Kyle Larson, it could be argued, was the driver of the year in NASCAR even though he didn’t compete in the Championship 4.
Larson led the series in wins, stage wins and laps led but was eliminated in the Round of 8 and didn’t have the chance to win the championship.
Larson also nearly won the regular season title despite not competing in the Coca-Cola 600. Rain delayed the Indianapolis 500 and he remained there to compete in that event instead of making it to Charlotte for the start of the 600.
CREW CHIEF: Cliff Daniels
TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports
POINTS: 6th
WINS: 6 (Las Vegas I, Kansas I, Sonoma, Indianapolis, Bristol II, Charlotte Roval)
LAPS LED: 1,700
TOP 5s: 15
TOP 10s: 18
STARTS FROM POLE: 5 (Richmond I, Martinsville I, Texas, Iowa, Chicago Street Race)
WHAT WENT RIGHT: Won a series-high six races and 12 stages. Led a series-best 1,700 laps. Won two playoff races, marking the third time in the last four years that Larson has won at least twice in the postseason. Led 462 of 500 laps in winning Bristol playoff race. Fourth-place finish at Talladega in the playoffs snapped a streak of 14 consecutive races at drafting tracks without a top 10. Beat Chris Buescher by .001 of a second at Kansas in May in the closest finish in series history.
WHAT WENT WRONG: Rain delay at the Indianapolis 500 prevented him from competing in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola in the same day. He lost the regular season championship by one point despite missing the 600. Larson never had more than two consecutive top 10s all season. He failed to finish five races.
KYLE LARSON SAID: “I look back on our year as being really good. We were strong all season long. I felt like we had great speed from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, much like we were in 2021. The round of 8 just didn’t work out for us and didn’t get the chance to race for a championship, but I don’t really look at that as like a low, either. I know we had the most successful season. Granted, we didn’t get to win a championship. We won a lot more races than everybody else and led a ton of laps and pretty much led every category. That was something I’m very proud of and look forward to trying to do even better next year.”
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2025: Much of the same as 2024. Key is to build more consistency while keeping the car’s speed. Also, he will make another attempt at running the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day in 2025.
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