NASCAR: Kyle Larson’s Hendrick car does not have sponsors

Kyle Larson had been arguably the hottest free agent on the NASCAR Cup Series driver market for the 2021 season before he was fired. While he is set to return next year with Hendrick Motorsports, his #5 Chevrolet is currently sponsorless. But that could absolutely still change.

More than six months after he was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing, Kyle Larson has signed a multi-year contract to drive the #5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Larson had competed for Chip Ganassi Racing since the 2014 season before losing his job back in April after multiple sponsors cut ties with him over his use of a racial slur during an iRacing event.

The 28-year-old Elk Grove, California native, who was initially only suspended indefinitely by both Chip Ganassi Racing and NASCAR, completed the required sensitivity training and applied for reinstatement from the latter several months later after doing a ton of work behind the scenes to grow as an individual following the incident.

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His request was approved, and shortly thereafter, he was officially signed by Rick Hendrick’s team.

With that being said, Hendrick had noted several weeks ago that he had already picked out a fourth driver for next year, effectively a replacement for the retiring seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

While Alex Bowman is set to move from the #88 Chevrolet to the #48 Chevrolet as Johnson’s replacement, Johnson’s true “replacement” in terms of the team’s actual lineup had not yet been confirmed.

But as speculated, it was effectively Larson all along, with the #88 Chevrolet renumbered to the #5 Chevrolet. Despite his indefinite suspension from NASCAR, he was still allowed to communicate with teams regarding a potential return to the sport.

However, even though this deal has been in the works for quite some time, his #5 Chevrolet does not yet have any sponsors for next year, which makes sense given the fact that the whole reason he was ultimately fired is because of the fact that so many sponsors cut ties with him and Chip Ganassi’s hand was practically forced.

After all, team owner/driver Jeremy Clements used the same word in 2013 during an interview with ESPN, and he was issued the same indefinite suspension penalty from NASCAR. He ended up missing only two races.

Here is what Hendrick had to say about the matter late last week, according to NBC Sports.

"“If I presented his case to any sponsor, I would spend a lot of time explaining to them what he did and owning up to the mistake he made and the different person he is. I know that’s not going to be easy. We’re just going to take it one step at a time because I think as people really understand and get to see him through the lens of what he accomplished this year while he was out of the car, I think people are going to be more comfortable with coming on board. That’s my hope. We’ll see how it works out.“The thing that impressed me so much about Kyle was his heart and the things he was doing above and beyond what he was asked to do. I had to get comfortable with his heart and that he was really sincere. He was not afraid to tell everyone that it was a terrible thing, ‘Sorry I did it. I’m going to make it right.’ ”"

The good news is that the start of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season is still more than three months away, so there is still plenty of time for Hendrick and Larson to attract potential sponsors for the #5 Chevrolet.