 500 winner, didn’t dispute Larson’s notion of not being able to properly navigate the pack racing typical of Daytona International Speedway.
“I noticed that,” he said of Larson’s declaration he couldn’t make a single right move. “I can be hard on him because I love Kyle and I think he’s amazing.”
Larson is amazing and opened 2025 with a slew of victories, including in sprint cars in Australia, the Chili Bowl and at Volusia Speedway in the lead-up to the Daytona 500.
But, just as his oldest son predicted, he was a non-factor at Daytona despite every motivational speech crew chief Cliff Daniels tried on his driver. The two have been paired since Larson moved to Hendrick and the No. 5 team in 2021 and won 10 races and the Cup title.
Larson has won 23 Cup races since his move to Hendrick, and for that, the leadership at Hendrick is able to give him a pass on his struggles at superspeedways.
“Gosh, the guy is not perfect,” Gordon said, but added that his struggles have now become bigger than just not being able to feel confident at Daytona or Talladega.
“I think now I’m starting to see it’s getting in his head. I’ve had a few conversations with him, and like, ‘Man, just go for it, just forget about it, don’t try to even overthink it,’” Gordon said. “I don’t know what advice to give him other than — all I told him today is ‘Just be Kyle Larson. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Don’t look at what somebody else is doing that’s having success. Just go out there and execute, and the other things will turn around and come your way eventually.’”
Byron was quick to point out that not winning the season-opening race means little for Larson in the grand scheme of things. The next month includes Cup races at Phoenix, where Larson won the race to clinch the 2021 championship, and Las Vegas, where two of his three career wins have come in the last three visits to the desert track.
“Wait until we get to Vegas, and he’ll just be ripping,” Byron said.
Larson’s difficulties at Daytona could be traced to his 2013 Xfinity Series debut at the track. He sailed into the fence and destroyed his car in a frightening crash for a driver who had skyrocketed from sprint cars to the top level of racing in the United States. Although he won the Xfinity race in 2018, he’s never really been a factor in the Daytona 500, where he dropped to 0 for 12 in “The Great American Race.”
Larson figures his career resume would be fine without a Daytona 500 victory. He’s won every other crown jewel: NASCAR’s All-Star race in 2019, 2021 and 2023; the 2021 Coca-Cola 600; the 2023 Southern 500; and the 2024 Brickyard 400.
“Like, I’m not going to lose sleep if I don’t ever win this race, but I still want to win the race and have that ring and that trophy and be a part of the names that have won it,” Larson said. “But again, I think there’s a lot else, a lot more that goes into winning and a lot of luck. It’s not a big deal.”
Gordon said Larson and Daniels have a lot of soul-searching to do to make success on superspeedways happen.
“It’s a head-scratcher for sure, for he and Cliff and the whole team,” Gordon said. “But I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”
Owen Larson, perhaps his father’s harshest critic, disagrees. Until his father gets better, his oldest child believes Daytona is always going to be a struggle for Larson.
“He has to try harder,” Owen Larson said. And what specific area? “Probably drafting.”
Perhaps Larson should take his son’s advice before NASCAR gets to Talladega later this spring.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
