BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson’s dominant victory in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race could serve as a microcosm of what’s to come during the final seven races of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Larson led 462 of 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, scoring his fifth win of the campaign and solidifying a spot into the round of 12.
The performance was historic. He set a Hendrick Motorsports record for most laps led in a race, surpassing some of the dominant victories from Jeff Gordan – such as leading 431 laps at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in 1997 and 381 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway in 2001. It’s the most laps led at Bristol since Cale Yarborough led 495 circuits in 1977. At 1,351, it’s now the most laps led at any track in Larson’s career.
The 32-year-old took the lead on lap 33 and never surrendered it under green-flag conditions. Alex Bowman – who started on pole – led two additional laps during caution periods, along with 23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.
The records, though, aren’t the priority for the Elk Grove, Calif., native.
“When I came to Hendrick, I didn’t have any goals of beating any records of any of the others,” Larson said in his post-race press conference. “It’s not something that I’m reaching for. But when it happens, it’s really cool.
“I was really happy and proud to surpass Jeff in laps led in a season in 2021 and then tonight I’m assuming I passed either him or Jimmie based off how much they dominated in the 2000s.
“At the same time, I think whenever I’m done racing or done being a driver at Hendrick Motorsports and those records are still there, then yeah, it’ll mean a lot to me. But for right now it’s like you’re just trying to do a good job, and the records will take care of themselves.”
Larson’s Bristol effort made up for an opening round that didn’t start on a high note. In fact, Larson’s entire month leading into the playoffs wasn’t the cleanest.
He wrecked by himself in front of a pack of cars at Michigan Int’l Speedway, finishing 34th. He got caught up in a wreck at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway – a startling trend for Larson at superspeedways.
Running third at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Larson lost control of his car and impacted the turn-two wall and in front of Chase Briscoe. He finished last, earning just one point.
That put him in a precarious points position heading to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l. Sitting just 15 points above the cutline, he’d likely have to bank on his 40 playoff points to ensure a spot in the round of 12.
Larson finished 12th in a largely chaotic race at The Glen, moving him to 26 points above the cut. Though he came to Bristol comfortable, he booked his spot in the quarterfinal round the simple way.
“We’ve had a lot of really good performance sitting on the table,” said crew chief Cliff Daniels. “There’s been a lot of things that have been there to take advantage of, and for one reason or another, things didn’t work out, we make a mistake, whatever the case may be.
“Behind the scenes we’ve had to work really hard to just get stronger, and I think in an environment like that and with the team that we have, culture matters, the guys on the team matter. Having everybody bought in to the same direction of what our goals are, being very honest and open with each other on mistakes and challenges and areas that we need to improve, and with that, leadership matters.
“I’ve got to be the one to help make sure to keep us positive and moving in the right direction.”
Larson wouldn’t admit if Saturday’s chariot was the best he’s ever had. But he said it’s certainly up there.
“My car was really good. I’ve had lots of great race cars at Hendrick Motorsports. Sometimes they’ve turned into wins; a lot of times they haven’t,” Larson said. “I look at kind of one that is more recent would probably be like Iowa this year. I felt like my car was extremely good there, and just unfortunately didn’t close out that one.
“2021 I had a lot of great cars. If I looked at the schedule, I could probably point out some great cars, but tonight was definitely one of them.”
And maybe, just maybe, this year will play out like 2021.
It’s probably unrealistic to expect five playoff wins like he had three years ago, but the similarities to that historic season are glaring.
With 46 playoff points, Larson enters the round of 12 as the No. 1 seed — 39 points above the cutline and 15 markers above Christopher Bell for second. When he won the title, he entered the second round as the top dog with 59 playoff points. Since the inception of playoff points in 2017, all but one driver with the most playoff points entering the round of 12 has advanced to the Championship 4 (Kevin Harvick in 2020).
Had Larson simply started the Coca-Cola 600, he would’ve won the regular-season title – which would’ve added another five playoff points to his season total. He, of course, missed the crown jewel to participate in his first Indianapolis 500.
But connecting back to 2021, Larson ended the round of 16 by winning the Bristol Night Race, leading (only) 175 laps. He also won at Kansas Speedway, one of his four victories in the final five races of the season.
And what comes next on the 2024 schedule? Kansas, where Larson won the spring race by 0.001 seconds — the closest finish in NASCAR history.
The round of 12 shapes up similarly to the first round with a superspeedway and a road course, but Larson much prefers that his best shot to win comes first.
“I like that Kansas is first rather than being the last in the round,” Larson said, comparing Bristol’s schedule placement compared to Kansas. “If I can go to Kansas and do a really good job and get good stage points, get a good finish, you have a little bit more comfort going to Talladega rather than Atlanta. You finish dead last and it’s like, you’re kind of stressed the whole time.
“[The round is] constructed similarly but different. But I don’t know, it’s just — the Roval to me has been — I’ve had a lot of moments of stress there throughout my playoff career. 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.”
The approach certainly doesn’t change for Daniels and the rest of the No. 5 team.
“The way we prepare for every race really is the same, Daytona 500 or Kansas in the spring, Kansas in the fall, any other race of the year,” Daniels said. “All these races have had so many variables that you can get in trouble really quick, which I think is almost a good reality check because it makes you dig that much deeper into finding the ways to go execute. No matter what, that’s going to be our focus.”
And execute they did at Bristol. That’s the first stepping-stone to what could be Larson’s second NASCAR Cup Series title.