Kyle Larson has fond memories of Phoenix Raceway. It’s the exact venue where he’s stamped his name into the NASCAR record book as one of 18 multi-time Cup Series champions.
Prior to this weekend’s return to the Sonoran Desert, a little over four months since Larson hoisted his second Bill France Cup, he said he doesn’t reminisce on the 2025 championship weekend. Instead, he’s focused on the present, which meant vying for his first top five finish of the young 2026 campaign.
With a runner-up effort in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, Larson had crucial track position for the start of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500. But from the drop of the rag, the No. 5 Chevrolet plummeted through the field, placing 13th in the opening stage.
“All day, I felt like we might not even be a top-15 car,” Larson said after the race. “This No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team just kept fighting. We gained some track position and made our Chevy better throughout the race. We had some good restarts.”
All track position was lost at the conclusion of the first stage for Larson, as he was penalized for speeding on pit road. But he was able to avoid the chaos, which included a quartet of cautions in Stage 2, and raced to ninth position to earn a pair of stage points.
Amid the final stage, Larson stayed clean while other front-running contenders took themselves out of contention. He raced towards the top five where he remained for the duration of the final stint, placing third at the checkered flag. It’s his third straight trip to Phoenix that he’s concluded the podium.
“I was not happy to start the race. Really not happy all weekend,” Larson said of the handling of the No. 5 car. “Just proud of the team. We definitely know how to fight to get a good finish here at Phoenix. We do it every time. We’re never good here. It’s not a surprise that we weren’t great.
“We still come up with a third like we typically do here. It took a lot of fight.”
Though Phoenix can be categorized as the first true oval race of the season – the first two were at drafting-style tracks – Larson knows the Hendrick Motorsports camp still has progress to be made at the flatter circuits. The team has spent multiple seasons trying to catch other powerhouse organizations Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing at the flat ovals. Those two organizations combined to lead 294 of 312 laps on Sunday. Josh Berry, a quasi-Penske teammate through Wood Brothers Racing, led 13 of those other 18 laps.
“We just need to be a lot better,” Larson said of Phoenix, knowing it will likely be a crucial race in The Chase in October. “Aside from strategy and pit road, we never really have a shot here at Phoenix. We’ll just keep working hard on hitting the setup to feel like we can be a contender here from start to finish.”
William Byron rebounded from a flat tire just past the halfway point of the race to finish seventh. Chase Elliott was involved in a trio of incidents and ended the event in 23rd. Anthony Alfredo, subbing for an injured Alex Bowman, was involved in one of the race’s biggest wrecks on Lap 217 and was scored in 33rd.
Tallying 36 points for the race, Larson gained five spots in the regular-season championship standings, currently slotting in 10th.