Larson savors challenge of Coca-Cola 600 repeat
CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Larson hopes to return to victory lane Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600. If that happens, he also hopes it propel him to a second straight NASCAR Cup Series championship.
In other words, he hopes history will repeat itself.
With the regular season halfway over, Larson’s only win this year was in the second points race on the schedule, three months ago at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. That puts Larson in a strangely similar situation to last year, when he arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR’s longest and most grueling event with just one victory through 14 races.
His 2021 season turned at Charlotte. Larson dominated the Coca-Cola 600 by leading 327 of 400 laps in Hendrick Motorsports’ 269th victory in Cup Series competition, pushing Rick Hendrick’s organization past Petty Enterprises for the record.
The victory invigorated Larson and his No. 5 Chevrolet team.
The group won the next two points races — and the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway in between those victories at California’s Sonoma Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway — to gain the needed confidence and momentum for a title run. Larson wound up winning 10 races in all last year, including the season finale in Phoenix that clinched the 29-year-old Californian’s first Cup Series title.
“That was so cool to get Mr. Hendrick that historic win,” Larson said of last year’s Coca-Cola 600. “It wasn’t spoken about, but I think every team wanted to deliver that win for him, and we were fortunate enough to be the ones who did. Hopefully we can have the same type of performance this weekend.”
Repeating at the Coca-Cola 600 is not easy, though. It hasn’t been done since Jimmie Johnson won three straight from 2003 to 2005.
NASCAR’s longest race already had plenty of pitfalls to begin with — tire wear, attrition and the change in track temperature from day to night — and the new Next Gen car only adds more intrigue. As is, there are concerns regarding whether the left rear tires can handle the load of such a long race.
Still, Larson has as good of a chance as anyone to win, and Fan Duel Sportsbook listed him as the race favorite at 5-1 odds, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch (11-2), Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (6-1) and JGR’s Denny Hamlin (19-2).
Larson has dotted the leaderboard all year, finishing fourth at Bristol Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway last month, and second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago. He has six top-five finishes in all but is ninth in the point standings.
Now he’s ready to try to win one of NASCAR’s crown jewel races for the second time, and that effort begins well before the green flag is waved.
“Track position will be important,” Larson said, “so a good qualifying session on Saturday helps a lot for Sunday.”