Imagine being Kyle Larson at the height of his controversy at Chip Ganassi Racing. He was about to find himself a contract with Rick Hendrick‘s top-of-the-line motorsports team. But considering his affinity for sprint car racing directly clashed with Hendrick’s no-distraction policy, how would he approach the situation? It turns out Larson didn’t really have to fight for it, and he has one person to thank.

Kyle Larson applauds Rick Hendrick for his mistake

“I listened to Rick saying he made a mistake back the first time when we went to Hendrick. But I am sitting over here thinking, I’m kind of glad they did, because I probably would’ve ended a long time ago.”

There’s no doubt that both Rick Hendrick and Larson feel like the mistake was one of their best decisions ever. After all, Larson won the Cup Series championship the moment he joined Hendrick Motorsports. Today, he is defending the 2025 Cup Series title. With Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has won more than 20 races. He is among the best drivers on the grid.

But what about his sprint racing career? As far as other forms of motorsports were concerned, Rick Hendrick and his team followed a strict policy of no distractions. As it turns out, Jeff Gordon‘s influence in the team paired with Larson’s genuine love for the series brought a significant change.

“Yeah, what I remember from the conversation was: One just kind of being nervous because I had gone through a big journey in 2020 and lost my job and whatever. I had this great opportunity in front of me to race for Hendrick Motorsports. The conversation went really good. But at the end of it, he’s like, ‘Is there anything that’s important to you that you want? I’m like, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’

“It’s like, ‘I’d still really like to race sprint cars.’ And assuming that seeing KC and everyone just be restricted, I thought that they would say no. ‘If you’re going to race for us, you’re going to be committed to this.’ But Jeff jumped right in and he’s like, ‘No, we’re changing how we’ve been in the past, and we’re open to it.’ And they’ve never said no to a race that I’ve wanted to run since then, which is pretty incredible. I am sure Rick would love if I hung it up right now.”

Since then, everything has worked out better than expected for both Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Larson. But as Jeff Gordon explains, Hendrick is not a heartless team owner. He just wants to keep his team running and make sure that the future of his drivers is secure.

“Listen, he supports a group that lets them thrive at their job. And if there’s an idea that somebody has or something. He doesn’t love seeing them flip, and he’s investing, right, in their future. And so he’ll certainly make comments about it.”

“But when he also sees somebody that’s happy doing it and thriving at it and maybe even makes him better at their job on Sunday, he’s going to be the first one to jump on board.”

Hendrick also admits that he was the first one to comment on it. In his defense, he saw the video of Kyle Larson’s dangerous accident and subsequent flipping at one of the races. Larson assured him that it was one of the old incidents and he wouldn’t jeopardize his racing in the Cup again.

But that’s the past. What does Kyle Larson think about his present scenario in the NASCAR Cup Series?

Loss of momentum or loss of title defense?

With the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series unveiling a new format, it felt like Larson would shine this year. He had won three races last season and had amazing consistency. Coming off a title-winning campaign felt like it would propel him to instant success in 2026.

Fast forward to COTA; Larson’s first two races of the season were utterly destroyed. His performance is highly unlike his general talent and standing in the Cup Series. More than that, he also committed a grave mistake during his race at Atlanta. As a result of the same, he crashed out and nearly took out Shane van Gisbergen with him.

Larson is taking full responsibility for his actions, however. He knows that these mistakes make his title defense bleak every week.

“I just messed up; I knew Tyler Reddick was inside of me at one point in the corner, but I got clear of him. I didn’t quite realize that Shane van Gisbergen had gotten inside of him; I just hung a quick left and ran right into him. There was nothing anyone else did wrong; it was all on me. I hate it for this No. 5 Chevrolet team.”

Of course, this was only the second race of the season. However, looking at it with another lens, there are multiple contenders and new faces coming up to display their racing prowess this season. So if he wants to have a shot at the 2026 title, Larson does need to work it out and lock in.