AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson already has one Cup Series title on his resume. His goal is to win another this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, but not for his legacy. Larson has something else driving him.
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"I don't really, like, think about the legacy part of it," Larson said at Phoenix Raceway. "I've always really looked up to Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. They're multi-time champions.
"Just getting a second would mean I'm closer to them. That's one of the reasons why I would like to win, just to hopefully get closer to them."
Larson has one championship, which he won in 2021. Stewart has three. He won his titles in 2002, 2005, and 2011. Gordon has four. He won his first title in 1995. He added three more in 1997, 1998, and 2001.
This weekend marks Larson's third time competing for the biggest prize in NASCAR. He went one-for-one in 2021 but missed out on the title in 2023 as Ryan Blaney won for the first time.
Now, the California native will face off with three drivers seeking their first — Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and William Byron. Two of these drivers have reached the Championship 4 but fallen short of the title multiple times.
Briscoe makes his first appearance this weekend. Like Larson in 2021, he will try to win the prize in his first attempt and close out his first season with a new team.
Chasing down Stewart and Gordon on the championship leaderboard is not the only thing driving Larson. He also wants to move much closer to this duo in terms of race wins.
Although Larson acknowledges that one driver is much closer to him than the other.
"As far as wins, I mean, to me, again, like Tony, I've always looked at Tony," Larson added. "I'll never catch Jeff, so... I don't think about Jeff (laughter). Tony I think is in the mid 50s. If I could get to that, I'd be pretty satisfied."
Larson is close. Stewart actually only has 49 career Cup Series wins. This puts Smoke only 17 wins ahead of him. If Larson averaged three wins per season, he could hit and surpass this mark in six seasons.
Since moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, Larson has won 26 races. He scored 10 in 2021, three in 2022, four in 2023, six last season, and three this season so far. This puts him at an average of 5.2 wins per season, which drops the required number of seasons to just over three.
The HMS driver has plenty of time to catch Stewart, in theory. He is only 33 years old. But will he race until his late 30s or early 40s?
As Larson noted, he likely will race until the age of 40. He will then reassess the situation at that point and decide if he will keep going. By that point, son Owen will be 18, daughter Audrey will be a teenager, and son Cooper will be 10. Whether he keeps racing will depend on the things taking place in the lives of his children.
For now, Larson will simply focus on trying to win a second title so that he can move one step closer to Stewart and Gordon.
