Kyle Larson has insisted that he and his No. 5 team are gaining confidence and momentum, despite a winless streak which now stretches back more than a year.
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion hasn't won since Kansas last May, 41 races ago, but still sits fourth in points after an impressively consistent season's running.
The Hendrick Motorsports star has been aided by a season-best 150 stage points, as well as an impressive seven top-five finishes – including at four of the last five races, despite Toyota's recent relative dominance, at least at ovals.
It's that consistency, and his track record of excellence, that means Larson is still third favorite to retain his title at the end of the year despite his lack of wins and Toyota's apparent advantage over his Chevrolet machinery.
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Larson: Our cars are getting better
Speaking to NASCAR.com after taking third place in Sunday's street race on Coronado Naval Base, Larson said: “We’re definitely finding momentum, and our race cars are getting better. It’s giving me more confidence, all the good things that you need. Just got to keep it going, you know?
"I feel like we’re still a bit off of being the best and wins becoming easier, but if we keep swinging, we’ll eventually get one, and hopefully with that, get more points and get a little bit further up.”
Crew chief Cliff Daniels expressed a similar sentiment, going deeper on how the No. 5 team is getting its head around the new Chevrolet body introduced for the 2026 season.
“By the end of 2025, we had already seen the [surge] of the Toyotas, and we weren’t the upper echelon of speed," he said. "And I think that carried over into the early part of this year. At the same time, us just getting our arms wrapped around the body that I still think is good and fine, and we probably have had some overreaction to at times.
"So now we’re getting settled in on that. Our team has been very locked into our process this whole time. We’ve had some new guys come onto our team this year, and just trying to get everybody up to speed and locked in.
“Everybody’s really working well together. And at this point of the season, that’s when you want to be putting those top fives on the board, knowing that your team process is getting smooth, and everybody’s just chipping away. So we’re going to stay on that path, and we’ll see what lies ahead.”
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