Kyle Larson feels proud after what happened on Sunday at Homestead.
To the layman, that may sound weird since he spun racing Ryan Blaney for the lead while taking lapper Austin Dillon three-wide but the 2021 Cup Series champion feels like he willed himself to having a shot in the first place.
Larson had somewhat resigned himself to finishing laps down with a car hurt from a flat right rear that sent him into the wall and damaged his rear diffuser near the end of the first stage. The car was uncooperative throughout much of the second stage.
He took that car to within a puncher’s shot of winning his way back into the Final Four.
“I shouldn’t have been battling for the win,” Larson said. “I know it’s hard to tell but the underbody was destroyed from the flat so my car was driving terribly until I got against the wall and was risking my car for the next 220 laps. So, yeah, I’m bummed that I went for a gap and spun and lost my shot to win … but at the same point, I’m proud of myself because I stayed mentally in it to put myself in a position to win and I’m not sure there are a lot of drivers that could have done that.”
Larson has read the online chatter that he should have simply been more patient than to make the move before five laps to go but he dismissed that.
“It’s really easy to look back and say you should have waited a lap or two,” Larson said. “And that sounds easy but these cars are so difficult to drive in traffic and get within a car length or two of someone deep into a run. That’s as close as I got and I had to take advantage of that moment.
“Sure, in hindsight, you would have liked to play things differently and maybe you do get another opportunity but I couldn’t have lived with myself if I was too patient and didn’t have time. That’s racing.”
The pride comes from the fact that he believes many of his peers would have given up. He has pride that Cliff Daniels and their team got the car drivable enough at a bare minimum that he could give it his best shot. He felt pride in their pit crew for methodically gaining them track position.
“After that flat, we had a worn-out underbody and the run after that, I was sliding all over the track and thought, with all the long runs ahead, I’m probably going to lose a lap or two and finish 28th,” Larson said. “I was able to find something that crushed my race car enough to find some speed and charged forward from there. So, I didn’t crash again. I thought with me having an ill-handling race car, I would probably crash and DNF and totally be out of it, which I guess, almost happened at the end, but I’m glad that was for second and not 25th.
“I feel like I took a 25th place car, and with the help of my team, pit stop and adjustments, was able to have a great opportunity to win. I was happy with that and still feel like we finished better than we should have. I know that’s weird to say but we did.”
So now, Larson finds himself in unfamiliar territory, seven points below the elimination cutline entering the final race of a three-race round.
And this time, it’s the round that leads to the championship race.
Larson has been eliminated before, but it usually happens when he enters that race with a points advantage and only gets eliminated because someone won their way in or he suffered misfortune. From that standpoint, Larson says the pressure is off this weekend at Martinsville.
“When you’re below the cut, it’s less pressure because you can just go constantly push but we’ll see,” Larson said. “The points will fluctuate a lot during the race based on where your car is. I look forward to the challenge. I think it will be fun to see what we can do. It’s a tough track and it will be nice if we can make it because we’ve had to overcome a lot and I’m proud to still be in the position that we’re in.”
Larson also expects that he may need to outright win the race because one of the other six may win and make his points pathway less viable.
“I think, for me, I’m just going to try to execute my job the best that I can and not make mistakes and keep myself in the hunt,” Larson said. “I’m confident the pit crew is going to keep us in the hunt and I don’t think there are as many teams that do as good a job as we do with strategy. I think I’ve got a great team that can execute in all those areas.
“It’s tough because, you look at all the guys that are left in the playoffs, the two teams that have the least chance at winning Martinsville have already won in the Round of 8 so it comes down to Bell, William, Denny, Chase and myself … but everyone else left is really good at Martinsville and are probably going to be really good and one of those six are going to win the race so it makes it feel like a must-win in a lot of ways.
“It’s going to be fun and exciting and I think the fans are going to be in for a treat because it’s going to come down to the end like it always does. Hopefully, we’re part of that group fighting for the win and a good points day and we’ll see how it plays out.”