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Kyle Larson’s victory in Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway feels like an appropriately dramatic scenario to begin the highly anticipated 10-race NSACAR Playoffs.
Regular Season Champion Martin Truex was leading the final laps and looked to wrap up his series-best fifth victory, when a late-race caution changed the juju. Larson, who led 53 laps on the night, beat Truex off pit road, then Truex and Denny Hamlin collided, sending Truex’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota into the wall as the race finished.
While Truex’s heart may have been broken in the moment, his motivation is undoubtedly stirred and strengthened. And his position already was strong: He takes a series-best 53 bonus points into the playoffs — 20 more than No. 2 seed Larson.
He joked with reporters at Wednesday’s playoff media day, that he “got over” Saturday night’s Richmond disappointment fairly quickly.
“Actually it was Tuesday,” he said with a laugh.
“I think we’ll be OK,” he continued. “I think it’s certainly not going to hurt our momentum or confidence the way the last two finished out. Sometimes circumstances in racing you can’t control happen. That’s just the way it goes. So I think we’re in good shape. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out.”
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The rather interesting thing about a Truex versus Larson rivalry is that they both have extremely laid-back personalities.
Highly-driven, super motivated to win a first Cup championship? Yes.
But they are considered two of the sport’s genuine “nice guys” — less inclined to give the bumper in an angry payback and highly unlikely to talk smack heading into the playoffs, even with a career-making trophy on the line. Their canvas has always been on the race track and judging by their success — especially this season — it’s been a sort of masterpiece in the works. The question is what it will look like when it’s finished.
Asked about his competition Wednesday, Larson was typically generous in his assessment.
“It’s kind of hard to have a favorite really; it’s only one race,” Larson said of a Homestead-Miami Speedway grand finale. “Martin will be really good there. If both Kyle Busch and I make it there, I think we’re both really good at that style of race track. (Kevin) Harvick obviously is really good. Jimmie (Johnson).
“I mean, there’s so many people that are good at Homestead, it’s hard to pick a favorite. But I think if you had to pick a favorite to make it all the way there, it would be Martin.”
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Truex’s Toyota and Larson’s No. 42 Target Chevy have been the consistent “class of the field” throughout the season and locks on most fans’ playoff grids. The real struggles come in predicting the other two who might take it to the Miami season-finale. Former champions Busch (a two-time winner in 2017) and Harvick (Sonoma winner) are popular and obvious picks.
And of course there is that perennial “Fall guy,” seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who has three wins this season — the most recent coming June 3 at Dover, which also plays host to the final race in the Round of 16.
Last year Johnson performed the most dramatic championship performance in recent memory. Literally minutes before the race started, his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy was moved from its 14th place spot on the grid to last because of an unapproved adjustment. He still rallied to win he the race – his first victory at Miami for a record-tying seventh title.
“This playoff format to date … nobody knows,” Johnson said Wednesday. “And it takes away from over-thinking it which is really nice.”
It’s certainly an interesting dichotomy for the sport — two drivers racing for their first championship favored against a group all ready to add the word “multi” to the word “champion” in their introductions.
It’s as compelling a title run as the sport has had.
“We had a rough little summer, but, you know, I feel like we got a great shot at the championship this year,” Larson said. “I’m with a great team. I feel like now our team knows what we have to do every week, every race track. I think we can be competitive for the next couple, few years hopefully, then be a championship-contending team year in and year out.”