Motorsport photo Matt Weaver · Motorsport Mon, November 9, 2026 at 4:42 AM UTC · 5 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When you combine the essence of Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson, you basically get the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 team, which is now doing a little bit of all the greats that came before.
Like, what else can you possibly say about Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels, Tyler Monn, Jesse Saunders and everyone who touches this generation's Hendrick Motorsports blue car in some tangible way?
This is now undisputably and intangibly their era.
Larson has the versatility of Stewart. He is now one championship away from Gordon. He is practically on pace with Johnson. He has his own version of Knaus and Evernham in Daniels.
And by gosh, he has all the resources of Rick Hendrick at his disposal, and a championship format that once again rewards greatness in its various forms.
"Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon are the two guys I looked up to through growing up dirt racing and stuff," Larson said. "To join Tony is such a cool feeling. I can't really believe that I'm on a list with him in championships.
"Winning races or similar races I could believe, but three championships and joining him is pretty amazing. Ultimately if I could join Jeff Gordon, that would be amazing also for a lot of the same reasons.
"Yeah, I mean, you want to just keep winning. Hopefully we can get there. I think Jeff thinks that I want to beat him and win five or win more than him. Obviously, yeah, that would be great. But for me just to be on a list with Jeff Gordon would be pretty awesome."
Watch: Kyle Larson reflects on improbable third Cup title: 'So proud of my team'
It's not that Gordon is encouraging Larson to surpass him. He is already resigned to it. And in the same way he was resigned to Johnson doing in a car he co-owned with Hendrick, Gordon stands to reap the benefits of this endeavor too.
"He's special," Gordon said. "It was one of the first things that I said to him when I saw him today. All right, there you go, number three, one more to go.
"I was on the other side of the Jimmie five-in-a-row championships. The way you do that is, one, you out-team him. You win the ones you're not supposed to win and then you win the ones you are supposed to win. In my opinion, that was last year and this year. "
This year, Larson entered the Chase as the winless seven seed who was 55 points behind top-seeded Denny Hamlin. They responded by winning three times, including in a step on their throats fashion response to a disaster of a Phoenix race, at Talladega.
Gordon lived that as a driver several times, most notably in 2007.
"That's what Jimmie and Chad did," Gordon said. "I think there were championships, honestly, at least one of 'em, I felt like we should have beat 'em. Man, they never quit. They never gave up. They came back and showed you how good they are and stepped it up and took it to another level. You're like in awe of it.
"I think that's what the competitors are looking at with Cliff and Kyle, that 5 team. They're in awe of things they're capable of doing."
This time, it was longtime rival Christopher Bell and longtime friend Denny Hamlin who played the role of a defeated Jeff Gordon. All they could do was acknowledge the greatness.
"I mean just an exceptional talent," Hamlin said. "I went through this generation's Jimmie, I think that's the only way you can describe it. When it comes to playoff time, they perform their best. That's something that Jimmie used to do. Jimmie was a guy that could get tons of speed out of the car. Kyle is the same, you could argue even more speed. There's a little more variance in the results because of how hard he pushes it, but he reaps the benefit because he gets lots of wins. That's something where he's going to be winning championships and races long after I'm gone."
Bell has been racing Larson for the entirety of their lives from Midgets and Sprint Cars to the NASCAR Cup Series. Bell has had his moments but Larson has enjoyed more of these moments on Sunday afternoons.
"He earned it," Bell said. "I think if you ask anyone in the crowd, anyone in the industry who the champion should have been, it's him. I love how (The Chase) went. I'm obviously disappointed in myself, but I thought The Chase was amazing. It delivered high-intensity moments throughout the entire 10 races – not just in the big shebang at the end."
For his part, Larson isn't even entertaining questions about the seven championships target, a par that would match Johnson, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
"I'd have to win five in a row to feel like I have enough time probably, like Jimmie did," Larson said with a chuckle. "Seven is a big number. These championships are extremely hard to come by. I mean, now that we're back to the Chase format, I think championships could be a little bit more realistic because it's not down to one race.
"But I don't know. Right now I'm definitely not thinking about seven. I'm happy to have three. If I could get one more, I would be even happier. If you end up getting four, then the next is five."
Larson said he appreciates the comparisons and compliments, and says Johnson himself has supported him and Daniels throughout the Chase, having personal relationships with both of them.
Daniels was Johnson's final crew chief and a lead engineer under Knaus. Larson inherited that team after Johnson's retirement.
"That's definitely gone a long way," Larson said. "It meant a lot. So yeah, I appreciate all that he's meant to Hendrick Motorsports and to Cliff Daniels and also shaping him probably into what he is today.
Watch: Race Rewind: Larson's championship triumph, Blaney's last-lap heroics
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Source: Sports
