RELATED: Kentucky results | Standings
Kentucky race winner Martin Truex Jr. and runner-up Kyle Larson have been quite the duo this NASCAR season.
Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway saw a seemingly unflappable Truex drive away with the win on old tires and a powerful Larson make 90 green flag passes after starting from the rear of the field.
They’ve both been dominant and blistering fast — but not too long ago, the scenery looked very different for both drivers.
Larson was the young racer from California who possessed plenty of potential, but seemed to be in a sophomore slump after his promising premier series rookie season in 2014. New Jersey native Truex was starting to make a bigger splash in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after five winless seasons, then became the dark horse in a championship battle after his 2015 win at Pocono.
Forget “plenty of potential” and “dark horse” today.
These two are the front-running drivers here-and-now, consistently running up front and fighting for wins. Larson leads Truex by a single point in the driver standings.
“It’s been fun to race with Kyle,” Truex said on Saturday night after the race. “He’s very talented, he’s up front every single week, he’s fast everywhere we go and I expect he’ll be a challenge throughout the rest of the year.”
Statistically, they’re both at the top of the charts; the two have been trading the first- and second-place rankings in the driver standings since Richmond, with Larson on top for seven weeks and Truex atop for three weeks.
The same goes for the race track; In March, Larson finished second to race-winner Truex after Brad Keselowski faded in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Three months later, the Larson-Truex duo was back battling for the victory throughout the afternoon at Dover International Speedway, a race won ultimately by Jimmie Johnson. While they may not win every weekend, their 1-2 rankings in the stage points tally indicate that the two consistently run up front throughout the races.
And true to form, they were back in the 1-2 positions under the lights Saturday in the Bluegrass State.
Truex jokingly took partial credit for Larson’s move from potential superstar to full-blown superstar.
“He still hasn’t thanked me for making Chad Johnston a crew chief in the (Monster Energy NASCAR) Cup Series,” Truex said with a smile about Larson’s crew chief for the past two seasons. “He was my crew chief at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) a couple years ago. … But I think Chad has just brought a lot to the table for that team and for Kyle and now Kyle is able to show his talent.”
As the season crosses the halfway point with eight races remaining until the playoffs begin, the stars align for a continued Truex-Larson show in the 10-race battle for the championship.
And just maybe, if their momentum continues, one of them will win their first premier series title.
“I think we’re just the two best teams,” Larson told NASCAR.com after the race Saturday night. “I would say he’s probably the best team by far right now and we’re definitely second-best, second to third-best.
“It’s been cool, it’s been a fun battle throughout the regular season. I hope we can continue to run up front with him — he’s going to be fast everywhere, so we’ve got to continue to work hard and try and be the regular season points leader in a couple months.”