Jeff Gordon on Kyle Larson: "He does amazing things"
Jeff Gordon had a Hall of Fame NASCAR career with Hendrick Motorsports, so he knows first-hand the talented drivers the organization can produce.
After a brief stint as a TV analyst with Fox Sports following his racing career, Gordon returned to HMS in an official role in June of this year as vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.
Gordon played a large role, along with team owner Rick Hendrick, in bringing Kyle Larson on board as one of its fulltime Cup Series drivers this season following his NASCAR suspension in 2020 for using a racial slur over the radio during a public iRacing event.
Larson didn’t disappoint, winning 10 races of 36 races this season, including the season finale Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, which also handed him the series championship in his first year with the No. 5 team.
“Kyle Larson is a great talent. You give him a great race car and great race teams and he does amazing things,” Gordon said. “We’ve seen it before, seen it in other forms of racing. He and this pit crew and this team, they did it all year long. They got to this point.
“What a battle. I just want to say Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR and all these fans that came out here today, this is what a championship weekend is supposed to feel like, and that was a championship battle.
“Great competitors and a great champion here.”
As it turned, Larson’s victory was a total team effort, as Larson grabbed the lead for the final time in the race thanks to a pit stop under the final caution that gained him three positions.
Once the race restarted on Lap 289 of 312, Larson then had to hold off several serious challenges from Martin Truex Jr. to secure his 10th victory of the season and the championship.
“It was a total team effort not just from the whole season but from the whole weekend, how they prepared to go qualify and get that lap to win the pole, get the No. 1 pit stall, and they had great (pit) stops all day long,” Gordon said.
“An unfortunate caution that got them behind and then another one that helped him get another opportunity, and I think I heard it was like the second best (pit) stop of the entire year.
“That’s what championship teams do.”
Related video
Truex: "Second hurts" after losing out to Larson in title fight
Denny Hamlin: "There's nothing else I could have done"
How Larson took the long way round to NASCAR Cup glory
From villain to hero, Kyle Larson had to reach his lifelong goal the hard way and go through a very public shaming after a ban for using a racial slur, but his talents shone long before his name grabbed the headlines...
How NASCAR is gearing up for its "biggest change" in 2022
It’s not just Formula 1 that’s set for upheaval in 2022, as the NASCAR Cup series adopts its Next Gen cars that will cast any in-built advantages aside and require teams to adopt a totally new way of operating. Far more than just a change of machinery, the new cars amount to a shift in NASCAR's core philosophy
Why Bubba Wallace’s Talladega win is such a big moment for NASCAR
Bubba Wallace claimed his maiden NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega on Monday to become the first Black victor in the category since Wendell Scott in 1963. Both Wallace and Scott had faced obstacles and racism in their paths to their breakthrough wins, and NASCAR is trying to put it right with its range of diversity programmes
Why NASCAR's most resilient driver has landed on his feet at 23XI
In a career that has had many ups and downs, Kurt Busch has been written off many times before. But facing career uncertainty after the sale of Chip Ganassi's NASCAR team, the 2004 Cup champion has found a new berth at Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan's 23XI organization - which underlines his enduring value
From the archive: Dale Earnhardt’s final Autosport interview
The death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500 shocked NASCAR to the core. At the Daytona 24 Hours, two weeks before his fatal accident, ‘The Intimidator’ shared his expectations of challenging for an eighth Cup title with JONATHAN INGRAM, in an article first published in the 15 February 2001 issue of Autosport magazine. Little did we know then what tragedy would unfold…
The lasting NASCAR legacy after Dale Earnhardt’s death
On February 18, 2001, seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt – the fearless ‘Intimidator’ – was in his element at Daytona International Speedway. While his own DEI team’s cars ran 1-2 towards the finish line, his famed #3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo was playing rear gunner to block any late runs from the chasing pack. As the cars tore through Turns 3 and 4 on that fateful final lap, Earnhardt maintained the strongarm tactics that encapsulated his persona… but his actions in those moments sadly proved to be his last.
Inspired by Pitbull, the “revolution” sweeping through NASCAR
The NASCAR Cup Series is changing. Whether it be the gradual morphing out the seasoned drivers of yesterday as the next generation step up, a radical calendar shake-up featuring more road courses than ever before and the prospect of an all-new car on the horizon, stock car racing’s highest level is nearing the end of a huge facelift.
The NASCAR storylines to watch out for in 2021
This weekend's Daytona 500 kickstarts a NASCAR Cup season that promises plenty of intrigue courtesy of new owners and a refreshed calendar. Here's what you need to know ahead of the new season…