AVONDALE, Ariz. – For the second time in two years, Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew put him in position to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
On Sunday, however, Larson could not take advantage of the track position to hold off a hard-charging Ryan Blaney to win his second Cup Series championship, instead settling for third on the race track and runner-up in the Championship 4 fight.
Larson had a fast car throughout the 312-lap race, but Larson pointed out his competition to win the race, and the championship was just a little bit faster.
“Our pit crew and pit road really kept us in the game,” said Larson after the race. “We weren’t the greatest on the track, but I was just hoping for pit stops ’cause I knew the way our team executed our lights, the way our pit crew can execute a fast pit stop, I knew that was going to be our only shot really to win.
“They did everything in their power to give us the winning job done there. Huge thank you to them.”
The execution of the pit crew gave Larson the opportunity to capitalize on the final restart of the race with 29 laps to go. While two competitors took two tires during the final caution, Larson hoped his four and an aggressive restart would give him the momentum to clear for the lead.
Larson came close, but Ross Chastain who led before the caution was able to get an equally good restart and battle Larson side-by-side for the top before Chastain eventually cleared for the lead and set sail for his second win of the season.
Once Chastain regained control of the race, Larson focused on fending off Ryan Blaney for the top spot in the Championship 4. Larson kept the top spot for eight laps until Blaney made the move on the outside lane with 21 laps to go.
Blaney utilized the momentum from the outside lane to propel him past Larson. Despite his best efforts, the Team Penske driver walked away from Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, edging Larson by just over two seconds at the checkered flag – leaving Larson with a runner-up finish in his return to the Championship 4.
“I needed to come out the leader on that restart,” Larson explained. “Ross got a really good start from the second row. Was hoping I could get clear of Denny and get the lead, have Ross kind of protect for me behind me.”
No matter what Larson did on Sunday, he is not sure it would have mattered.
“I’m not sure if it would have made a difference,” explained Larson. “I was just not as good as a few guys, especially Blaney and Ross, probably. It would have been difficult. But my team did a really good job all season, so I’m extremely proud of them.
“We had an up-and-down year, and we finally put together two solid weeks in a row. I don’t know if we’ve done that all year.”
Despite the stakes of Sunday’s season finale, Larson applauded Blaney for his hard but respectful racing.
“I tried to take as much as I could in one and two just to see if I could to anything because he was a lot faster,” Larson explained.
“He was behind me a number of times throughout the race, never touched me. I would say, for me, my respect level it started with him. He raced with a lot of respect early on in the race. He always has, too.
“It was fun watching Ryan (Blaney) and William (Byron) and (Christopher) Bell kind of when he was still out there us all racing hard. Yeah, just a lot of fun there.
“Congrats to Ryan. He’s a deserving champion. Him and his team have done an amazing job. It’s been fun to kind of come up through the ranks with him, now you see him be a champion.
“Congrats to Team Penske and their whole team. We’ll try and beat ’em next year.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) at @Knighter01 or email: [email protected].
