Kyle Larson had a troubled start at Las Vegas. He lost eight positions on the first stint in the South Point 400, dropped a lap after pitting, and appeared to be in serious trouble. This gave Toyota a potential opportunity to make the competition even tougher. However, while some believe the manufacturer should have kept Larson a lap down, Jeff Gluck believes that approach would be a mistake at this stage of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase.

“If you are doing things in race number five of the chase and you’re that worried about the points leader and that worried about the competition and you’re potentially making decisions about your own race strategy that could affect you winning the race to try to harm the points leader or affect his day, I think you’ve sort of lost the plot this early,” Gluck said while discussing Toyota’s Vegas situation with co-host Jordan Bianchi on “The Teardown” podcast.

Bianchi had begun this argument by saying Toyota could eventually look back at the race and regret not keeping the championship leader trapped down.

“You talk about different moments in this race, and you have to wonder if there’s going to be a little bit of regret from the Toyota camp of, ‘We should have kept Kyle Larson trapped. We should have kept him a lap down in the pit sequence there at the end of stage one,’” said Bianchi. “If that would have happened, his day is much harder. He’s fighting uphill all day, and he probably doesn’t finish second because that’s just the way it worked out.”

Gluck, however, pushed back on the idea that teams should adapt their strategy mainly to hurt Larson, and countered back by highlighting that thinking too far ahead could present a different problem.

“I think at this point in the chase, you’ve got to still be doing the things that you think are the best call for your team.”

For Gluck, if the best strategy is to pit, then a team should pit. If staying out gives the team the best chance to win, it should stay out. The decision should be based on maximizing that team’s own race, not on trying to damage Larson simply because he leads the standings.

“To say, ‘Well, I want to do this because I think it’ll affect this person’s day’. I’m sure that tons of people are going to be saying that this week,” Gluck said.

Larson lost the chance to win after making contact with the wall in an attempt to close in on race leader Chase Briscoe during the final lap. However, the P2 result was enough to increase his championship lead from 26 points to 40 over Denny Hamlin. This is exactly what Bianchi believes Toyota should have been trying to prevent.

“I think today, five weeks from now, we’re going to look back and say Las Vegas was the would-have, should-have, could-have race,” he said.

Bianchi also pointed to the problems that hit Toyota’s own championship contenders. Denny Hamlin entered Las Vegas with a chance to cut into Larson’s lead. He started from pole and showed strong pace early, but a spin damaged his car, eventually finishing P16.

Christopher Bell also saw his opportunity slip away. A power-steering issue forced him to fight his No. 20 Toyota for much of the second half. He finished 23rd and now sits 55 points behind Larson.

Hence, we return to Bianchi’s argument. Toyota had Larson vulnerable, but its drivers were unable to capitalize on the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Gluck is not against the idea of targeting a rival, but he feels that one needs to get their timing just right before anything else.

“Now, if this is the final three races or something and you know you’re racing one guy, maybe you can try to do that,” he said.

With five races still left in the Chase, there is enough time for the standings to shift dramatically. Earlier in the Chase, Larson looked finished (something Gluck felt strongly before being proven wrong), and Chase Briscoe, who appeared to have thrown in the towel earlier, instead reduced his points gap by winning Las Vegas, earning 75 points, and advancing to sixth in the standings.

This really proves that you just cannot write off anyone in the Chase just yet. But Toyota, or, for that matter, any of the OEMs, should avoid the distraction of simply hurting Larson and instead focus on maximizing their points.

The more aggressive mind games can wait as NASCAR heads to Charlotte on Sunday for Race 6 of the Chase.