Kyle Larson has punched his ticket to the Championship 4 for just the third time in his 13-year Cup career. His first appearance came in 2021, when he swept the Round of 8 with wins at the Charlotte Roval, Texas, and Kansas, before capping it with winning the title at Phoenix. He returned to the finale in 2023 after winning at Las Vegas, but this season marks the first time he’s advanced on points rather than a win during the semi-finals.
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NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty praised Larson for sticking to his game plan at Martinsville but noted that the No. 5 driver still faces an uphill climb against the championship field. Petty called Larson’s narrow points escape “crazy,” adding,
“He’s in by seven, I think. He picked up five points on Bell in stage one and one point in stage two. That’s six points he picked up to make that magic seven number. If they were just head-to-head and everything went, I mean, it’s not that way, you’ve got to give them a pass. They were racing for points, and they played it exactly right.”
However, Petty pointed out that among the top four, and even adding Shane van Gisbergen into the mix, these top drivers combined for roughly 60 percent of the season’s wins. If arguing about the system, then Bell must also be included in that mix, because the #20 JGR driver has been a contender. He’s the only guy that’s not in the Final 4 who has been a contender all year.
Petty emphasized that Bell had the same opportunities as Larson and William Byron but failed to capitalize when it mattered most. The #20 team was hot early in the year, when they put their name on the championship trophy after they won three races in a row. But they just weren’t clicking at the right time.
As for Larson, Petty wasn’t sold in fashion similar to Bell. “I think the #5 car, he’s not my favorite going into there. Just because… he’s got a lot of top five finishes and stuff, but I’m looking for the W. I’m looking for that guy to step up like these guys did today [at Martinsville], like we’ve saw Briscoe step up last week [Talladega], like we saw Denny step up at Vegas.”
Petty concluded that Byron and others made clear statements heading into Phoenix, while Larson and his team have yet to do the same. Giving a reason for Larson not being his favorite, Petty said, the #5 HMS driver just didn’t step up, and definitely not raising eyebrows with his on-track pace, calling out the entire No. 5 crew for needing to rise to the occasion when the lights shine brightest this coming weekend at Phoenix.
