CHARLOTTE, N.C. >> There’s a tradition at Hendrick Motorsports in which a driver celebrates a win with a victory bell that he takes all over the motorsports campus so that every employee who contributed to the win gets a chance to give it a ring.

Kyle Larson did the ceremony for his dominating Bristol Motor Speedway victory on an recent fall day.

He joined crew chief Cliff Daniels and Jeff Gordon, the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, as employees lined up in the fabrication shop, then the engine department and finally the gift shop to pull the long string and make the bell clang once again for Larson.

The bell stopping in the merchandise store was an audible — there was coincidentally a Hendrick Automotive Group leadership summit going on in another building on the sprawling campus — and when Gordon saw young fans shopping he called them up to ring the bell, as well.

The trio then headed to the leadership summit, where all they were briefed on was to give a quick talk about the importance of communication to several hundred dealership executives.

Larson received a standing ovation when he entered the vast auditorium, and one executive even rose to his feet and double-fisted loudly clanged a pair of smaller bells placed on the table.

That ceremony was for the 22nd victory since Larson joined Hendrick in 2021, and he added another one four days later when he won at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As the trio sat in director chairs in front of the crowd, Gordon noted even though Larson had only been with the team four seasons, he couldn’t remember a time Larson didn’t drive for Hendrick.

That’s how quickly Larson found a second home after seven-plus seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, which pulled him out of sprint car racing and gave him a chance in NASCAR. Larson was fired in the early days of the pandemic when racers turned to iRacing to entertain fans and Larson used a racial slur during a late-night session.

Ganassi didn’t want to lose his budding superstar, but sponsor pressure to cut ties prevailed and Larson was suspended by NASCAR for the remainder of the season. Once reinstated, Rick Hendrick snapped him up, paired him with Daniels on the No. 5 Chevrolet and the team has never looked back.