In the 1950s and 1960s, along with several remakes afterward, one of the most popular TV shows was called “What’s My Line?” The premise of the show was for the so-called “mystery guests” to stump the panel as to the guest’s true identity and/or occupation.
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On this week’s edition of NASCAR: Inside the Race, Kyle Petty and Steve Letarte essentially reprised What’s My Line? by wondering when the real Kyle Larson will show up in the playoffs.
Larson finished 19th in the playoff opener at Darlington this past Sunday, part of a very disappointing collective performance by Team Hendrick. Chase Elliott was the highest finishing Hendrick driver at 17th, followed by Larson, William Byron in 21st and Alex Bowman in 31st.
Larson typically does well at Darlington, but not this time. “I just don’t think we’ve seen the Kyle Larson since May,” Petty said.
“Since we did the double, triple, quadruple backflip at Indy and all this stuff here, whatever we’ve done, we’ve just not seen Larson and them run.
“Now, having said that, I want to clarify something here. I think we got into this a number of years ago, the last couple of years of Jimmie Johnson’s career. He just didn’t run like Jimmie Johnson had run.
Petty said that Larson wasn’t performing at the same level he once did. He noted that Larson was still putting together strong runs and solid performances, but explained that the expectations for him were extremely high, with the standard set much higher than for most drivers.
Petty continued, “He should be high, wide, and handsome in the championship groove, bouncing off the walls, passing people when there’s not enough room for a car. That’s what we expect.
The former driver remarked that people don’t usually expect to see the No. 5 Chevy driver make the kind of moves he pulled off at Darlington, despite adding that he found them to be impressively smart decisions from him.
Petty went on to say, “His car wasn’t where it needed to be and when somebody would catch him, he would let him go and pick back up the pace.
“He didn’t fight for a position. He didn’t worry about it. That’s Mark Martin-esque. You know what I mean? Take what you’ve got, go to the house with it. And that’s what he did.”
Petty explained that the team ended up having a good day, even though it could easily have turned into a terrible one if Larson had tried to push too hard. He added that there were plenty of factors that could have made it disastrous, but instead, it worked out well.
And yet, expecting more, he said, “Again, I think, for me, to get Kyle Larson to Phoenix, I want to see some of those days where he just laps the field six times.
“I want to see some of those days where he’s challenging for the lead. I want to see some of those days where we used to see him run and we used to see him do that magic and we’ve not seen any magic since May.”
Petty was left wondering whether Larson had left his edge during the Indy 500 or somewhere else, but said that Larson needed to trace back, figure out where it went, and bring it back for the remainder of the playoffs.
Letarte looks at Larson in slightly different terms
Letarte, meanwhile, took a different perspective on Larson. “So for me, it’s real simple,” Letarte said. “Next week is a Phoenix preview (of the championship race). It’s a high-speed flat track.
“Kyle Larson doesn’t have to win, but if he is in a top three car, I don’t mean top five, I don’t mean top seven, if he is not a top three car at Bristol, then we’re going to have to put his picture on the milk carton because something has gone, like magic.
“That would be a major concern because that is his Mecca. That is the place where, regardless of who he drove for, the rules, the tires, it doesn’t matter. He is unreal there.
“So, if he isn’t dominant, and he doesn’t have to win because there’s a lot of ways to lose there, we’re just talking raw speed. If he doesn’t have Kyle Larson speed, then I’m going to start to be really concerned.”
Petty agreed with Letarte’s assessment, noting that Larson needed to put himself in position to see the checkered flag up close again. He stressed that it had been a while since Larson was truly in sight of a win, and getting that look was crucial.
Letarte wrapped up the debate by saying this: “As much as we’re all concerned, if he goes and leads 350 laps and wins at Bristol, I’m not sure you want to wake that dragon up.”
Let’s not worry about Bristol: Gateway is first and foremost
Even though he finished 19th at Darlington, somehow Larson is third in the Cup playoff standings heading into this Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.
But there’s one thing that Petty and Letarte seemed to overlook in their discussion on Larson. Both of them kept talking about Larson at Bristol, where he’s unquestionably great. In 18 starts there, he has three wins, eight top-fives and 13 top-10 finishes, while at Gateway he has one top-five and two top-10s in three starts.
If Larson has another mediocre finish at WWTR like he had at Darlington, he may not have enough to advance to the Round of 12 except if he wins at Bristol. That’s just something to keep in mind.
