Larson looks for another Charlotte win
Kyle Larson is hoping a return to victory lane Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600 might propel him to a second straight NASCAR Cup Series championship.
In other words, he’s hoping history will repeat itself.
Larson has just one win this season — three months ago at 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 race 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 career victory — pushing HMS past Petty
Enterprises for the record.
The victory invigorated Larson and his No. 5 Chevrolet team. The group won three straight Cup races and the AllStar race to gain the needed confidence and momentum for its title run. Larson wound up winning 10 races in all and ultimately his first Cup title.
“That was so cool to get Mr. (Rick) Hendrick that historic win,” Larson said of last year’s win at the 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.”
But repeating at the CocaCola 600 is not easy. It hasn’t been done since Jimmie Johnson won three in a row 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 if the left rear tires can handle the load of such a long race.
Larson has as good of a chance as anyone to win. Fan Duel Sportsbook has him listed as the race favorite at 51.
He has dotted the leader board all year, finishing fourth at Bristol and Talladega, and second at Las Vegas and Kansas. He has six top-five finishes in all, but is ninth in the point standings.
“Track position will be important, so a good qualifying session on Saturday helps a lot for Sunday,” Larson said.
Formula One
The Mercedes duo of newcomer George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were eighth and 10th in Friday’s first practice, while Russell was sixth and Hamilton 12th in the second practice — a whopping 1.61-seconds behind Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver led both practices.
There was nothing new at the top of the speed chart with Ferrari and Red Bull once again dominating, but the Red Bull camp is settled following team orders that cost Sergio Perez a win in Barcelona.
Red Bull ordered Perez to surrender the lead to teammate Max Verstappen, who won his third consecutive race and fourth overall to take the F1 points lead from Leclerc.