Kyle Larson is charging to the Cup title by recreating his dominant 2021 campaign

Kyle Larson is the driver to beat in the 2023 season.


Kyle Larson is charging to the Cup title by recreating his dominant 2021 campaign

Kyle Larson (Credits: @dailydownforce)

Hendrick Motorsport driver Kyle Larson says the 2023 season feels like his maiden Cup-winning campaign from 2021. He has established himself as the driver to beat in 2023 with consistency and pace this year. Larson is one of the three two times race winners this season. The other two are his teammate William Byron and RCR’s Kyle Busch.

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The HMS cars have been a solid beast since the start of the season. Both Larson and William Byron are getting the fruits of their labor. The former Champion, who struggled during his title defense campaign, has already redeemed himself with the significant wins he scored. He was finally able to score a win at Martinsville and won the mid-season exhibition race, the All-Star event last Sunday.

Going into the upcoming race at Charlotte, the Coco-Cola 600, Larson pointed out that he feels the 2023 season he similar to his Cup championship run. In 2021 he won the champions amassing ten race wins. After 13 races in the 2021 season, he had just one win and five Top 5s. He scored nine more wins, 4 of which were in the second half of the regular season. In 2023 he has two wins and 3 top 5s, which is nearly similar to his championship season run.

I feel like this (NASCAR Cup Series) season has felt so similar to 2021. We’ve had a car capable of winning every weekend. Honestly, even a little better than we were in 2021 to this point. I feel like those races were a little more drama-free for us in 2021,” Kyle Larson said.

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We would get those good finishes or finish around where we deserved. So far in 2023, we’ve probably not led as many laps, but I feel like we’ve challenged for more wins to this point than we did then. We’ve had a lot of things not work out. We’ve won twice and won the All-Star Race, so things are great,” Larson added.

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Kyle Larson claims he could have won more races in 2023

Kyle Larson 1 1
Kyle Larson

The 2021 Regular season champion said that he could have won 6 or 7 races this year if not for some mixed execution. He was also part of some unfortunate racing crashes where he was a genuine contender for the win. If Larson can sustain his form, he can secure a second Cup title.

But if things had gone right like it seemed everything did in 2021, we’d probably have like six or seven wins right now. I’ve been super happy with the team and the race cars we bring to the track. I’m confident that we can keep it up throughout the summer and into the postseason. We proved that we could do it in 2021, and we were really strong in last year’s playoffs,” Kyle Larson said.

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