Kyle Larson did Kyle Larson things on Sunday afternoon.
Leading 103 laps, the driver earned his first NASCAR Cup Series win since 2019 taking the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 to victory lane.
If you watched him roll through every dirt series out there over the past nine or 10 months before seeing what he did at Las Vegas on Sunday, you probably weren’t surprised to see him do it again.
“I knew we were close to getting a win,” Larson said. “Our pit crew done a really good job all season long. Cliff and everybody has been bringing really fast racecars to the track. For the most part I’ve been doing my job, too, on the racetrack. I knew if we could continue to do that, we would get a win. Today we put it all together, had a dominating race car to go along with it.”
Larson has taken everything he showed last year and put it together to bring that momentum all the way through this season.
He already won his second-straight Chili Bowl and then collected a Lucas Oil Late Model win during their set of speedweeks.
We knew that Larson was insane at his craft, but it was still surprising to see him take a new team – one that hasn’t won since Dover in 2017 – to victory line in race No. 4 of the tour.
“It feels good,” Larson said. “I guess I didn’t know if I’d ever have an opportunity to win a NASCAR race again. To get this awesome opportunity with Hendrick Motorsports and Mr. H taking a massive chance on me, then going out there and being strong all year, it’s been great.”
The early win begs questions.
He’s still essentially running an unsponsored car. Tarleton Inc. hopped on board as a small associate sponsor coming over from the sprint car world, but other than that no company on that car isn’t owned by Hendrick or aligned with the whole team.
Does this win swing someone’s interest? What if he gets another soon?
I think the companies that are in a holding pattern waiting to hop to Larson’s car – as it seems like there are – would be dumb not to hit that button right now.
This guy is on a roll in his career right now and if a sponsor wants to win in NASCAR, this would be the closest thing to risk-free.
As far as what happened last March goes, and I’m not trying to gloss over that here, but Bubba Wallace made his way to victory lane to congratulate Larson after the race. He was proud of Larson winning. If he can forgive him, I think a sponsor or two will in the near future.
Bubba Wallace congratulates Kyle Larson in victory lane after the California native's first #NASCAR win since Dover in 2019.
📸 @NASCARonNBC pic.twitter.com/hUZ865Tf8r
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) March 8, 2021
How many wins will Larson finish with?
Winning on an intermediate track with HMS – and really the whole team looking solid – is certainly a big step to accomplish. They are set up for an incredible year.
And whether or not new companies find their way onto the side of the No. 5 car in the near future is a moot point for today.
The guy they call Yung Money is likely going to the playoffs and will turn his focus to earning bonus points and getting stage wins.
But a win at Las Vegas, only four races into the season…
Larson is setting himself up for a big year, and keep in mind we’re less than three weeks out from the Bristol Dirt Race.
“[It’s] cool to get a win this early in the year, now focus ahead and try to win a lot more, rack up Playoff points, put ourselves in a good spot once the Playoffs start,” Larson said.
Don’t be surprised to see him back there this season.
