March 7, 2021 | By Lee Spencer

Resurgent Kyle Larson dominates in Las Vegas Victory

For Kyle Larson, it was worth the wait.

While it had been 13 starts since his last win—a total of 45 races passed between victories including the time Larson was sidelined following his suspension from NASCAR last April.

But Larson found redemption behind the wheel of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway--and proved his stock car career is far from over.

“It was such an awesome race car,” Larson said. “Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody did such an awesome job preparing this piece. It was so much fun to drive. I could go wherever I wanted to. I knew I had a really good car when we could get single-filed out, but drafting early in the run was tough. Thank you so much, Mr. H (Hendrick), Jeff Gordon, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for the opportunity. I’ve been gifted. Thank you so much for the hard work. This is definitely special.”

Larson assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 27 and led 103 laps en route to his seventh-career Cup win. He maintained a 3.156-second lead over Brad Keselowski at the line.

“I was just really happy for him,” Keselowski said. “I know he’s been through a lot over the last year. He’s a good kid. I’ve known him for a while… a very good family. It’s good to see him bounce back. He was really fast. He had a lot of speed in all the lanes, which was really impressive.

“Usually, you’ve got to make a compromise. If Kyle Larson wasn’t here, it would have been a dominant day. But they were really strong. He’s got some really good equipment now, and he’s going to keep showing ‘em, I’m sure.”

Kyle Busch, who finished third, posted his first top-five result of the season. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, William Byron, Joey Logano and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10 in the Pennzoil 400.

Keselowski won the first stage—which was slowed by two cautions, the first for a competition caution on Lap 25 followed by a yellow for debris on Lap 47. Daniels, who scored his first win as a Cup crew chief in 55 starts, dialed the No. 5 Chevy in over the first stage.

Larson showed his hand in Stage 2, taking the lead on Lap 107. He led 23 laps then curled back to the point on Lap 147 after pit stops to win the second segment on Lap 160 with Keselowski in tow. Keselowski told his team he wanted to stay with Larson in the final segment, realizing his competitor had the fastest car on the track.

Larson held the lead for the start of the final stage but was passed by Hamlin. Chase Elliott triggered the fifth caution when he lost control of his car in Turn 2 on Lap 170—and collected Kurt Busch in the process. Aric Almirola ignited the sixth and final caution nine laps later after hitting the wall in Turn 1. Larson elected to pit and Keselowski followed while Hamlin and Truex stayed out.

With fresh tires, Larson was able to pass Hamlin 20 laps later. Keselowski moved by Hamlin on Lap 216. Five laps later, green-flag pit stops began with Bell and Byron followed by Kyle Busch and Truex. Daniels told Larson to pit on Lap 224, but the driver missed the entry to pit road. He pitted on the next lap with Keselowski.

Daniel Suarez assumed the lead and remained at the point until Lap 238 when Larson returned to the front. Once again, Keselowski loomed large in his rearview mirror. But over the course of the final 30 laps, Larson extended his advantage over the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

After a burnout on the backstretch, Larson continued his celebration in front of the fans. In just his fourth start with Hendrick Motorsports, the 28-year-old racer displayed a glimpse of his potential.

“It means a lot,” Larson said of his second chance with Team Hendrick. “This is Rick’s most special paint scheme, for obvious reasons. And it’s just an honor for me to be able to drive it in our first time out with this color scheme. Like I said, I’m blessed.

“That was some fun racing on the re-starts, so I hope everybody enjoyed it. I know I did. I had fun racing Brad (Keselowski) and Denny (Hamlin) and everybody and tried to give it away there coming to a green-flag stop; but thankfully we were able to have a good enough car to hold them all off.”