NASCAR News: Kyle Larson admits Hendrick car 'ran like s***' despite third place at Phoenix

Reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson has admitted that he was surprised to finish third at Phoenix on Sunday, saying he and his team have to get better at the track.

The race was Larson's first return to Phoenix Raceway and its famous dogleg since he won the Cup Series title back in November but, despite securing a good finish, he was clearly unhappy with how his 312 laps went.

The 2025 champ made it clear that the lack of pace at the track wasn't just a one-off occurrence and didn't just affect him, pointing out that Hendrick Motorsports as a collective need to run better at the one-mile track.

Team Penske are notoriously strong at the track, which hosted the Championship Race for six years, with Ryan Blaney sending a reminder of that dominance with his first win of the year on Sunday.

NASCAR RESULTS TODAY: Blaney survives Phoenix chaos to save the day for Penske

Larson: Got to get way, way, way, way better

Speaking on pit road after the race, Larson said: “Was not expecting that with how bad we were. But again, proud of the team, and yeah, just got to get a lot better here. It’s rewarding to run like s*** all day and finish third, but I would love to come here and control our own destiny and lead laps, get stage points, all that sort of stuff, and then get a good finish.”

He continued: “Yeah, it’s concerning, but I mean, like, we’re always really bad here at Phoenix, at least me. William (Byron, his teammate) has had his moments of being pretty strong, but I feel like the rest of us three have always been really bad. We just were worse today.

"I don’t know, just maybe a combination of us needing to learn the body a little bit more and then the horsepower or whatever, but I had the same sort of feel that I always have here, just worse.

"So yeah, but again, I mean, because we are so bad here, I feel like we know how to fight through it and get a third-place finish like we typically do here, but performance-wise, that’s not where we should be running. So with that, yeah, I’m proud of the team, but for Phoenix, we’ve got to get way, way, way, way better.”