The race at the Texas Motor Speedway was perhaps one of the most crucial ones in the season so far. The first of the 2023 playoff’s second stage, every driver in contention wanted to secure their spot in the round of 8, before heading to Talladega and the Roval. But there can only be one winner at the end of the day. While it did seem for a long part that Kyle Larson was going to be that winner, he ended up misfiring his shot and has landed himself in a tough spot.

NASCAR reporter Alan Cavanna appeared on GoPRNLive to discuss the race alongside fellow reporter Lee Spencer and shared some extreme opinions on Larson and his chances going forward.

A disturbing trend that Kyle Larson and Co. have been following

Kyle Larson and the #5 Hendrick Motorsports team have been putting on a spectacular show throughout this season. Making three visits to the victory lane, the driver got into the playoffs and was the first to qualify for the round of 12 with a win at Darlington. Hoping to cast the same spell on Texas last weekend, he raced his Chevy and led the field with a considerable advantage. But the course to victory did not stay as steady as it did at the track “too tough to tame.”

A caution in the race’s late stages forced a restart, which ended up being the villain for the #5 team. Getting into a fierce battle with Bubba Wallace to take the lead, Larson’s car gave out under its old tires and slipped on the track. The car went loose, crashed, and left the driver stranded. Discussing the turn of events, reporter Alan Cavanna talked about the worrying trend that the team was starting to show.

He said, “Leading so many laps, being clearly the best car, maybe, in the entire Cup Series field, but missing out on the checkered flag once again. He’s put himself in a hole just above the cutline. Even though he might be the best team and best driver out there that is a disturbing trend with the #5 team only that they have race-winning cars and not the checkered flags to show for it.”

Alan’s words perfectly reflect the misfortunes that Larson has faced. Despite dominating many races, he has lost out on potential wins owing to some sort of hindrance. And now that he stands in a tough spot where he desperately needs to perform well, the only question is, how he will fare at the Talladega and the Charlotte Roval?

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The DNF for the No. 5 team at Texas has rendered that they will have to put in performances that supersede all their good work in the year. Taking in the fact that the other two races in the second stage are at tracks where Kyle doesn’t have a great record only adds to the weight. The first challenge that he will face will be at Talladega, where he has an average finish of 23.4 across his 17 starts. Known for its high speed and consistent crashes, it will be a nightmare for every driver to go through the track unscathed.

Talking about how the Texas result might have punched too deep, Alan said, “I mean that’s how significant that one crash was to now going from Clear Championship Contender, maybe the best car again in the cup series, to now you know one wreck at Talladega and his season is over!

In the scenario that the #5 team had not chosen to go ahead with older tires, Kyle might have cruised to victory in a straightforward manner. Speaking to NBC Sports after the race, he’d talked about how unexpected his slip-up was and mentioned that he was pretty bummed about losing out on an amazing opportunity. But NASCAR has always had a harsher side to it and Kyle Larson is a driver who has the ability to overcome it. With the support of Rick Hendrick and the resources at his disposal, it is totally possible that he claims redemption at Talladega and punches his way to the round of 8.

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