HMS insider shuts down cynicism over Rick Hendrick sponsoring Kyle Larson, insists it’s seeing a legit return on investment

Kyle Larson won the Cup Series in his first year with HMS in 2021.

HMS insider shuts down cynicism over Rick Hendrick sponsoring Kyle Larson, insists it’s seeing a legit return on investment

Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO)

Kyle Larson had a huge weekend in Las Vegas. Larson’s fourth win of the season has seen him cement his place in the Championship Four. The No:5, since joining HMS, has proved himself as the most talented racer in the world. He lost his Cup seat in 202o after he was heard using a racial slur during an iRacing event. Rick Hendrick decided him Larson was his shot at redemption.

Larson’s HMS ride was sponsored by Hendrick Automotive, the Chevy dealership owned by the Hall of Fame team owner. He rewarded Hendrick by winning the Cup title in his first season with the team. Hendrick Automotive has been the primary sponsor of Larson since. It is a general belief in the NASCAR community that owner-sponsored rides often bring no actual profits. But now Brian Johnson of the Chevy dealership has come forth to debunk this theory.

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Johnson is the vice president of marketing for the company. He claimed that their partnership with Larson has bumped up their sales quite a lot. Johnson admitted that Larson is garnering a lot of interest from their competitors as well. While they will try to retain him, Johnson clarified that they are not closed off to the idea of letting him go either.

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“He’s [Larson] very engaged, but I would also be remiss if I didn’t say that he has never once told us to sponsor the No. 5 car. We want to sponsor the No. 5 car, our COO who runs our automotive group believes in this program, our operations VP believes in it, and we see the results coming in,” said Johnson, as per Sports Business Journal.

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Kyle Larson admits he wasn’t confident in his race at Las Vegas

Kyle Larson edged out a close victory in Las Vegas. Followed by pole starter Christopher Bell at P2, there was a meager 0.082 seconds gap between the two cars. As Larson is now set to race at Phoenix this year, he admitted that he wasn’t fully sure of himself when holding off Bell during the race.

Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson (Credits: Bristol Motor Speedway)

In the post-race press conference, Larson said that he wasn’t feeling confident. He said that he was constantly looking out for Bell in his mirrors. Larson said he devised a strategy to keep Bell behind him and hoped for the best. Larson also appreciated Bell for the impressive racing display he put up. He was also seen at the end of the race showing a thumbs up to Bell.

“No, I wasn’t confident. I peeled to the middle and was really loose, knew that Christopher was going to be able to get a run. Thankfully he wasn’t able to get to my outside before the exit. Kind of looked in my mirror and had to zig and zag a little bit,” said Larson.

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