Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief Cliff Daniels on the Hendrick Motorsports ‘Grey Cloud Over My Head’ Ahead of Daytona 500

Recently, Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Cliff Daniels spoke ahead of the Daytona 500 weekend. He confessed that when he was younger, he always wanted to win the iconic race. Daniels also harbored dreams of winning a Cup championship, however, he has not had a good experience at Daytona. Whether this was with Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Larson, it has not been successful so far.

He said, “I feel like there’s this grey cloud over my head, when it comes to the 500. We’ve had good cars, something happens towards the end of the race. Haven’t had good cars, and we find ourselves up front, we still get crashed coming off Turn 4. We finish 18th or something, so I don’t know. I think it’s kind of little about my realistic thoughts for Daytona. Maybe it could never happen, I don’t know. I would love to have it, because its the ‘Great American Race’. It’s the biggest race of our season, everybody wants to win that race.”

Can the Hendrick Motorsports drivers redeem themselves?

Admittedly, two of the Hendrick quartet are in the best position to try and win the race. This is because Kyle Larson is on the pole, with Alex Bowman alongside him on the front row. Chase Elliott is a little further behind in 11th place, while William Byron is all the way down in 23rd place. Behind Larson and Bowman are the Roush Fenway Keselowski duo, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buecher, with Penske’s Austin Cindric in 5th.

Back at the front, the Hendrick Motorsports drivers will want to re-establish their authority over everyone. In the first two Practice sessions, the Fords ran riot, with last year’s winner Michael McDowell topping the first session. Meanwhile, Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney topped the second practice session. Let’s see how the race pans out.

READ MORE: Rick Hendrick Provides Positive Update About the Futures of Chase Elliott and William Byron