Kyle Larson in the span of six days won a sprint car championship, met the requirements to enter the Indianapolis 500, then became the first driver locked into NASCAR’s title-deciding finale. His victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the opening playoff race of the round of eight kept Larson in contention for a second Cup title in three years.
He has no intention of getting off the gas the next two races, which are meaningless to Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team now that he’s claimed one of the four spots in the Nov. 5 finale at Phoenix.
Larson plans to run both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 next May and on Thursday completed the rookie orientation program at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He’s entering the Indy 500 in a joint entry between Hendrick Motorsports and McLaren and with boss Rick Hendrick looking on, Larson turned 72 laps with a fast lap of 217.898 mph.
Larson led 133 laps and beat Christopher Bell by 0.082 seconds.
He needed a pretty remarkable save in the second stage when his Chevy wiggled and Larson somehow escaped with only denting the rear corner of the car into the wall. It was a save that Daniels believes only Larson could pull off.
It kept him in contention and Larson claimed the lead on pit road when his crew had the fastest stop following a caution with 57 laps remaining. Bell had control of the race at that point but Larson was first off pit road.
Bell, who started on the pole in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was third after the pit stop. Passing seemed particularly difficult Sunday at Las Vegas, and Bell was sort of stuck following Larson for the rest of the race.
But he made a run at Larson over the final handful of laps, closing the gap each time by the flagstand. As they closed in on the checkered flag, Bell gave it one furious push inside of Larson but couldn’t beat him to the line.
Kyle Busch, a Las Vegas native, finished third in a Chevrolet. He was followed by Brad Keselowski in a Ford and Ross Chastain in a Chevrolet. All three were eliminated from the playoffs last Sunday at Charlotte.
The next five spots went to playoff drivers as Ryan Blaney was sixth for Team Penske but was disqualified after the race because the left front shock on his Ford did not meet the overall specified length.
That moved Larson teammate William Byron to sixth and he was followed by Tyler Reddick in a Toyota for 23XI Racing, JGR drivers Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Chris Buescher, in a Ford for RFK Racing, was the lowest-finishing playoff driver in 10th.
Blaney dropped to last in the race.
A win in any of the three playoff races this round earns an automatic berth into the championship finale. The remaining slots are filled based on the points standings.
Bell, Reddick, Blaney and Buescher are the four drivers below the cutline.
NASCAR races next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Larson is the defending race winner. NASCAR also races at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia before the Phoenix finale.
