CRANDALL: Misplaced sympathy

There is no feeling bad for Kyle Larson.

The young phenom from Chip Ganassi Racing had his championship hopes dashed Sunday in Kansas, the result of a blown engine on Lap 78. He will not go to Homestead as one of the final four, as many had assumed. After competing at a high level all season, Larson will not be the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup champion.

Tough luck, kid.

Except, in the immediate aftermath of his exit from the Hollywood Casino 400 I was struck by two things: repeated comments about how the NASCAR system is broken when one of the best teams loses its title opportunity, and feelings of heartbreak for Larson.

What?

Winning a championship – any championship – is not supposed to be easy. Hoisting the richest prize in the sport is reserved for those who can master each weekend, each race and any adversity thrown their way.

The No. 42 team did not survive and advance. Finishes of 10th (Charlotte), 13th (Talladega) and 37th (Kansas) are not good enough when it comes to competing for a championship. Nor should they be.

This late in the postseason, just win, baby. Or at least finish in the top five. Not the top 10, but the top five. Racing for a championship demands excellence.

Larson & Co. might be good enough as a team, but each round calls for a greater level of performance. Great finishes, not good finishes. It's a battle.

Kyle Busch advanced into the Round of 8 not only through stage wins and a top 10 at Kansas, but perhaps because he toughed it out in Charlotte after hitting the wall twice and gained a few more positions (and subsequent points) instead of immediately calling it a day.

A seven-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, spun out not once, but twice at Kansas and had to fight for every last position to earn a spot. Ryan Blaney started 40th and methodically picked his way through the field to a third-place finish.

To win a NASCAR championship, you have to perform at the absolutely highest level. You also have to have a little bit of luck.

"I guess, I'm not stunned because freak things happen in every sport," Larson said. "I mean you look at every year in the past and a lot of times, most every time at least in the new playoff format era not always does the best team win. Not saying we are the best team, but we have been one of the contenders all season long.

"So, I'm not stunned, because it is a long 10 race playoff season, so anything can happen, but we have had a solid playoffs. We have been consistent, and just now got bit."

Things do happen. It's what makes winning a championship so hard. And this type of playoff format is the perfect embodiment of that.

Granted, NASCAR added playoff points and stage points this year to try and help a driver's cause. A nice concept, I admit. A little extra reward for performing through an entire event and not just the conclusion.

But even that gift doesn't make a driver's path easier. Larson's playoff points, a cushy 42 in addition to his 29-point gap on the cutline, weren't even enough to save him.

"This has got to be the toughest championship in sports to win, without a question," Martin Truex Jr. said last month. "With the eliminations, with one race for the championship at the end especially. You're not out there one‑on‑one. There's 39 other cars, and you're racing against three of them. It's got to be the toughest one there is."

It's a cruel and tough sport. Truex experienced it last year and I didn't feel bad for him then. Just as I don't for Larson now.