
via Imago
L: Kyle Larson. R: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Image Credits: Imago.

via Imago
L: Kyle Larson. R: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Image Credits: Imago.
“I got no interest in chasing The Double again.” Kyle Larson didn’t mince words after his involvement in the double attempt this spring. A candidate admission of how grueling the Indianapolis 500 – Coca-Cola 600 stretch truly is. His decision to walk away from that challenge set the tone for the rest of the season, one that started with fireworks and is now shrouded in a surprising slump.
Larson’s 2025 campaign began with a bang; three wins in his first dozen races, including dominant performances at Bristol and Kansas, reinforced his status as one of NASCAR’s elite. But since May, after the ghastly Indy/Charlotte weekend, his results have flattened. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t hold back and broke down what went wrong.
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Dale Jr. backs Kyle Larson up amid the driver’s slump
Kyle Larson roared through the early 2025 schedule, racking up three wins in 12 races – Bristol, Kansas, and Homestead. He led a staggering 411 laps at Bristol and controlled Kansas with 221 laps in front. His season stats through mid-May look remarkable. Three wins, eight top fives, nine top tens, and a 9.8 average finish, placing him firmly at the top of the cup chart.
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However, post his second double attempt, Larson’s momentum started. Crashing out of both Indy at 27th and Charlotte left him 37th at COTA, with eliminated stage points and bruised morale. Since then, he has faced a few top fives but no wins, and his average finish has dipped. And yet, optimism remains. Kyle Petty assured the fans that this lull was temporary, noting, “It’ll come back around… Racing is a cyclical sport, man.”
However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his own reservations about this. Speaking on DJD, he went on to say, “Larson’s in the conversation even today still, as one of the, you know, most talented race car drivers in the world, right? Yeah. And he hasn’t had a reasonable result or a Larson-style performance since Indy. And maybe coincidental, right? But he’s had a couple top fives or, you know, had a reasonable couple reasonable runs but he’s just—you know—we’re used to seeing Larson, you know, every third race at least running in the top two, top three, battling for the win.”
At Indy, Kyle Larson spun out and crashed on lap 91 of 200 after an early restart error, citing eagerness and traffic for his mistake. That crash ended his day in 27th place, far from the finish line, but he was on schedule enough to board a helicopter and jet to Charlotte. There, he began the Coca-Cola 600 strong, starting second and leading 32 laps early on. However, he hit the wall on lap 38, struggled through repairs, and was ultimately caught in a multi-car wreck on lap 246, resulting in a 37th-place DNF. Larson very dramatically summed it up, saying, “The window of time is just too tight… I feel like I wasn’t 100%.” The attempt ended in disappointment, making Larson the first ever driver since Robby Gordon in 1997 to fail both races on the same day.
When asked about his recent finishes, Junior noted that the Hendrick Motorsports driver had many mid-20 finishes and he sees no problem with that. He also questioned whether Charlotte or Pocono simply threw them off their rhythm, saying, “I mean I just feel—I just wonder if, um, is it simply the quirkiness of the schedule at this point in the summer? Because that is absolutely a thing. We get into some road courses and some weird tracks—Pocono—and you can’t like find a rhythm, and you just can’t—you know, if they’re like, you know, and you get caught up in a wreck that’s not your fault on one of the races.”
At Pocono Raceway, Kyle Larson delivered one of his strongest performances. Starting from 24th, he steadily worked his way forward, ultimately crossing the finish line in seventh place, with zero laps led in the 160-lap Great American Getaway 400. While he didn’t challenge for the win, Larson stopped an effort marked the return to consistency, far from the chaos of Indianapolis and Charlotte.
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And speaking about momentum, Dale Jr. hit the nail on the head, saying, “ I think that… it sort of derailed their momentum… It’s created a bit of a stretch when they just haven’t looked like themselves.”
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And as of right now, Kyle Larson sits third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 624 points, trailing behind fellow HMS teammates William Byron by 44 points and Chase Elliott by 30. Through 20 races, Larson has still only secured three wins, nine top fives, and 12 top tens. He has a commanding 854 laps and earned one pole but has also recorded two DNFs. His average starting position is 12.2 miles, and his average finish has dropped to 13.8.
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Kyle Larson admits that the road to getting his crown back will be tough
Heading into the final stretches of the regular season, the internal battle at Hendrick Motorsports is heating up. William Byron currently leads the points table with 632, bolstered by a dominant win at the Daytona 500 and seven top-five finishes. But Chase Elliott is creeping up fast. With six points, one win, and an average finish of 10.6, Elliot has quietly put together the most consistent campaign of the HMS drivers, scoring top 20s in every race so far. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman sits outside the immediate title picture in 10th place with 480 points, but he has found rhythm lately with three top tens in four races, including a strong runner-up at Homestead.
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However, Kyle Larson, despite his early-season surge, now finds himself third among his teammates in points with 624, after a string of mid-pack finishes dulled his momentum. Acknowledging the pressure, Larson admitted before Sonoma, saying, “Yeah, it’s really tight. Hopefully, we can kind of get back on a run of being consistent and getting stage points. I feel like we’ve still kind of been consistent; we just haven’t finished as high as we have early in the year,” he emphasized that missed stage points in recent races have let others catch up.
And that’s the crux of Larson’s challenge. In a season where every HMS car has shown flashes of brilliance, his only dominance has given weight to a tricky balancing act, regaining form while chasing down not just the field, but his own teammates. With Watkins Glen and Darlington still ahead, Larson doesn’t just need results; he needs rhythm. Because Hendrick’s title runs through the garage, and right now, the keys to it are held by Byron and Elliott.
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Can Kyle Larson bounce back and reclaim his dominance, or are his best days behind him?