Kyle Larson

For the second of the last three seasons, Larson advanced to the championship round in Phoenix and raced for last season's title. His third-place finish would fall short of Ryan Blaney and Larson would finish runner-up in the championship chase. Still, his four-win and 18 Top-10 finish campaign checked a lot of boxes. With 17 combined victories in the last three campaigns, it's not in question who you have to beat every weekend to get into NASCAR Cup Series victory lane. The Hendrick Motorsports star was pretty dominant on short tracks and most intermediate ovals in 2023, so that's a good sign heading into the new year. Those two types of tracks make up a bulk of the schedule, so dominance on those is an automatic setup for championship contention. Larson was pretty hot down the stretch with one win, two Top-5 and three Top-10 finishes in the final four races of last season. That's a great sign heading into 2024.

Larson had some difficulty adjusting to the Next-Gen car last season. He was unable to defend his 2021 Cup Series championship, but with a flurry of performance at the end of last season he still wound up with three victories and 19 Top-10 finishes. Larson would be eliminated prior to the championship round at Phoenix during the playoffs, but he still served notice he'll be a dominant force going forward. The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet won 10 races during his championship season of 2021, and while it would be a stretch to see him revert to that form given the current parity with the new stock car, we could easily see Larson elevate himself above most of the title contenders in 2023. He signed a contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports during the past year and is now extended through 2026 with the team. That security and his pairing with crew chief Cliff Daniels will keep him in the championship discussion for years to come.

What Larson accomplished last season is nothing short of spectacular. He returned from NASCAR suspension, took on a new team and drove his new car to spectacular heights. Larson's 10-win, 20-Top 5 performance shattered all his previous career-best marks. His 2,500+ laps led were nearly more than all the laps led he had in the seven previous seasons combined. The ultra-dominant performance propelled him to the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship. The campaign was one of the more dominant and impressive in modern NASCAR history, and rivalling some of the championship campaigns of Jimmie Johnson in the early 2000's. What will Larson do for an encore in 2022? We believe that the veteran driver has a lot more performance in him similar to what he put on display last year. With crew chief Cliff Daniels returning to the team and no significant changes, Larson has a good opportunity to remain king of the hill for a while.

2020 was a tough season for a lot of drivers, but none more troublesome than Larson. He got off to a fast start last year, posting Top 10s in three of the first four races of the schedule. At that point things came to a halt due to COVID. In the void of actual racing, iRacing blossomed in popularity for several weeks. Larson would grab headlines for the wrong reason during this time, and the rest is history. The former Chip Ganassi Racing star served his community service and went through sensitivity training and found a path back into the sport he loves so dearly. Shortly after NASCAR reinstated him, Hendrick Motorsports jumped at the opportunity to sign him for the No. 5 team. Cliff Daniels will serve as crew chief, and he and Larson will look to win races right away. We expect the duo will find a way into victory lane at least once in 2021 and likely challenge the 20 Top-10 plateau as well.

2019 was a bit of a mixed bag for Larson and the Chip Ganassi Racing team. He broke a long winless streak with his surprising victory at Dover late in the year. Larson also registered a career-best sixth-place in the final driver standings after a deep drive into the Chase for the Cup. However, there were also some disappointments for the No. 42 Chevrolet team. Larson registered a four-season low in average finish (15.1) and a three-season low in terms of Top 10's with 17. Laps led were also a three-season low with 529 total for the campaign. Once again Larson will be one of the toughest drivers in the top tier to predict for 2020. There's so much potential with this driver and team, but Larson seems to get in his own way at times. It's difficult to expect consistency from a driver who's given us only one consistent season in his six-year career.

The winless 2018 campaign was a bit puzzling and even frustrating for Larson. He still nabbed 12 Top-5 and 19 Top-10 finishes, with half of the dozen Top 5s being runner-up finishes. The Chip Ganassi Racing star was very close to winning on several occasions last year, so the winless campaign is a bit of a hollow tag. However, it could be the downgrade and poor optics that make Larson very affordable in fantasy racing drafts in 2019. Outside of the lack of wins, he still posted totals consistent with his previous three seasons. Larson is poised to pop at some point and wildly exceed expectations and recent statistical trends. Could it be this season? Very likely, as the team has one year under their belts with the new Camaro. The No. 42 CGR team seemed to the be the quickest Chevy outfit to adapt to the new car. That experience and easier transition should pay dividends in 2019.

Everyone thought Larson had his breakout season in 2016, but it was actually last year that he made the big splash. Four victories and 20 Top-10 finishes later, most fans have a higher respect for the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Larson dominated the first half of last season and was well on his way to challenging for the championship, until a meltdown late in the Chase for the Cup put the young driver out of the playoffs. Larson will use that as motivation for next season. He demonstrated that fire and desire in the season finale at Homestead by leading 145 laps and finishing third in the final race of last season. Larson should carry that momentum forward into 2018. He and crew chief Chad Johnston are hitting on all cylinders and expectations to win are now on the No. 42 team.

We've always known that Larson had some major potential and we got to see glimpses of it in 2016. He grabbed his first-career victory with a thrilling win at Michigan in the late summer. Larson also posted a career-best 10 Top-5 finishes to go along with his first-ever Chase for the Cup berth. Yes, the Chip Ganassi Racing youngster really turned some heads after starting last season a bit slowly. The area where Larson needs to improve would be his consistency from week to week. Last season it seemed he could finish runner-up and contend for the win one week, and the very next he'd struggle to finish in the Top 20. We believe this to be more on the team and less on Larson if we had to guess. The Chip Ganassi No. 42 team needs to step it up to give this young driver better cars on a week-to-week basis, but it's clear they're heading in the right direction.

Sophomore seasons are always tough on Sprint Cup Series youngsters. Larson certainly had his ups-and-downs last year. His 10 top-10 finishes and 19th-place finish in the final driver standings fell short of expectations. The good news is that Larson can only go up from here, and he's a great buy-low fantasy racing candidate in 2016. Chad Johnston has been hired to crew chief the No. 42 team and get things headed back in the right direction in this racing camp. It is a good move considering that the last quarter of last season was nothing to write home about for Larson and the team. We've been waiting a long time for him to break through to his first-career victory and it could happen in 2016. Needless to say, we expect a Chase berth and a middle teen's top-10 performance for Larson this season.

The EGR development driver signed a deal to race the full Nationwide Series season with Turner Motorsports in their strong No. 32 team. Larson is the reigning K&N Pro Series East champion and he should challenge for Rookie of the Year in 2013.