Cliff Daniels pulled out a well-recognized phrase this week forward of the ultimate race within the Spherical of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Collection playoffs after which grinned when referred to as on it.
Daniels, the crew chief on the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Kyle Larson, was taking part in a media availability when expressing that his staff has been battle-tested within the postseason. It’s the precise phrase and feeling Daniels used one yr in the past in the identical media availability.
“Welcome to life on the No. 5 staff,” Daniels replied when instructed of the déjà vu. “Anyone who watches the spotlight reel of the No. 5 staff since we’ve been this incarnation of the staff, that’s simply form of who we’re.”
There isn’t a exaggeration or dramatics in the case of Daniels. Probably the most simple and managed crew chiefs within the Cup Collection storage, he can dig into the minute particulars about his race staff and the way they stack up within the larger image.
Relating to this yr’s postseason run, Larson and Daniels have certainly been battled examined and will probably be once more Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. The group is in a seven-point deficit to start the elimination race after ending eleventh in Las Vegas, struggling harm early within the race and a later pit highway miscue, after which a thirteenth place end at Homestead-Miami after a tire puncture and separate solo spin.
However the story of the tape goes again deeper.
Larson crashed within the first race of the playoffs at Atlanta however received the final race of the primary spherical in dominating vogue at Bristol. Then got here a tire challenge in Kansas and one other sturdy victory when closing out the second spherical on the Charlotte Roval.
“It’s form of been what our identification has grow to be,” Daniels mentioned about driving the highs and lows. “Finally you get sufficient seat time experiencing these issues that I can consider races two, three, 4 years in the past that I rode the highs and the lows an excessive amount of because the chief of the staff and on down the road of all of our teammates and everyone as a part of the staff, in all probability Kyle included. Now we all know that, hey, there’s going to be races that we’re simply flat out going to wreck or have one thing loopy occur from the lead or once we’re in rivalry. Don’t get too low in these moments.”
“Then you have got races like Bristol and the Roval the place afterward everyone talks about how dominating the day was. For us, we don’t stroll away beating our chest saying, ‘Wow, we simply dominated that race.’ OK, we did our job that day, and now we all know going into the following week, it may all flip-flop on its head once more.”
The journey, as Daniel additionally described it, supplies maturing and development alternatives for the staff. He also can admire these moments greater than ever earlier than as a result of he believes it’s made the group harder and extra resilient.
“Who is aware of what the end result of all of this will probably be, however I believe our dedication to our course of and one another outweighs something [else],” Daniels mentioned. “That’s what our precedence is — being true to ourselves and the method and the end result is what it’s.”
Larson praised his staff this weekend for the perseverance they’ve proven to be within the hunt to advance. The 2021 sequence champion doesn’t consider there’s a staff that’s nonetheless left within the spherical that’s gone by way of extra.
The No. 5 staff’s current monitor file speaks for itself, too — they received at Martinsville Speedway within the spring of 2023 and completed second on the monitor earlier this yr.
