Kyle Larson’s win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was a very special moment for the Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick.
Larson didn’t have to wait until long to register his first win with Hendrick Motorsports, as he won in just his fourth start in his comeback season with NASCAR.
Having signed Larson after his suspension was lifted, Hendrick said that he didn’t expect his new driver to win so early in the season.
“I didn’t really expect for it to come this quick because I just thought it would take more time to gel. But our cars are fast. He’s a champion really. I’m so lucky to have him,” Hendrick said. “To win in the fourth race, especially when you don’t have any practice, you just show up and race, it’s really been awesome.
“I think they’re going to have a lot of success together this year. If you look back at the road course, he had a shot to win that. If you show up and you run well, that’s half the battle.
“Nobody doubts Kyle’s ability.”
While your driver winning a Cup race is a special thing for the team owner, but Hendrick had more reasons to be happy about Larson’s win as the No. 5 car had the paint scheme similar to the one that Hendrick’s late son, Ricky Hendrick, used during his NASCAR career.
“This win today in the No. 5 car with my son’s paint scheme on it was probably one of the most special races that I’ve ever watched,” Hendrick said.
“We still got work to do. We got work to do in the pits. You always want to improve. But we got good speed. The cars are handling well. All of these guys, from William (Byron) to Alex (Bowman), they’re all getting into another year. With their ages, they’re just going to get better.”
[Read More: Kyle Larson Gets Emotional After Las Vegas Victory – “This is definitely special”]