The question concerned Kyle Larson reaching 13 wins in the Next Generation NASCAR Cup Series car — the most of everyone else in the discipline — and why he thought he has enjoyed so much success over the past three-plus seasons.
“I don’t know. I think if we would still have the 2021 car, I would have about 50 Cup wins right now. I think switching to this car has limited us from winning.”
That was the pull quote from Sunday but there was more context, of course, as there always is.
“I don’t know. I think just being with a good team and being able to adapt to new things is something you try to pride yourself on. I think that’s an area where the (No.) 5 team really excels and the (No.) 24 as well.
“I think we probably share or are top two in most Next Gen wins. Young, adaptable drivers and teams. Yeah, they’re difficult cars to drive, though. You have to run really hard, and I think that probably benefits a guy like myself.”
Larson garnered a lot of fan criticism for this line on Sunday night in some circles, mostly from those who do not like him anyway but there is some merit in what he was trying to say even if the topic requires a little bit of nuance to work through.
The 2021 champion won 10 races that season. That was the first time such a feat was accomplished since Jimmie Johnson in 2007. In both cases, the drivers drove for Hendrick Motorsports in an era where the Chevrolet flagship had a platform especially figured out and with teams that were completely at the top of their games.
Larson especially was the beneficiary of a parts and development freeze in the season prior to the rollout of the current generation car. That means there was little the rest of the garage could really do to find a solution. That is to take nothing away from Larson, who obviously is everything they say he is, one of the most naturally gifted race car drivers in the modern history of multiple disciplines.
‘Yeah, but he crashes a lot,’ people like to say. He does but he also races in an era that encourages high risk and high reward outcomes. Larson likely wouldn’t race this way in a Latford System format but can get away with his reckless style when winning supersedes general consistency.
But that’s not the point.
Larson might not have reached 50 wins if the sport retained the so-called sixth generation platform but he certainly would have claimed more wins in a car that wasn’t forced to be constructed from the same IKEA parts as everyone else.
You can debate the merits of whether that sort of forced parity is net positive or net negative for the industry.
However, the truth is that Larson’s 13 wins in this NextGen era is arguably more impressive than the 20 or so he might have racked up had NASCAR not moved to a single source supplied platform. Sure, Larson has Cliff Daniels and the resources of a top organization but it’s also true that a spec car does place more emphasis on the choices a driver makes behind the wheel.
That is just as much the point as the so-called cost-containment behind this entire deal.
That Larson continues to have tremendous success behind the wheel of this car adds to his resume and not detracts from it, even if the win total is a little less as a result.
What more do you want?
There was a degree of consternation during the second stage of the race, a prevailing sentiment that there wasn’t a lot going on, and this was why Homestead-Miami Speedway wasn’t deserving of the championship race anymore.
As if, with all due respect, that Phoenix Raceway is a NextGen barnburner right now.
This second stage was actually really freaking compelling if you knew what to watch for or how to consume it.
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson (via Chris Gayle and Daniels) were amongst those who opted to split the stage in half instead of pitting earlier as two-thirds of the field opted to over the first two stages.
What that created, due to the abrasive nature of the South Florida intermediate, was leaders having to manage their tires over a longer period of time while the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 and Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 could push harder on fresher tires but had to work their way through traffic and dirty air.
The finished product was pretty dang fun to watch.
Up front, there was a battle between Ryan Blaney and William Byron, also through lapped traffic, trying to win the stage while having to make it live as No. 24 crew chief Rudy Fugle surely said over the radio
Deeper in the field, Hamlin and Larson had to simultaneously race each other, race through the top 10 and if there was enough tire life remaining, also race Blaney and Byron. Hamlin ultimately prevailed on all these fronts and won the stage.
This was in addition to a track that produced viable lines from the apron to the wall.
The timing of the final caution in final stage didn’t allow for that kind of finish but the option was certainly there. And again, if you think Homestead isn’t deserving of the championship race, go back and watch the literal playoff race from last year, come on …
Sample size
Generally speaking, the consensus is that observations about the state of the Cup Series need to wait until Memorial Day Weekend and the Coca-Cola 600 but some early trends are starting to emerge through one road course and three intermediates of varying shapes.
Hendrick Motorsports is very good, for reasons outlined here, in that they are first, second, third and sixth in the standings. Even sixth place Chase Elliott could arguably be closer to the front had a different set of circumstances played out.
This team is good right now.
So is (most of) Joe Gibbs Racing with Christopher Bell having won three races in a row and Denny Hamlin being in the mix and Chase Briscoe starting to build some momentum after winning his Daytona 500 penalty appeal.
We’ll get to Ty Gibbs in a minute.
Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece look to be in a really good place at RFK Racing even as bossman Brad Keselowski struggles. More on that too.
So who has made noticeable gains so far?
Spire Motorsports, for sure, with Michael McDowell currently holding a playoff spot and Carson Hocevar running up front more and more even as he makes some rookie era mistakes.
The performance seems to have made a step up at Legacy Motor Club with John Hunter Nemechek making the biggest strides of anyone in the sport and Erik Jones just having bad luck more than a lack of performance.
Bubba Wallace is off to a really good start this year, generally outperforming 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick this year, which was an important goal for him given the number of seasons where he fell behind early and needed to make up points when it was too late. The No. 23 team has a margin of error now for any midseason slump.
On the other hand, Front Row Motorsports seems to have taken a step back early on this season with all three drivers 25th and worse in the standings. There’s glimmers of hope throughout the winter months but this doesn’t seem like an organization that’s going to challenge for playoff spots like they did with McDowell and Todd Gilliland in recent seasons.
Gibbs is an interesting case study because he made the playoffs last year and looked every bit like a playoff driver at stretches throughout his career in the No. 54 car. But the final eight races of last year has bled over into this year and boy is there a lot of blood.
The grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs is an Xfinity Series champion and has again proven he can race up front but something is just not working right now and the changeover to Tyler Allen as crew chief is not immediately producing.
Keselowski makes no sense at all.
On one hand, the superspeedway race DNFs didn’t help his qualifying metric but it makes no sense for the No. 6 to be struggling right now as his two teammates continue to challenge for top-5s.
It’s even more puzzling that Keselowski is reunited with Jeremy Bullins, who together enjoyed great success while at Penske.
And Josh Berry winning at Las Vegas and running inside the top-5 most of this season, while a surprising result, also has downstream consequence for the rest of the field too.
Now, everyone else has one less playoff spot to race for compared to what they surely expected when the season begins.
