How Crew Chief Cliff Daniels Helped Kyle Larson Salvage ‘The Worst Race of his Life’

At the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson had a rough day in the office. Admittedly, it was pretty impressive, considering that he started near the back of the pack. But this was largely because he had a crash in practice and could not compete in qualifying. So he was forced to fight his way up the order.

Sometime in the race, the defending champion was feeling quite demoralized. In fact, Larson dubbed it the ‘worst race of his life’ and was ready to throw in the towel. However, crew chief Cliff Daniels had plenty to say about that declaration. In an instant, Daniels turned into a motivational speaker and managed to rally his driver to a Top 10 finish.

How did Cliff Daniels motivate Kyle Larson at the Coca-Cola 600?

He said, “We went from the back to the front more times than I can count. Hit the wall, we spun out, we literally caught on fire. We were also the most penalized team on pit road in the first half. All that means is that in the second half, already we’re gonna be starting way better than what we started the first half.”

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“We’ve got to go execute right now. I don’t really know what the hell you’re worried about, but I’m fine, the team’s fine, everybody down here is nodding their heads and giving a thumbs up. So let’s go.”

In all honesty, it was like something out of a Hollywood speech like ‘Any Given Sunday’. The good news was that it was enough to spur Larson into action. Since then, the #5 Hendrick Motorsports driver found himself in the race lead on different occasions.

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Unfortunately, his good fortune ran out when he had a late spin. On the bright side, his car was still in working condition. So he was able to continue his progress up the order and finish in 9th place. While all that was going on, Denny Hamlin led a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2 ahead of Kyle Busch and Stewart-Haas drivers Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe.