Rick Hendrick recently said that he made an error by not signing two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson sooner. Earlier this month, Larson and Hendrick Motorsports agreed on a five-year contract extension that will keep the driver with them through the 2031 season.

Larson has already won multiple races and two championships in the No. 5 Chevrolet. But Hendrick believed that he should have signed Larson earlier in his career before Chip Ganassi Racing.

During a recent appearance on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast with former driver and current vice chairman Jeff Gordon, the Hendrick Motorsports owner spoke about how the delay happened and why he felt he could have acted faster.

“I watched him cuz we built motors for him uh when he was at Ganassi. And, so I would walk up to the car and and talk to him and and congratulate him. And he never would say much to me. But Jeff had talked about him and Jeff actually brought him to me back before he ever got in a car with Ganassie. And that’s where I made a mistake. And if I had listened to Jeff, we would have been down the road further,” Rick Hendrick said (7:10 onwards).

Hendrick also reflected on their decision to sign Kyle Larson in 2020 when he went on to win the Cup championship in their first season together.

“We knew that he could get the job done, if we put him in the right situation and boy did it work out the first year with 10 wins and championship.”

Larson’s contract with Hendrick was different from others. He pushed for an exemption from their previous no-tolerance policy on midget and sprint car racing, and the team has since allowed Cup drivers to continue in other races.

“They’ve never said no to a race that I’ve wanted to run” – Kyle Larson shares nervous talk to include sprint racing in NASCAR Cup contract with Hendrick

During the same episode, Kyle Larson, who was suspended from NASCAR and then lost his Cup ride at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020, explained how he convinced Rick Hendrick to let him run sprint cars at the end of their first meeting.

“I had gone through big journey in 2020 and losing my job and whatever. And I had this great, opportunity in front of me to race for Hendrickk Motorsports. And the conversation went really good, but then at the end of it, he’s like, ‘Is there anything that’s important to you, that you want?’ I’m like, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’ It’s like, ‘I’d still really like to race sprint cars,'” Kyle Larson said (9:00).

“And they’ve never said no to a race that I’ve wanted to run since then, which is pretty incredible.”

Meanwhile, Larson’s new deal also includes an extension for his crew chief, Cliff Daniels. Sponsorship from HendrickCars.com will stay on the No. 5 car most weekends each year.