DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 21st-place finish and a wrecked race car wasn’t how Kyle Larson envisioned ending Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Int’l Speedway, but he still had reason to celebrate.
Larson left Daytona as the NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion, which was worth an additional 15 playoff points for the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
The bonus points put Larson squarely on top of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, making him the clear favorite as the series prepares for the final 10-race stretch that will culminate in a champion being crowned Nov. 7 at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway.
Larson helped his cause with an incredible summer surge that saw him win three consecutive races from May 30 to June 20 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
He later added another victory, his fifth overall this year, at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l on Aug. 8. He’s earned 14 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes so far this season as he now sets his sights on the NASCAR Cup Series title.
He needed every point he could get during the summer as he chased down Denny Hamlin, who had taken command of the standings thanks to early season consistency.
“We had a stretch there where we won like every stage and every race for a few weeks in a row. I think we took huge chunks out then,” Larson said. “I think I read somewhere where we overcame I think a 166-point gap to Denny. I didn’t think it was possible, but our team has worked so hard all of the regular season. I couldn’t do it without Mr. Hendrick and Linda and all of their support. Everybody back at the shop, too. This is a long season and we still have 10 races to go.”
Larson will start the playoffs with 2,052 points, which gives him a 28-point advantage over Saturday’s race winner Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr., who are tied for second with 2,024 points each.
While it’s not a guarantee that Larson will make the playoffs based on his advantage at the start of the playoffs, it certainly doesn’t hurt his chances.
“We’ve had speed all season, so we actually started off the year better than I thought,” Larson said. “I didn’t expect to go through that stretch where we were winning every week. But with all of the success that they had last year for Chase (Elliott) and the other three drivers, I knew that it was possible. We just have great people that work so hard and I’m just the lucky guy that gets to drive it. It’s really credit to everybody back at the shop.”