June 1, 2024; Madison, Illinois, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson (5) walks to his car during qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Kyle Larson returns to Pocono Raceway this season with Hendrick Motorsports, but luck has not been on his side. In his previous outings to the 2.5-mile-long course, the #5 Chevrolet Camaro driver has come close to winning ‘The Tricky Triangle’. However, the 2021 Cup Series champion has missed victory lane on several times.
While being run off the track by Denny Hamlin at last year’s Long Pond, Pennsylvania event was viewed as rough but fair racing by the HMS driver, Larson’s 2021 heartbreak was nothing of the type. The Elk Grove, California native was leading the race on the final lap when his front left tire failed.
NASCAR was spotted driving the sixth-generation Cup Series car at the time, with Larson on his way to an almost certain victory. However, a flat tire sent him careening into the wall, allowing teammate Alex Bowman to take the race lead and win on the final lap.
He reacted to his fate at the time in a post-race interview, “Disbelief still. I don’t know, just a bit laughable just because I can’t believe it still. Hate that we didn’t get another win. Would have been cool to get five in a row.”
The heartbreaking incident brought an end to Larson’s four-race win streak during his championship year, a season where he also won a startling 10 races throughout the 2021 Cup Series calendar.
Kyle Larson’s crew chief previews this Sunday’s Cup Series race to Pocono
Cliff Daniels, the acting crew chief for the #5 crew at Rick Hendrick’s racing outfit recently spoke about how strategy comes into play at Pocono Raceway. The flat 2.5-mile-long track consists of a unique layout with three contrasting corners. This often helps the track behave like a road course in terms of strategy where track position is key to winning races.
Daniels elaborated on the same while also touching on how the #5 crew’s setups at the track have been proficient and told Speedway Media, “We had a good baseline setup at Pocono last year and we’re going to try to build on a little bit of momentum we had there. The fun part about a Pocono race is that strategy always comes into play, even if you have issues like we did with the spin last year.”
He added, “You can create opportunities to be different to catch cautions and, if things work out, to get you back up front. We’ll need to be aware of the different strategies and make sure we make the right decisions at the right time.”
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