Controlling a race from start to finish is one thing, but a driver’s ability to fall a lap back and still finish second is the true mark of a champion. Kyle Larson did just that in Las Vegas, and it’s further testament to how dominant the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver has been in the Chase.
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Larson has an average finish of 2.2 in the Chase with victories at Gateway and Kansas, and second-place finishes at Bristol and Vegas; his fifth-place finish at Darlington is the only outlier. And that stat in itself is a flex. While Larson continued to build a points lead in the championship, those in the Hendrick garage are being reminded of another dominant HMS champion.
“It reminds me of Earnhardt, it reminds me of Petty,” said Jeff Gordon to Frontstretch. “Reminds me of Johnson. There are times we pulled off some of those with the 24 too, and again, that’s why I reflect back on championship-caliber teams and how they react to adversity.”
Gordon, Vice Chairman at HMS, was pleased to see how Larson and his team managed the day after a balance issue left the No. 5 Chevrolet driver feeling like his right front was too tight.
To make adjustments to Larson’s car, crew chief Cliff Daniels made the brave call to pit Larson under green-flag conditions on lap 35. By the time Larson exited pit road, he was at the back of the pack, a lap down to the leaders.
“After that day, I mean to see them struggle at the beginning, and have to fight through that, and make big changes, and lose on their track position, go down a lap and fight back from that,” Gordon said. “That, to me, is what championship-caliber teams do when they’re facing adversity. Amazing, really proud.”
But the reason why Gordon even mentioned his former HMS teammate Johnson’s name was that he has seen the seven-time Cup winner pull off similar miracles.
Back in 2008, right in the midst of Johnson’s incredible five-year Cup-winning run, the then No. 48 HMS driver went through a similar race in Atlanta.
Four races to go in the Chase, Johnson already had a hefty points lead over Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards. In Atlanta, on lap 91, Johnson came into the pits but was penalized for speeding on pit road. For that, he had to go a lap down.
Edwards led for 98 laps that day and eventually won as well. He celebrated with a backflip, a statement that he was back in the hunt for the championship. At victory lane, he was asked if he knew who finished second. He didn’t. When he was informed, his elation turned to shock. Johnson had carved through the pack to finish second and secured a 183-point lead over Edwards with three races left in the season.
What Larson achieved in Vegas was eerily similar to Johnson’s 2008 Atlanta drive. And incredibly, it was en route to Johnson’s third Cup title. Larson, too, is in the hunt for his third title and his second on the bounce.
Having recreated a Jimmie Johnson-esque drive, can Larson go all the way to the end in a similar fashion?
Gordon himself has been in the midst of similar title situations. And with five races to come, he knows it’s not time to celebrate just yet.
“I think they were a little bit surprised at the way their car started the race,” Gordon said. “But to make a risky call, for them to have a twenty-plus-second pit stop early on, to try to make an adjustment that needed to be made. I know it’s a tough call to do when you’re green, but those kinds of adjustments early in a race is what you can build on to get back in the fight late in the race. So it all worked out. We all know that there’s a lot more racing to go. We’ve got Talladega coming up, so you can’t have a big enough point. ”
Gordon knows all too well that Denny Hamlin is still in the mix, despite a 16th-place finish in Vegas after starting on pole. Larson now has a 40-point gap to Hamlin. And the reason why neither HMS nor Larson will look at that with ease is that the gap has only increased by 14 points since Kansas.
Larson and his crew were definitely not expecting to finish second, and yet they know that a Hamlin win can change the picture of the championship in no time. While Hamlin slipped up in Vegas, Larson will hope they do not have a similar slip-up over the course of the last five races.