Another championship just left Larson and company focusing on what was left on the table

Kyle Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels ended the 2025 season by hoisting their second NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy, but you might not know it from their approach to 2026.

“It’s crazy that we all have kind of this unspoken vibe, and I may be speaking it for the first time here, that we actually have something to prove,” Daniels said. “Because even in what the result of the 2025 season was, the outcome (was) great, wonderful and (we’re) grateful for that, we still look back and say, ‘Man, there are moments that we missed throughout the season.’

“We’d be performing well and have a bad outcome of a race because of something. Did we crash? Did we miss something? So, we want to go back and make good on all of those races and those missed opportunities where we want to come back stronger and all those things.”

The story of the 2025 season for the No. 5 team from Hendrick Motorsports was one of resilience. A championship feat makes it easy to forget all that happened during a long season, and a lot happened to Daniels, Larson, and the group.

Take the pit crew change made by Daniels before the event at Darlington Raceway. That was a race in which Larson crashed and the team had to undergo extensive repairs. It was the first time a team making that extent of repairs, tested NASCAR’s change to the DVP policy by allowing crashed cars to return to competition. But the No. 5 did return and went on to set the fastest, at the time, pit stop in the sport.

A few days later, the team was rocked by the loss of longtime Hendrick Motorsports representative Jon Edwards. But Daniels reveals that was one of many off-track events that impacted the team. There were marriages and divorces, babies born and children getting sick. In all, of those associated with the No. 5 team, there was the loss of four mothers.

Then, in the summer, the so-called slump. The team continued to be winless. There were crashes and parts failures.

“From the start of the season, how everything unfolded on track, behind the scenes, there were so many opportunities for us to feel defeated,” said Daniels. “To not have a great response to the adversity, and we really just had to pull together and be resilient.”

But then, when the postseason started, the team was as surprised as anyone that they were the No. 1 seed. The opportunity didn’t go to waste. Although the finale in Phoenix was not the best overall effort, and again offered the team adversity with a car that wasn’t the class of the field and a tire issue, Daniels made the right call when it mattered most.

The second title came with three victories and tied for the series lead in top-10 and top-five finishes. A third title will be contested under the Chase format, which Larson has never competed in before. But after having gone through a season like 2025, the foundation is there for continued growth and strength.

“I think where we are as a team right now,” said Daniels, “we’re locked into the opportunity of proving ourselves again.”

CLICK HERE to listen to the full conversation with Daniels, or look for The Racing Writer’s Podcast on any major podcast platform.