Not winning the Championship 4 after qualifying for the same will hurt really bad. However, Kyle Larson and the #5 Hendrick Motorsports team were on Cloud 9 after snatching the first spot in the coveted grand finale of the NASCAR Cup Series. His close win over Christopher Bell at Las Vegas Motor Speedway posits him in a position where he doesn’t need to worry about the next two races.

This gives him a huge advantage over the other drivers on the grid. It’s almost like the recent game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants, where the former had a convincing advantage after winning the first game of the round. Needless to say, the Bills emerged victorious with a 14-9 lead. In a recent episode of Door, Bumper, Clear, a Bubba Wallace insider revealed how Kyle Larson’s situation in the playoffs is a lot different from the rest.

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For Christopher Bell, Sunday was an extremely bitter day. Not because he was second, but because he was so close to winning. Perhaps coming second hurts more than getting a DNF. Christopher Bell now has to focus solely on Homestead-Miami Raceway. If he fails to win next week, he’d have to try to win at Martinsville (like last year).

If there are no new winners over the next two races, there would be 3 cars to advance per points. However, if there is a new winner, and Bell is not one of them, there would be just one car getting in on points, and Bell’s #20 Toyota being that car is low as the team doesn’t have a lot of bonus points.

Kyle Larson doesn’t shoulder any such pressure. He can pinpoint his focus on Phoenix and the engineers on his team can run simulation tests at Phoenix and get the hang of that track before bringing out their A-game. Bubba Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft said,

“When the guy (Larson) wins Vegas, he doesn’t have to care about Homestead and Martinsville anymore, he can just solely focus on Phoenix and go run all these test laps there, engineers can get all these sims.

“These guys have to focus on the next two weeks. With 3 points out, you need to be the best you can possibly be at Homestead and if you don’t win Homestead, you need to be the best you can possibly be at Martinsville,” he added. Drawing the example of The Bills, Kraft said,

“It’d be me telling the Bills, ‘Alright, you get the rest of the weeks off but you’re playing The Giants in the Super Bowl.

“The Giants gotta play everybody else, but The Bills are just getting ready for The Giants. They’re gonna know The Giants inside and out …you get such a head start getting ready for one race…I don’t see a correlation,” he explained.

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However, Kyle Larson doesn’t seem to take it easy at all. For him, each race is as important as the other.

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Kyle Larson is not ready to slack off even for a moment

While Kyle Larson can basically afford to take his firesuit off and go off on a vacation for the next two weeks, his eyes are fixated solely on Homestead-Miami Raceway.

Back in 2022, Larson dominated at the 1.5-mile intermediate oval in South Florida, leading 199 of 267 laps, to bag the win. And he plans to win again. For him, it’s always a must-win situation. He’s so laser-focused that he’s not even thinking about Martinsville. According to nascar.com, Larson said, “I’m not thinking really ahead of Homestead yet. Martinsville, as well.

“Obviously, it’s nice to win and lock in. You can focus on Phoenix. At the same point, you really can’t look too far ahead of yourself. There’s still two other races before then,” Larson stated.

Hail the sportsman spirit of this 31-year-old Elk Grove resident. Do you think Kyle Larson is taking unnecessary pressure, or do you feel like he’s just too focused on what he does?

Read more: Denny Hamlin Takes a Mean Jab At His Championship Drought As NASCAR Insider Hopes to “Eventually Get it Right”