After spending the first 8 years of his career as a full-time Cup driver at Chip Ganassi Racing, Kyle Larson came on board with Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. Having been fired by his former team for using a racial slur during an iRacing event, Larson’s future in the sport was bleak. However, coming to his rescue, HendrickCars.com sponsored him for the 2021 season – the same year when Larson clinched his first Cup Series trophy.

However, just like anyone else, Larson must have been plagued with doubts about his future at HMS. While many teams employ restrictions on their drivers when it comes to off-track activities, naturally, Larson expected the same from HMS.

Jeff Gordon made Kyle Larson confess his doubts publically

In one of their public appearances, HMS Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon made Kyle Larson confess his doubts. Asking if Larson had lost any hopes of driving any other cars than the Cup, Gordon said,

“Prior to him coming to Hendrick Motorsports, he thought ‘Oh Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon, and then you know they only want me to drive a Cup car.’

Turning to Larson, he asked, “I want to know when you finally got convinced that we wanted you to be here but we wanted you to be here and get to drive all those other cars too.”

Smiling at Gordon’s statement, Larson replied, “Well, I don’t think that was a false thought.” Furthermore, he added that he was glad to race for a team where his boss allows him to have fun. He continued,

“So, no I was very very surprised and I’m still surprised that I get to race as much as you guys let me and it’s awesome that our bosses let us go have some fun.”

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When Kyle Larson expressed his gratitude after losing all hope

After going through NASCAR’s reinstatement program and diversity training, Kyle Larson deactivated his social media accounts to focus on his mistakes. After winning the championship in the 2021 season, Larson thanked the opportunity offered to him by the Hendrick team.

As per ESPN, He said, “I’m very thankful for this second chance and wanted to take advantage of it as best as I could. I lost a lot of hope about making it back, and I didn’t know what the meeting was going to be about. I had thoughts of what it would be about, and it was ultimately what I thought it was going to be.”

Furthermore, he thanked Hendrick Motorsports Automotive Group and his crew chief Cliff Daniels for believing in him. And echoing Larson’s gratitude, Rick Hendrick told the media that he had ‘sky-high’ expectations from Larson and was proud of him.

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