What Makes Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels So Damn Good Together?

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet at the beginning of the 2021 season, Kyle Larson has further staked his claim as one of the best drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, securing a title and more than 25 wins in an era where competition is at an all-time high.

So, what exactly is it about Larson that has made him such a force to be reckoned with in the NASCAR Cup Series over the last four years?

There’s the obvious talent factor, which the Elk Grove, California-native has no shortage of, without a doubt. But maybe the more underappreciated aspect of Larson’s success with Hendrick Motorsports has been crew chief Cliff Daniels.

Daniels, a six-year veteran on top of the box at NASCAR’s top-level, was paired with Larson upon his arrival to Hendrick Motorsports, after spending two years working with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

It’s been more than four years, and Daniels has meshed perfectly with Larson, which has turned into a ton of on-track success, something that has made the Smithfield, Virginia-native a championship-winning crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series.

So, what makes Daniels and Larson mesh together so damn well?

“Honestly, the common thing that we have in our relationship is how much pure love we have for racing,” Daniels said following Sunday’s victory at Kansas. “We don’t go fishing together. We don’t even really talk much during the week.”

Daniels says that he makes a point to watch every lap that Larson is on the racetrack – which considering his bizarre schedule between dirt, NASCAR, and this month, IndyCar, is a full-time job in itself – and send him a text as a mini-debrief, which he says usually involves ‘good job’.

“We love the sport. We love attacking races, figuring out ways to get better, ways to be faster,” Daniels added. “We both enjoy the way we build our team, the way our team interacts, and we communicate. We play crazy music before the race now; that’s a new thing for the No. 5 team.”

“All of our vision for how we approach racing together, we’re so common in that, that – I don’t know, it’s just fun. I think it keeps us connected.”

Larson, a 32-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, has spent the second chapter (as you could call it) of his NASCAR career with Hendrick Motorsports and Daniels, and its allowed the 32-year-old driver to build trust with a single person to perfect his race car and make it so that he’s able to compete for wins on Sunday’s.

“We both have a lot of trust in each other,” Larson added. “I trust that nobody works harder than Cliff and the No. 5 team, and I think he knows that although I’m not at the shop all the time, that’s me – he’s trusting me that I’m working to be the best race car driver I can be. Allowing me to go race all the time and be as crazy as I am only going to benefit us on the weekends. It’s pretty amazing since 2021 and joining the No. 5 team all of the success we’ve had.”

Sunday at Kansas Speedway marked a couple of substantial milestones for Larson, and Daniels, as well.

Larson exceeded 10,000 laps led in the NASCAR Cup Series, becoming only the 22nd driver in the series’ 76-year history, and only the third currently active on the circuit (behind Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin) to reach the milestone.

Leading 148 laps (and counting) in Sunday's #AdventHealth400 at Kansas, @KyleLarsonRacin has become the 22nd driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to cross the 10,000 laps led mark.#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Zs9rBT8DM7
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) May 11, 2025

With his 221 laps led in the Advent Health 400 at Kansas, Larson set the record for the most laps led in a single event at the mile-and-a-half racetrack.

Finally, Sunday’s victory at Kansas marked the 25th in the NASCAR Cup Series for Larson and Daniels as a driver-crew chief combination, making them only the 13th pairing to cross over the quarter-century mark in the NASCAR Cup Series, and the first since Rodney Childers and Kevin Harvick.

Considering the strength of Larson, and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team this season, it's likely that the record books will continue to reflect the dominant pairing that has become Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels.

For the time being, though, the decade-long veteran of the NASCAR Cup Series has some other things to focus on, with on-track activity for the Indianapolis 500 set to begin this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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