Kyle Larson hits 20-win mark in Toyota Owners 400

Kyle Larson claiming Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway was more than just him scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph of 2023 and twentieth of his career. As he led Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Josh Berry to the finish, team owner Rick Hendrick had another reasons to cherish the day as the 1–2 finish came on what would have been the forty-third birthday of his late son Ricky.

Ricky Hendrick raced in what is now the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at the turn of the millennium before transitioning into an executive role at Hendrick Motorsports, helping oversee the team until his death in a plane crash in 2004. Larson’s blue/white livery, with which he has almost exclusively used since joining HMS in 2021, is directly based on the younger Hendrick’s car during his driving days.

“I think days like today makes you wonder what Ricky’s presence would do for us if he was here with us today and what his leadership,” said team vice chairman Jeff Gordon, whose former Xfinity team JG Motorsports employed Ricky as a driver. “He was so passionate about Hendrick Motorsports and racing, so it’s nice, days like today, when you do something special on his birthday. I was talking to Rick, and he was emotional and excited, and so his presence is still here.

“Certainly our folks try to do everything they can to make Rick Hendrick proud, but when you know what Ricky’s impact could have been on our company and the people and the #5 car and that paint scheme and what that means to the whole company, it’s very rewarding to know that we’re still kind of thinking of him and paying tribute to him as often as we can. Maybe he is looking down on us as well.”

It was a banner day for Hendrick as all four drivers led laps, with William Byron recording the most of the entire field of 117 including the Stage #1 win though a wreck with Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain twenty laps remaining knocked him out of contention. Larson took the top spot from Byron shortly before said accident and led the rest of the way on the ensuing restart with Berry in tow. The team’s fourth driver Alex Bowman started on the pole and finished eighth.

Larson’s late advantage was bolstered by his pit crew servicing quick enough stops to have priority lane selection on restarts. Coincidentally, his jackman Brandon Johnson and spotter Tyler Monn also celebrated birthdays on Sunday.

While not a win, Berry’s runner-up finish was an impressive showing in just his fourth start for the team as a substitute driver for the injured Chase Elliott. He had finished third in Saturday’s Xfinity race at Richmond, a further testament to his background in short track racing as the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion. Making his run all the more impressive, he had been spun by Ryan Blaney on lap 96 from which he was able to recover.

“When we got some clean track, we weren’t running bad lap times,” commented Berry. “I’m so glad they tried something different to get us there at the end. Felt like we were decent the whole time. Just getting in cleaner air. We were free to run with Kyle. Man, what a huge day.

“To come here and start in the back, no practice, qualifying, get spun out, work through the field like that, just second place, it’s pretty cool.”

While HMS had plenty of reason to be happy, the same could not be said for Joe Gibbs Racing. Bell finished fourth but called the result “pretty disappointing” as cautions and poor stops forced him to climb through the order again on restarts, and the crash with Byron and Chastain was effectively the nail in his coffin. Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin respectively recorded fifty-six and seventy-one laps led but neither cracked the top ten; the former had a late miscommunication regarding his tyres as he raced under the assumption that he had new sticker tyres instead of scuffs, while the latter’s race was overshadowed by him turning J.J. Yeley for the first race-related caution of the day.

Hamlin was already under fire after confessing to intentionally squeezing Chastain into the wall at Phoenix, for which he was docked twenty-five points; his appeal of the penalty will take place on Thursday. Ironically, Hendrick’s win comes days after their drivers had 100 points restored following a successful penalty appeal, a decision that Hamlin derided.

Noah Gragson was the lone retirement after hitting the wall on lap 303. With the exception of both 2022 races where two cars bowed out, every Richmond Cup race in the 2020s has seen just one car exit each.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
2	30	9	Josh Berry*	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
3	4	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	400	Running
4	21	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
5	10	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
6	15	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	400	Running
7	18	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	400	Running
8	1	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
9	14	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
10	24	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	400	Running
11	12	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
12	19	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
13	32	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
14	2	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
15	13	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	400	Running
16	5	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	400	Running
17	37	13	Chandler Smith*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
18	33	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
19	26	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	400	Running
20	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
21	16	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Toyota	400	Running
22	28	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Ford	400	Running
23	20	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	400	Running
24	3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
25	27	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	399	Running
26	17	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	399	Running
27	25	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	399	Running
28	6	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	399	Running
29	29	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	399	Running
30	7	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	398	Running
31	22	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	398	Running
32	36	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	398	Running
33	35	78	Anthony Alfredo*	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	396	Running
34	31	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	395	Running
35	8	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	384	Running
36	34	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	383	Running
37	23	42	Noah Gragson	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	303	Accident