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September 23, 2024
By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service
Photo: Stephen Furst Myracenews
Kyle Larson made an emphatic statement with his victory in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t formidable hurdles Larson still has to cross if he hopes to claim a second NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Larson’s triumph in the Round of 16 elimination race was a study in superiority. From the moment he wrested the lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate and pole winner Alex Bowman on Lap 33, Larson had total control of the race.
By the time he crossed the finish line for the final time, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet had led 462 laps—the most ever led by a Hendrick driver in a single race—and had stretched his lead over runner-up Chase Elliott to 7.088 seconds, nearly half a lap at the 0.533-mile high-banked bullring.
The No. 5 pit crew was superb from start to finish, restoring Larson to the top spot on every stop.
Larson led all three of his teammates into the Round of 12—Elliott, Bowman and William Byron, as the Hendrick juggernaut appeared to be gaining steam at just the right moment.
To make matters worse for the opposition, Larson added another seven Playoff points to his total by sweeping the first two stages and the race. He enters next Sunday’s Round of 12 opener at Kansas Speedway as the top seed, 39 points ahead of Austin Cindric in ninth place.
Though his fellow competitors might interpret his Bristol victory as a statement, Larson tried to understate the enormity of his win.
“I don’t really think a performance like tonight sent a message,” Larson said after the blowout win. “We’ve dominated lots of races. We’ve led the most laps in a number of races. I think teams already know that we’re capable of doing it on any given weekend.
“No, it’s definitely nice to do it, but there’s also so many other great teams out there. No, I don’t think a performance like tonight just puts us as the sure favorite. It’s just hard. Every week changes in the Playoffs.
“Just got to keep bringing fast race cars and keep executing like we did tonight, and hopefully more good runs will come.”
Next Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 takes place at a track where Larson already has achieved mastery. He has finished in the top eight in his last six starts at Kansas Speedway, winning twice and running second twice.
A victory at the 1.5-mile track helped to propel Larson to his series championship in 2021, his first season at Hendrick.
Beyond Kansas, however, is the hurdle mentioned earlier. It’s Trouble with a capital “T” and it stands for Talladega.
In 19 career starts at the behemoth of a race track, Larson has scored just one top-five and three top-10 results. In his last four starts at Talladega, his average finish is 21.75.
As the middle race in the Round of 12, Talladega is a threat to the fortunes of a driver who has never won a superspeedway race. But Larson argues against the conventional wisdom, maintaining that the elimination race at the Charlotte Roval is the one that makes him nervous.
“I’ve had a lot of moments of stress there throughout my Playoff career,” Larson said, perhaps remembering the first race on the road course in 2018, when he bounced his wrecked car off the outside wall and passed Jeffrey Earnhardt just short of the finish line to gain the one point he needed to advance to the Round of 12.
“Hopefully, we’re in a better position once we get there and can have less stress, because it’s pretty stressful. It’s more stressful than Talladega, for sure.”
Perhaps so, but if Larson has a typical Talladega, he may need all or part of the 39-point cushion he enjoys as the round begins.
