Kyle Larson gets real about his “toughest stretch” at Hendrick Motorsports

The last two months have been a struggle for Kyle Larson. Since winning his third race of the season at Kansas back in May, the Elk Grove native has finished inside the top five only once.

Larson believes this is the deepest slump of his career. It all began at this year’s Coca-Cola 600, hours after his disappointing Indy 500 attempt. The Hendrick Motorsports ace hit the wall several times and spun on the frontstretch before a Lap 246 pile-up ousted him from contention.

Larson led 34 laps that day. However, he hasn’t led even a single lap since Charlotte until last week at Sonoma Raceway. The Chevy star owns an average finish of 19.75 during that stretch, which is almost 10 spots worse than what he delivered through the opening 12 weeks of the 2025 season.

“It’s definitely the toughest stretch,” Larson told the reporters on Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway. “When you look at results, but even car speed where we rank—I don’t know where we rank, but I can’t imagine it’s at the top.”

HMS driver is now ahead of the 21st race of the season, which will be held at the mile-long racetrack in Dover, Delaware. Named the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400, the 400-lap event is scheduled for Sunday, July 20.

“I’m glad that we’re here at Dover. You never know how the weekend is going to turn out, but statistically it’s been a great track for us,” he added.

Besides his 2019 win with Chip Ganassi Racing, Kyle Larson has 12 top 10 finishes and eight top 5s at Dover. He will start Sunday’s race from P25. As of today, the former Cup champion sits third in the driver standings with 624 points to his name and 44 behind his HMS teammate William Byron for the regular season championship rumble.

---

Kyle Larson conquers the “toughest form of racing” days before his Dover outing

Kyle Larson is an experienced sprint car driver with several wins under his name in the Kubota High Limit Racing series, which he co-owns alongside his brother-in-law and World of Outlaws veteran, Brad Sweet. He won the inaugural High Limit Sprint Car Series championship at Lincoln Park Speedway back in 2023.

Larson added to his repertoire by bagging the $100,000 Joker’s Jackpot at Eldora Speedway last Thursday, July 17. He now has nine career wins at Eldora across multiple disciplines.

“It’s hard to describe, and I think a lot of fans see me race on Sundays, and they have a misconception of sprint car racing, that this isn’t, you know, professional, and I come ‘down’ to win these races,” Kyle Larson told FloRacing. “But it is the toughest form of racing I get a chance to be a part of. This is as professional as it gets for American auto racing.”

Perhaps this gives him some momentum to lean on this Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. He has already secured three wins this year and is currently vying for his fourth, which would be his Cup career's 33rd overall.

Get the latest NASCAR All-Star race news, Xfinity Series updates, breaking news, rumors, and today’s top stories with the latest news on NASCAR.

Edited by Tushhita Barua