Larson Rebounds from Early Race Struggles to Capture Top 10 at Nashville

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

LEBANON, Tenn. – Kyle Larson found a way.

For much of the early going in Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, it looked as if the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was out to lunch, still experiencing a hangover from their trials and tribulations amid Larson’s attempt at the Indy 500/Coke 600 double a week ago.

After qualifying a dismal 28^th – his worst starting spot of the season, Larson struggled mightily in the opening stanzas of Sunday’s race, only managing to climb up to 21^st by the end of the second stage.

Despite the dismal situation the No. 5 team found themselves in, they still took solace in the little things as the night wore on, as evidenced by this radio exchange between Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels.

Larson, sarcastically: "What a race. Well, so far we've got one positive: We stayed on the lead lap and we have an opening in (to the pit box now). Yay."

Cliff Daniels: "Stacking pennies."

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 2, 2025

However, thanks to yeoman’s work from the No. 5 crew, they were back in the game by the start of the final stage, courtesy of nine pit stops along the way to get the car dialed in for Larson to be able to do Larson things around the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

Slowly, but surely, Larson worked his way forward, first cracking the top-20, then the top-15, and finally making it into the top-10 with the end of the race closing in.

By the time all was said and done, Larson made it as high as eighth place, turning what could have been a dismal day and salvaging a decent finish out of it.

“We just fought through it all day,” Larson said. “We had some good restarts that worked out for us. It was just a really tough day, but I’m proud of the effort by this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team for never giving up.

“Obviously, I wish the whole weekend would have been better and I think we could have had a little easier of a day.

“There for a lot of the race, I was thinking a top-20 was going to be the day that we should have. We just had some good restarts. It’s just really hard to pass here. Guys couldn’t pass me and I couldn’t pass the cars in front of me, and I just kind of settled in and chipped away at it. It looked like it could have been way worse, really.

“I almost got into a few crashes a handful of times, so coming home with an eighth-place finish, I’m pretty happy with it.”

With his finish on Sunday, Larson maintains his second-place standings in the points and keeps hold of the proverbial first-place position in the Playoffs, holding onto 23 Playoff points just past the halfway mark of the regular season.