Kyle Larson wins again at Texas, clinches spot in the Championship 4
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Larson has dominated so much of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season that many had him penciled into as one of the four drivers eligible for the championship Nov. 7 at Phoenix.
He is now on that list in ink.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver earned his eighth victory of the season (nine counting the NASCAR All-Star Race) and a spot in the Championship 4 with a dominant performance Sunday, leading 256 of 334 laps to capture the opening race of the Round of 8 (semifinal round) at Texas Motor Speedway.
"This is unreal," Larson said. "I knew we had a good shot to win today, and our car was amazing. ... We get to go race for a championship in a few weeks. This is crazy."
While Larson clinched a spot, Ryan Blaney (17 points ahead of the current cutoff), Denny Hamlin (nine points ahead) and Kyle Busch (plus-eight) left Texas not comfortable but happier with their positions than Chase Elliott (minus-eight), Brad Keselowski (minus-15), Martin Truex Jr. (minus-22) and Joey Logano (minus-43).
Logano (engine failure) and Truex (crash) saw their days end early and now face significant hurdles to avoid being eliminated. Races at Kansas and Martinsville remain in the round, and then the four winless drivers in the round with the fewest points will be eliminated.
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Here are three takeaways from Texas:
Larson remains dominant
Larson was able to control several late-race restarts and was the dominant car for most of the day. The only car to threaten was that of his teammate William Byron, who settled for second.
"We had a fast, fast car. ... I wanted to play it smart and take what I could get," Larson said. "I got good shots [in drivers pushing] behind me on the restart, and it allowed me to get clear into [Turn] 1 every time.
"And then I did some blocking for a few laps."
Larson's eight victories this year are the most by a Hendrick driver since seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson won 10 in 2007.
"To even be mentioned in a conversation with [Johnson and his team] is a big blessing and pretty cool to even have that," crew chief Cliff Daniels said.
Hamlin salvages day
Hamlin was involved in three incidents Sunday, including two that caused damage to his car, and he still finished 11th.
The last one, in which he was collected in an accident, certainly wasn’t avoidable, but the previous two were part of tight racing, the first with Logano and the second with Blaney.
Logano wasn’t thrilled after their contact.
"He does that all the time," he said. "I will have to race the same way. He has hit me in the left rear quite a few times. It is what it is."
Hamlin didn’t see it that way.
"I didn’t think I hit him in the left rear," he said. "I think I got close to him on the backstretch, and once I did, I almost had him cleared, and he came down and really got on my right rear-quarter panel, and obviously, it’s going to make my car shoot up the racetrack."
Hamlin and Blaney did see eye-to-eye on their contact, which caused Hamlin’s tire to go flat and ended up costing him probably five or six positions in the final tally.
Said Blaney: "We were three-wide. ... Just a racing incident. Tight racing."
Said Hamlin: "It’s unfortunate. It sucks for me. But he’s not trying to cut my tire. He’s trying to race. He’s three-wide in the middle, and we were all holding each other super-tight."
Elliott moves on
Much of the chatter prior to the race was about NASCAR telling Elliott and Kevin Harvick to not continue their feud and that if they wrecked each other, they would face serious consequences.
Elliott said prior to the race that he didn’t ask for NASCAR to step in, but he understands they’re trying to run a professional sport.
Elliott is going to need all his focus to rally into the next round. He has yet to win on an oval this year, and after a couple of tire issues at Texas forced him to grind out a seventh-place finish with only a few stage points, he faces an uphill battle to advance.
"Just proud of the fight," he said Sunday. "Obviously, it could have been a lot worse."
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!