It’s been a minute since Kyle Larson has popped up in Victory Lane or even felt the roar of a championship clinch. After the scorching start to 2025 that saw him dominate early races, his last Cup win came at Kansas this year, and his sole NASCAR championship still dates back to 2021. He has even been overtaken by HMS teammate William Byron, who now leads the driver standings.

Since then, a rough patch set in, a punishing Indy-Charlotte Double attempt that ended in heartbreak and a slump that seems to have caught even him by surprise. Now, Larson admits he’s feeling it, and it’s driven him to drop a confession that it’s harder than any late race pass.

Kyle Larson’s Cup title feels like a blur

When veteran Marty Smith, on Never Settle with Jimmie Johnson and Marty Smith, asked Larson to pause and take in his journey, saying, “You are living every dream I would imagine you ever had for yourself,” Larson’s reply was candid and revealing.

Filled with nostalgia and doubt, hinting at how surreal victory still feels, the 32-year-old replied, saying, “I think for me, you know, there’s definitely a lot of times where I’m like, man, I can’t believe, you know, we’re able to accomplish that. Like, it doesn’t seem real. You know, I like—I still look back at our Cup Series championship. Man, it doesn’t even seem real. Like, it just doesn’t. That year was so successful. We won lots of races, but it’s—it’s just odd when you’re in the, you know, mix of doing it every week. You’re grinding so much that you just don’t have—you don’t allow yourself any time to reflect.” 

Kyle Larson’s 2021 season was staggering: 10 victories, including the finale at Phoenix, and the championship that placed him in the upper echelon alongside HMS stars Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. His 2025 triumph at Bristol and Kansas proved he still races with the champion’s edge, but as Larson admits, the memory of victory is fading.

Then came those six words: “I want to do it again.” It wasn’t a declaration of entitlement; it was a yearning for validation, a need to feel the championship emotion once more, clear, unclouded, and real.

After leading the standings with three wins, things unraveled quickly. On the double duty, he crashed out of the Indy 500 and suffered a crash-induced DNF in the Coca-Cola 600. He followed that with a crash in Darlington and a 36th-place DNF in Mexico City, though he still managed fastest lap points. At Pocono, he limped home seventh, allowing playoff rival William Byron to stretch his lead by 27 points. So far, sitting second with 23 playoff points ensures him a spot in the playoffs, but a championship win would be a big stretch for Kyle Larson.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver went on to say, “And then now, you know, being four years or so removed from it, it feels like so long ago. And then it also feels like, man, I—I can’t—I don’t even remember what that feeling felt like. And I can’t believe it happened. Did it really happen? I want to do it again to make sure it really happened, stuff like that.” 

While Larson has demoted himself from the GOAT status, that lingering hunger for another championship moment might be part of what makes the current slump feel so jarring. But what exactly is going on?

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What’s been going on with the No. 5 team?

Larson has been leading the field in laps led this season, blazing toward another potential 2000-lap year like he pulled off in 2021. But lately, things have cooled off very dramatically.

In the last four races—Nashville, Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono—Larson hasn’t led a single lap. It’s the first time in nearly a year that he’s gone three straight races without pacing the field. Some might point to the chaotic Indy 500/Coke 600 double as a turning point. But this isn’t about Larson’s ability; remember, he was dominant early at Charlotte, leading 34 laps before the wreck. The issue seems to lie somewhere else.

Right now, something just isn’t clicking for the No. 5 crew. Kyle himself has seemed a bit baffled in recent interviews, like at Michigan, where he said strategy couldn’t have changed his result either way. After the Pocono race, Kyle Larson said, “I just hope we don’t carry what we had the last few weeks into the rest of the season. Prior to the last few weeks, we’ve been really fast. It’s just been a rough stretch, but we will continue to go to work.”

Still, if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Kyle Larson, it’s that slumps don’t define him, and he’s sure coming back swinging. So, with the EchoPark Automotive 400 at Atlanta looming, do you think he can pull off a win and kickstart a new stretch of dominance?