Kyle Larson likened to Jimmie Johnson after recent NASCAR dominance

Former NASCAR crew chief Steve Letarte has compared the in-form Kyle Larson with Jimmie Johnson after his recent spell of dominance in the Cup Series.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Larson claimed his second win in four races at Kansas Speedway last weekend to climb to the top spot in the drivers’ standings.

The 32-year-old has managed to maintain razor-sharp focus on his primary campaign, despite making several appearances in dirt races as well as NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series.

He is also due to pull double duty on the Memorial Day weekend, with a drive in the Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren to be followed by the gruelling Coca-Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

TV personality Letarte, who closely followed Johnson’s career in his role as crew chief for his teammate Jeff Gordon and then Dale Earnhardt Jr, feels there is a resemblance between the two greats of NASCAR.

The 45-year-old believes Larson is very “authentic” like the seven-time champion, and displays the same “quintessential” traits of a race car driver no matter what type of series he is driving in.

“I want to focus on Kyle. He is really, really, really good in anything he sits in,” said Letarte.

“For me, his personality reminds me of Jimmie in his prime. I was fortunate enough [as] crew chief in the building and saw Jimmie [regularly].

“I’ll admit from race 1 to championship seven to today, when I call Jimmie Johnson on the phone it’s the same guy. The conversation may change a little bit but he is the same humble, aw shucks, even as a team owner he feels like he is as authentic as he can be. And I get a little bit of that out of Kyle Larson.

“Now their personalities are very different, but that authentic honest trait, whether I get Kyle Larson on a golf course, whether that is at a dirt track, whether it is the Cup garage, I was even fortunate enough to talk to him when he did do the Indy 500 on NBC, I don’t know if anyone is more comfortable being a badass race car driver than Kyle Larson.

“I know that sounds weird. I’m trying to think of a personality trait but he is the quintessential race car driver. AJ Foyt, put him on the wall,  Al Unser, put him on the wall, Rick Mears, Jeff Gordonm Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, put him on the wall as well.”

Larson won his maiden Cup Series title in 2021 in his first year with Hendrick Motorsports. He has remained a frontrunner in the championship, finishing second in the standings in 2023 and coming close to becoming the regular series champion last year.

He has now won 32 races in the top echelon of stock car racing but has never stood on the podium in the Daytona 500.