Something weird has been going on with Kyle Larson for the last few weeks. It’s not that he’s winning races regularly; he has been doing that ever since he arrived at Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. But who would have guessed that Larson would crash out of the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track race, only to win at Martinsville Speedway one week later? Are we sure that it was really Larson in the No. 5 car the last two weeks?
All kidding aside, it is hard to believe that Larson’s Bristol and Martinsville results are real. Larson is well-known and highly regarded for his dirt racing ability, traveling all over the country (and even the world during the offseason) to compete on the dirt. Wheeling a large, bulky NASCAR Cup Series car around a dirt oval may be a unique challenge, but Larson’s dirt racing prowess has made him the favorite for each of the three Bristol dirt races. An early crash derailed his efforts in the 2021 race, but a top-five finish last year set Larson up to battle for the win in his third visit.
In contrast, Larson has never been a favorite at Martinsville, and Martinsville has never been a favorite of Larson’s. Through his first 12 Cup Series starts at the Virginia short track, Larson had only two top-10 finishes. During this first phase of his career, he developed a reputation for being fast at high-speed tracks, daring to run inches off the wall as if he were competing on an oversized dirt track. It was a technique that worked well for Larson at several venues, but one that did not apply to turning fast laps at Martinsville.
Joining Hendrick did help Larson improve at Martinsville. In his last four Martinsville starts heading into Sunday’s race, he had scored two more top fives and led a combined total of 145 laps (compared to just 35 laps through his first 12 races). Still, few would have considered him a favorite on Sunday. Even Larson himself, just after securing the win, admitted that Martinsville had been a weak spot for him.
“I never, ever, would have thought that I would (have) won here at Martinsville,” Larson said. “This place has been so tough on me. (It) just does not suit my driving style at all. I like to charge the center (of the corner), I like to roll momentum, and that’s just not what this place is like. But thanks to Cliff Daniels and everybody for making me feel like I know what I’m doing sometimes around here.”
It’s probably true that Hendrick has helped Larson…
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