Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief Humbly Shuts Down ‘Championship’ Labels After Intense Vegas Recovery

Yesterday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson pulled off probably one of the biggest recoveries in the Cup Series this season. However, despite that, crew chief Cliff Daniels was not ready to call it a “championship performance.”

According to Daniels, surviving a difficult day and maximizing points is not something that deserves a special label. It is part of what a championship-caliber team has to do.

“I’m gonna let you guys give all those labels for us,” Daniels told Kelly Crandall on X when asked about the performance. “It’s what you have to do in this format to get all the points that you can.”

His answer came after Larson faced a rocky first stage. The No. 5 Chevrolet dropped eight positions during the opening stint, and the team spent 26 seconds on pit road making major adjustments. Larson fell a lap down and even wondered if the car had a mechanical problem or something was on fire after seeing smoke.

A caution allowed Larson to take the wave-around, which helped him return to the lead lap. The car also gradually improved as the race went on. Larson continued to gain position, executed a strong green-flag pit cycle. And eventually found himself chasing Chase Briscoe for the victory in the closing laps. He crashed into the wall, trying to catch Briscoe on the final lap, but was able to bag a runner-up finish.

The recovery from Larson explains why Daniels was proud of his team, even while refusing to elevate the performance into something extraordinary.

“There are a handful of teams that can dig out of a hole like that,” Daniels said. “I’m proud that we’re one of them.”

The No. 5 team has developed plenty of experience dealing with difficult situations during the season, according to Daniels, and that toughness became important again in Las Vegas. While he prefers the team not having to rely on such a recovery, he said that the ups and downs of the year have prepared them.

The points picture makes the result even more important. Larson entered the race with a 26-point advantage over Denny Hamlin and increased that lead to 40. Across the first five Chase races, Larson has a 2.2 average finish and has recorded five straight top-five results, including four consecutive top-two finishes. The No. 5 team has gained 95 points on Hamlin during that stretch.

To be fair, the advantage has also been helped by problems hitting Larson’s main rivals.

After claiming pole, Hamlin looked set up for a strong day, and he led for much of the opening stage too. However, he spun while chasing Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney with three laps left in Stage 1, damaging the splitter in the process. Additionally, his team’s strategic call to pit earlier ultimately cost track position, while a later fuel-pressure issue dropped Hamlin even further back. He eventually finished 16th.

For Hamlin, the mistakes added up on a day when the No. 11 needed to take advantage of Larson’s early struggles. Instead, Larson gained another 14 points on him.

“We haven’t had any [catastrophic] days but certainly had our fair share of not performing,” Hamlin admitted while speaking to reporters (via NASCAR.com), “Today, leaving a bazillion points on the table considering where we were before the wreck.”

Similarly, Christopher Bell also failed to capitalize on his opportunity. He finished second in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2, thus being in a position to gain heavily on both Larson and Hamlin. However, a power-steering problem in the second half of the race left him with limited control of his No. 20 Toyota, and he dropped to 23rd by the finish.

Bell openly admitted the frustration of watching another opportunity disappear.

“It looked like it was an opportunity to make up some points, and it didn’t happen,” Bell said.

While Larson could not take full advantage of those problems, he still gained points and now sits 40 points ahead of Hamlin and 55 ahead of Bell. With five races still to go, contenders still have time to respond, but the No. 5 team continues to turn difficult race days into strong championship results.

Interestingly, Larson himself was not completely satisfied, noting that he scored only one stage point. By failing to start the race with a better-balanced car, he felt that the team missed out on at least another 10 points. Even so, he understood the value of salvaging second place from a situation that initially looked disastrous.

That may be exactly why Daniels avoided the championship label. For the No. 5 team, when the Chase gets messy, this is the standard they expect from themselves.

So, what is the next test? Charlotte, where Daniels already has one clear task in mind: get the balance right from the start and avoid having to dig out of another hole.

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