Kyle Larson is the Hendrick Motorsports driver behind the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 wheel. While every year there’s a driver who wins the Cup Series, he completely dominated the 2021 Cup season, clinching both the regular season and the championship. But Larson’s not just a one-trick pony with his NASCAR Cup title. He’s also a dirt track demon, scooping up big wins like the Kings Royal, Knoxville Nationals, and the Chili Bowl Nationals. But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for him either. There were times when even finishing top-5 in the championship felt like a big deal. That’s when his crew chief, Cliff Daniels, actually made a huge difference. Daniels was the one who managed to help Kyle get back on the fast track to snagging that championship.

Who is Kyle Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels?

Cliff Daniels is considered the mastermind behind the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series, with Kyle Larson in the driving seat. But did you know that Daniels himself once had his eyes on the track, racing model cars on short tracks? After a start with RAB Racing, Daniels shifted gears to Stewart-Haas Racing. It wasn’t long before he discovered his true calling as a race engineer, leading him to join the ranks at Hendrick Motorsports. There, he started out lending a hand to Jimmie Johnson before teaming up with Kyle Larson in 2020. The move marked a new chapter in his career, showcasing his knack for strategy and leadership in the motorsports world.

Cliff Daniels’s racing career

Despite starting his journey behind the wheel, instead of chasing the dream of professional driving, Daniels decided to carve a different path in the racing world. He packed his bags and headed south in 2006, enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Consequently, in 2010, he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, sporting a motorsports concentration and a minor in mathematics.

Daniels’ first big break came in 2011 at RAB Racing. There he jumped in as the race engineer for seasoned driver Kenny Wallace. His career then leaped to SHR, where he played a pivotal role as the race engineer for Tony Stewart‘s #14 Chevy from 2013 to 2014.

December 2014 marked a turning point for Daniels when he joined HMS. He cut his teeth as the race engineer of Jimmie Johnson’s #48 Chevrolet. Daniels was one of the main reasons behind the team’s success from 2015 to 2018 grabbing thirteen wins, thirty-one top-five finishes, sixty top-10s, two pole positions, and a whopping 1,552 laps led. It was under his guidance, that Johnson clinched his record-tying seventh Cup Series title in 2016. But the real game-changer came in July 2019. Daniels stepped up as the crew chief of the #48 and Co.

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On October 28, 2020, Rick Hendrick‘s team announced that Cliff Daniels would be the new crew chief for Kyle Larson’s No. 5 car. In the same year, the car’s number was changed from #48 to #5. Wasting no time, Daniels made a mark for himself following the opportunity. In fact, the first victory that he celebrated with Larson was after their fourth race together at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver-crew chief duo then went on to snatch three runner-up finishes in a row. And then that was followed by a hat trick of race wins in May and June. With victories at Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Daniels guided Larson to a record-breaking feat – the first driver to bag three road course victories in a single season.

But it wasn’t just the wins that made 2021 memorable. It was Daniels’ controlled nature that was instrumental in clinching the championship for Larson. Come 2022, the Larson-Daniels partnership continued to set the track ablaze, notching up three more wins at Auto Club Speedway, Watkins Glen International, and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Their triumph in South Florida punched their ticket to the owner’s Championship 4.

Fast forward to the latest 2023 season, and we saw Larson finishing as a close second to Ryan Blaney. In just three seasons together, Daniels has been the driving force behind the No. 5 team, leading them to a grand total of 13 wins.

Cliff Daniels’s impact on Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson in November 2023 admitted that without Cliff Daniels, he wouldn’t have had that record-smashing 2021 season that bagged him the championship and 10 victories. 

“Cliff holds everybody to a very high standard. Yes, he’s stern and strict and aggressive at times, but I think at those times, a lot of us need it. And he does a good job of knowing when the right time is to put pressure on people,” Larson shared. 

Rewind to 2021, during the Coca-Cola 600, Daniels turned into America’s Life Coach with a pep talk for the ages. After breezing into the playoffs and the second round, Larson hit a snag in Las Vegas, finishing 10th after Daniels’ gamble on pit strategy didn’t pay off.

Then, another hiccup – Larson crawled to 37th at Talladega. For the first time in months, he was trailing Denny Hamlin in points. Heading into the Charlotte Roval, Larson was just 22 points clear of elimination, teetering on the brink.

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Early in Charlotte, Larson radioed in with car troubles. Daniels, supercool on the pit box, huddled with the team. “We went from the back to the front more times than I can count. We hit the wall, we spun out, we literally caught on fire. We’re also the most penalized team on pit road in the first half.”

“All that being said, in the second half already we’re gonna be starting way better than we started the first half. We gotta go execute right now. So, I don’t really know what the hell you’re worried about. But I’m fine, the team’s fine. Everybody down here’s nodding their head, they’re giving a thumbs-up. So, let’s go,” he told Larson. It was like a lightning bolt for Larson. “Yup. I’m fine. I’m ready,” he replied.

After that, they whipped up a plan to tackle the car’s electrical issues and hoped for the best. A timely caution gave them a chance to pit, and their fix held up. Larson then kicked off a streak of three straight wins.

“I’ve been amazed at his ability to call a race, keep calm, build a pit crew, do all the things that he’s done this year, and doesn’t get rattled. Some of the decisions he makes, you would think he’s been crew chief for five or six years,” Rick Hendrick remarked.