One to go. Kyle Larson nearly laps the field headed into the Championship Weekend at Homestead
Kyle Larson hasn't won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, but it will be hard for him to lose it. The defending champ takes a 67-point lead into Homestead, needing just nine points to wrap up his third cup title.
"I don't know if I should feel pressure, but I'm going to throughout the week," said Larson. "These next races can get crazy. You can get a flat tire, break a toe ring. You know something could happen, and you don't need to score the points that you need to."
On Sunday, Larson is poised to become the sports first back-to-back champ since Jimmie Johnson won five straight from 2006-2010. Even with titles under his belt in 2021 and 2025, Larson is still nervous, because the sports is unpredictable.
"Hopefully the first couple stages go good, and we can score points and then have some fun in the first stage," said Larson.
Hendrick Motorsports President Jeff Andrews agrees the team can be confident, but not cocky.
"I don’t know that you’re ever confident. You sure want to be. Anybody that’s done this as long as we have done it, there’s 267 laps left next weekend. A lot can happen, as we saw in that first stage. The points took a big swing there after that first stage, and those kind of things can happen," said Andrews.
Christopher Bell is the driver in second; Denny Hamlin is the only other driver with a mathematic chance to win the title 70 points back.
But Homestead is arguably Larson's best track, so they both understand the odds are against
them.
“It’s unrealistic, for sure,” said, Hamlin. " We just didn’t capitalize on the speed we had, and that’s been the story of our Chase. We certainly didn’t execute to the best of our ability.”
“To be realistic about it, it’s another opportunity to win a race, and that’s what we have to do,” said Bel. “We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
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