Kyle Larson remains a title threat
JOLIET, Ill. – Kyle Larson might be second in your heart – and second seemingly on your eternal score sheet – but he should have a good shot at being first in November when NASCAR’s top trophy and its fattest check are distributed.
Larson, who will turn 26 this month but still seems like a kid on his way to his first prom, might be the best second-place racer of all time. His runner-up finish to Kyle Busch on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, in a final-lap tangle that put some serious mojo back in the sport, continued a trend of stopping one position short.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has recorded 18 runner-up finishes since 2014, including eight last season.
On those occasions when Larson hasn’t figured out how to finish second, he has won five times, though none of those has come this year.
It’s been difficult to win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season if your last name isn’t Truex, Harvick or Busch. Seconds, though? Larson has four, finishing behind Busch at Chicagoland and Bristol Motor Speedway and behind Martin Truex Jr. at Auto Club Speedway and Pocono Raceway.
A win gets you in the playoffs, and Larson is likely to score before the regular season ends. Three of his five victories have come at Michigan International Speedway, which hosts its next race on Aug. 12.
But even without a win, Larson is almost certain to make the 16driver playoff grid via points if he continues to enjoy second places and maybe even top 10 finishes.
What then? Can Larson stand up to Truex, Kevin Harvick and Busch, all of whom seem to be ready to make long runs through the playoffs?
Larson didn’t make the Homestead final round last year despite running very well for most of the season. An engine failure at the second-round elimination race at Kansas Speedway dashed his title hopes, so he has unfinished business in that department.
Should Larson make it to the final four, Homestead-Miami Speedway is an ideal track. He has three topfives in five races at the season finale and has an average finish of 7.6 – his second best after Chicagoland (7.0).
Whatever road Larson eventually follows the rest of this year, he’s likely to take the trip with an increasing number of fans. And Sunday’s exciting finish should have the T-shirt machines cranking out many more with Larson’s name and number.
The final laps of the Chicagoland race were all that NASCAR should be. Busch held a seemingly comfortable lead going into the final portion of the race, but Larson put on a charge that closed the gap with almost every lap.
This sort of late-race action sometimes is more entertaining than side-by-side battles because the chase evolves into a mystery of sorts: Can Driver B, who obviously is faster, catch Driver A before the closing laps, and, if he does, can he pass? And will chaos ensue?
The answers Sunday were all colored yes.
Larson, eyeing Busch like a predator, chased him relentlessly, once driving so hard he banged into the outside wall and lost a bit of momentum. That could have given Busch enough space to go on to the win, but the Toyota driver had problems of his own. Lapped traffic slowed Busch’s progress, and Larson was given another opportunity.
He finally caught Busch, dropped to his inside and, attempting to pass, pushed Busch into the outside wall. Busch, despite taking quite a hit, held on, hit the throttle again and caught Larson. Busch repaid the favor, hitting Larson in the rear and bumping him from the lead.
Busch won, and Larson, duplicating his competitor’s great save, returned to the track to finish second.
It was the best finish of the season (admittedly, there hasn’t been a lot of competition in that category). Indeed, it could be identified as a classic finish – two drivers going all out, trading fenders and bumpers in a desperate dash for the win and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
And they did it without yelling and screaming and scuffling and arguing in the aftermath, both essentially describing the final lap as good racing.
Larson certainly took the high road, giving Busch a thumbs-up signal on the cool-down lap and stopping by victory lane to congratulate him. In the end, second wasn’t so bad. Although Larson obviously wants to win, he isn’t ready to race like a complete brute to get there.