It will be survival of the fittest for the drivers as the Cup Series enters the second half of its ongoing season. With just one common interest among the 16 drivers, the stakes are evidently high for each individual. However, the stakes are even higher for Hendrick Motorsports, especially after the elimination of its poster boys, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, from the playoffs.

On the contrary, the winningest team in the NASCAR paddock also has reasons to be cheerful, given the remarkable form of its young prodigy, William Byron, as he carries forward Jeff Gordon’s legacy in the 2023 season. Moreover, the team’s speedster, Kyle Larson, has showcased that he still has the thirst to carve his name on another championship trophy. 

However, in order to do so, he has to overcome the biggest obstacle that he reveals in his interview with Hendrick Motorsports.

Kyle Larson discloses the biggest obstacle on his road to the championship

Very few drivers in the NASCAR grid have been able to earn as many feathers as Kyle Larson has achieved. Apart from dominating the tracks of the Cup Series and Xfinity Series, he has been invincible when it comes to racing in sprint cars and earning coveted crowns. 

With the Cup Series winding down to the last few laps of the season, Hendrick Motorsports has only two options to look forward and gamble their luck on William Byron and Kyle Larson, in order to seize the 15th championship title for the team. However, the road to victory is seldom facile, and the 2021 Cup Series champion knows it better than anyone else.

In his interview with Hendrick Motorsports ahead of the first race of the playoff season, Kyle Larson addressed the biggest obstacle that he has to trounce in order to be a championship contender. He expressed that it’s his own teammate William Byron, that he needs to defeat to earn his second championship trophy.

The No. 5 Chevy stated, that William Byron, has been “consistent all year long” and “a top-three guy every week”, and does “a really good job executing.”

Speaking about his strengths, Kyle Larson exclaimed, “I think the first round are three great tracks for us. Darlington, Kansas, and Bristol are really, really good. In the second round, Texas hopefully will be a good track for us. Talladega is Talladega. And the Roval is a good track for us as well. I think if we can make it to the Round of 8, I like that better than the Round of 12.”

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“We have Vegas in there and we almost won that earlier this year. Homestead is probably my best track. Then, there is Martinsville, where we won earlier this year. I would love to make it to the Round of 8 because I think we would have a good shot”, the HMS driver further added.

William Byron reveals his intentions for the championship contentions

However, Larson’s teammate and championship rival William Byron seems to look forward to the partnership of both teams in order to take the team to the Championship 4. 

In the same interview, the latter said, “The two of our teams work really well together. You’ll see a lot of times he and I being close together on pace because we drive similarly.”

“We search for kind of the same things in terms of the balance of the car. I think that helps our team’s progress. Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) knows that he can look at their stuff and give me something similar and it usually works,” Byron added.

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It will be interesting to see, how the duo, performs in the playoffs, with the rise of William Byron in the 2023 season, will the young prodigy be able to earn his first championship or will he relinquish it to his teammate Kyle Larson? Well, only time will tell.