Kyle Larson saw his 49-point championship lead shrink to just five after a costly afternoon at Phoenix Raceway, putting added pressure on the Hendrick Motorsports driver with only three races remaining. The timing has raised questions about whether he can regain his footing before the title fight reaches its decisive stages. Kevin Harvick has pointed to Tyler Reddick’s experience as a reminder of how difficult it can be to recover when momentum slips away, making Larson’s response at Talladega Superspeedway particularly important.

“We saw how long it took Tyler Reddick to get that momentum back,” Kevin Harvick said while discussing Kyle Larson’s Phoenix race on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “It took him 23 races to get the momentum back, and it’s not like he didn’t run bad, but when he wasn’t winning, he made unforced errors. That part, they made mistakes on pit road. They had parts failures. They had all kinds of stuff go wrong.”

Although Harvick was discussing Reddick’s return to Victory Lane, the comparison carries particular significance for Kyle Larson. Reddick opened the 2026 season with five victories in its first nine races before going 23 races without another win. His breakthrough at Phoenix on October 18 ended that drought at a crucial stage of the championship fight.

Reddick capitalized on a late-race opportunity, taking two tires during the final caution before passing Chase Briscoe with 18 laps remaining. He finished 0.801 seconds ahead of Ryan Blaney, earning his sixth victory of the season and cutting his deficit to Larson to 56 points.

Larson, meanwhile, endured a costly afternoon. After qualifying 22nd and struggling with his Chevrolet’s handling, the Hendrick Motorsports driver suffered a right-front tire failure, crashed into the outside wall and finished 34th with just three points.

The result cut his championship lead over Christopher Bell from 49 points to five, leaving little room for another major setback with three races remaining.

Kevin Harvick’s Comparison Highlights the Importance of Momentum

For Harvick, the concern is not simply that Larson suffered one poor finish. It is whether the No. 5 team can prevent that result from becoming the beginning of a more difficult run. Reddick remained competitive during his winless stretch, but unforced errors, pit-road mistakes and mechanical problems repeatedly kept him from returning to Victory Lane.

Harvick also questioned the tire-pressure decisions made during the Phoenix race, where multiple drivers encountered tire problems late in the event. Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, acknowledged that the team had run its right-front tire pressure too low, contributing to the failure that ended Larson’s afternoon.

“I’m sure they let some air out of the right-front tire, trying to make it turn right, like you know you saw all the tire failures start happening towards the second half of the race when everybody was out of things to do, so they start letting as much air out of the tire, and sometimes more air out of the tire than you want to.

“But the only thing I worry about with the five is now you look at the way that they ran throughout the year and now you look at this weekend, and it kind of looks like that. And so much of this sport runs off of momentum and whether the momentum falls at the wrong time.”

The timing leaves Larson with little breathing room. Bell is now just five points behind, while Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Blaney and Joey Logano remain in contention. With three races left before the finale, another poor result could further reshape the standings.

Talladega presents an immediate opportunity for Larson to respond, but it also brings considerable uncertainty. NASCAR has adjusted its superspeedway rules package ahead of the race, and teams will enter without practice on the revised setup.

The smaller rear spoiler is intended to give drivers more maneuverability in the draft, although racing in tightly packed fields still carries the risk of costly multi-car incidents.

Harvick also highlighted the different records of Larson, Reddick and Hamlin at Talladega as another factor to consider.

“So my point is when that momentum falls out from underneath you sometimes, as in Reddick’s case, it took 23 weeks to get back to victory lane, and we’re going to Talladega. He’s won that, right? So, you know, that is a place that Tyler Reddick has won. But it’s not a place that Kyle Larson has won.

“It’s not a place that Denny Hamlin’s going to win. He hasn’t been good in the Gen-7 car. So, you know, you have all these stats and questions, and sure, guys can overcome all those things. They’re cup-winning drivers.”

Reddick has won at Talladega, while Larson is still searching for his first Cup Series victory at the track. Harvick also pointed to Hamlin’s struggles to consistently contend at superspeedways in the Next Gen era, underlining the different challenges facing the championship contenders.

Larson still has three races to recover, and one difficult afternoon does not erase the consistency that helped him build his earlier advantage. However, Harvick’s comparison underscores why the response matters as much as the setback itself.

A strong result at Talladega could help Larson regain stability before Martinsville and Homestead, while another costly finish could make his championship pursuit considerably more difficult.