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Is Kyle Larson on the Road to Dominance Throughout the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season?

Published 04/05/2021, 4:30 PM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Kyle Larson has already stamped his authority of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. Larson was always expected to do well with Hendrick Motorsports equipment but by his own admission, he did not expect to start so well.

In seven races so far this season, Larson has finished outside the top-10 in just two races, at the Daytona Road Course and the Bristol Dirt Race. He looked good there too, but issues with his car hurt his chances at Daytona, while the dirt superstar was twice wrecked at Bristol.

Among the five top-10s, one of those is a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and two other results are in the top-5. Larson was highly dominant at Atlanta as well but narrowly lost his lead to finish second.

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USA Today via Reuters

What makes Kyle Larson the star performer so far this season?

On the regular tracks which NASCAR runs most of the races on, Larson has stunned everyone with his speed and consistency. From time to time, competitors have been quite surprised by Larson’s pace during races, as heard on the team radios.

Most of the key stats also show that Larson has an edge over his competitors at this stage of the season. Larson tops the charts in most laps led with 379 as well as the fastest laps run, with 237.

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Another key metric is quality passes – which refers to passes made by a driver running inside the top-15 under the green flag. Larson is at the top there as well with 446 of those passes. At the same time, he ranks 4th in average running position.

USA Today via Reuters

Exciting times ahead for Larson and Hendrick Motorsports

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Larson already has a win and now visits some of the tracks where he has historically done well. The no. 5 car driver earlier drove the no. 42 for Chip Ganassi Racing. He notched up six wins for the team in his time there.

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Out of those six wins, five came at Michigan (3), Richmond (1), and Dover (1). All of those tracks are part of the NASCAR 2021 calendar and yet to come. Additionally, there is a second Atlanta race scheduled as well, and Larson will be motivated to get that win there.

With everything he has done so far, his super-fast car, and many chances to shine in the months to come, Larson can really make the most of 2021.

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Whether he dominates the regular season with many more wins is yet to be seen. However, there is no reason why Larson cannot make that happen.

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Written by:

Aayush Majumdar

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Aayush Majumdar is a NASCAR content strategist, a Tennis Writer, and a sports analyst at EssentiallySports. He is well-tenured as a tennis and NASCAR writer, with over 900 articles across both sports. After pursuing a Post Graduate program in Sports Management, Aayush explored various roles in Sports Media, including a Sports Reporting role at a leading English daily.
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