Kyle Larson pulled off an incredible comeback in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, and it was all thanks to a four-word message from his crew chief, Cliff Daniels
14:53 ET, 07 Nov 2025Updated 14:53 ET, 07 Nov 2025
Jeff Gordon shared the valuable advice Cliff Daniels gave over the team radio to Kyle Larson(Image: Getty)
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon revealed the crucial message that Kyle Larson heard over the team radio just before he captured the NASCAR Cup Series title.
On Sunday, Larson remarkably crossed the finish line at Phoenix Raceway despite not having led a single lap until overtime. The No.5 Chevrolet driver navigated numerous challenges on his way to earning his second championship, including a burst tire and being a full lap behind.
However, when the situation appeared most dire, Gordon disclosed that Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, maintained his optimism. And when he did that, Gordon knew that they had a chance.
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“I heard Cliff going, ‘We’re OK here, guys.’ I don’t know exactly what he meant by that because we were running out of laps,” Gordon said.
“You can just never say it’s over. Never quit and never count out Cliff Daniels and Kyle Larson and this number five team.
“This sums up their entire season, really. This whole race was like their entire season and you’ve just got to love that fight.”
For Larson, Daniels’ positive mindset and steady leadership proved to be the decisive factor separating him from the other Championship 4 contenders competing for the Bill France Cup.
“He works so hard. He puts in so much effort, not only on this team but on himself personally,” Larson said of Daniels. “We all want it so bad for ourselves but even more for him and his leadership and how hard he works at it.”
“I knew all four of [the Championship 4 drivers’] cars would be pretty equal this week. I knew our teams were pretty comparable. But I knew I had Cliff Daniels and that’s something nobody else had.”
Daniels helped Larson secure his second Cup Series championship(Image: Getty)
However, as Daniels acknowledged, he wasn’t the only member of the No. 5 team who contributed to Sunday’s triumph.
When a late caution flag flew with just three laps to go, shifting the momentum in Larson’s direction, the 37 year old driver initially favored taking four fresh tires during the crucial final pit stop – a choice that would have sacrificed important track position.
Daniels’ engineering staff recommended that Larson opt for just two new tires instead, a strategic call that ultimately proved decisive. “I have to acknowledge that it was a pretty ugly day for us,” he admitted.
“At times we were up front, kind of in the top three, a little bit in the mix. Certainly (Denny Hamlin) was better than us. I think we were beat on raw pace today. After we had the flat tire, there wasn’t a lot of good things coming our way at the time.
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“We knew we would have more shots for pit stops and for restarts maybe mix it up a bit. The way that the team stuck together and continued to believe in each other, Kyle continued to believe that if we just had a shot, we could close it out. That was what was put on display today.”
In a season fraught with challenges both on and off the track, Daniels emphasized the significance of “banding together” within Hendrick Motorsports. “We’ve had things going on away from the racetrack where we’ve had to overcome obstacles, sometimes even tragedy, and work through a lot of things together,” he expressed.
“To me, there’s a lot of beauty in that, of a team banding together the way we have this season. That was really showcased today.”