Defending in motorsports is an extremely important skill, so much so that knowing how to defend one’s place via proper positioning can be the difference between winning and missing out by a fraction of a second. That is what Kyle Larson did perfectly on more than one occasion to keep Tyler Reddick from taking the lead in the Pennzoil 400 on Sunday at Las Vegas. The 23XI Racing star did a fantastic job keeping up with the #5 Chevy throughout the event, but in the end, it was the Hendrick Motorsports driver who had the superior racecraft on the day.

Larson’s win meant that Chevrolet now has won all 3 Cup Series races so far this season and they seem like a dominant force already. But Reddick and all the other competitors would have learned how not to attack the HMS star if they ever found themselves in a one-on-one sprint for the race victory. So now, even Kyle Larson will have to switch up his game plan if he finds himself in a similar situation.

How great defensive positioning sealed the deal for Kyle Larson in Las Vegas

In a recent interview on SiriusXM Radio, the 23XI Racing star spoke about where he went wrong and what Kyle Larson did right to end up taking the checkered flag in Vegas. Their battle in the closing laps of the event was decided by who positioned their car better. The driver of the #45 wanted to take the bottom lane first, but when the #5 blocked that off, he took the top. Reddick gained some time going through turns 3 and 4. To disrupt that, Larson had to quickly think of something else.

And then came the brilliance of Yung Money. Taking advantage of the throttle both drivers were carrying through turns 1 and 2, Kyle Larson started moving up the track. Reddick expected this and immediately started moving to the bottom lane. However, to his surprise, he found the #5 running through the middle of the track, disrupting his air, no matter which lane took. Had he stuck to the top lane, perhaps the #45 would have been able to get close enough to be almost side-by-side so that air blocking was not as effective, which would have given Reddick a much better chance.

“In those closing 8 laps, I was really getting on the bottom of the race track and he saw that and had taken that away so my only option was to run higher than him and it was working but I think it was 3 or 4 laps to go. I knew he was gonna try taking away the top…I didn’t want to get caught off guard by it and have a big moment and get in the wall. At that point, I kind of thought okay, like he’s gonna start taking the top away and then the bottom’s gonna open back up but with the amount of throttle we were just carrying through 1 and 2, we were almost wide open there so he was able to really…kind of run in the middle of the race track and disturbed my air kind of no matter where I ran. I feel like if we were further into the run and had more off-throttle plan, it’s kind of easier to move around and build those runs but with the amount of throttle we were carrying at the end of the race, it was a difficult thing,” the 23XI Racing star said, acknowledging the brilliance of Kyle Larson.

That was not the only time during the race when Yung Money forced the 23XI Racing star to back off a potential attack for the lead. The first one came long before the final laps and it forced the driver of the #45 to fight his boss on the track.

Kyle Larson thwarted Tyler Reddick’s attempts twice in the Pennzoil 400

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Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson did not just battle in the last 10 laps, theirs was a long game and they both executed it exceptionally well, the HMS star doing it just a little better. On one of the restarts, the driver of the #45 had attempted to take the lead of the race but the #5 was committed to the bottom lane, which made it difficult to pass from the inside as it might have ended in a wreck. That time, the 23XI star decided against taking the risk and ended up fighting his boss, Denny Hamlin a few moments later.

Read More – Kyle Larson Unleashes “Double Thumbs Up” Gibe at Upset Tyler Reddick’s Vegas Misery

“I feel in Vegas, it was too tempting, I tried on the initial fire-off that first lap, under green on the restart. Tried to get to Kyle’s inside, I was there but very wisely on his behalf, he pretty much gave me an option of…he decided that he was still gonna come to the bottom regardless of if I was there or not, kind of put me in a spot where I was gonna wreck him, myself, and maybe some other cars so I took a risky move and he wasn’t going to give up the lead that easy so I kind of had to back out of it that ultimately kind of cost me. I was racing with my boss Denny Hamlin for a little while so Kyle got away for a little bit but we were able to run him back down,” the 28-year-old explained.

Reddick’s words are a testament to the racecraft of Kyle Larson. He is undoubtedly one of the drivers to beat this season in the Cup Series and he will be looking to win his second Cup Series championship with everything he has got.

Read More – Kyle Petty Publicly Snubs Kyle Larson’s “Greatest Race Car Driver” Status as He Hands the Crown to the Other Kyle