Larson's incredible Chase consistency continues despite rough Vegas start

Kyle Larson’s car was so far off in the first stage Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that he thought something was broken or perhaps on fire. But even as he fought the handling and fell a lap down, Larson still thought he could win.

And he nearly did. Ultimately, he finished second to Chase Briscoe, whom he chased during the final stint and was within a second of, while extending his NASCAR Cup Series point lead.

“A great fight by our team,” Larson said of the comeback. “We never give up and had to work really hard there in that first stage. Obviously, it did not fire off where we all expected it to, and I really thought I would be tight the first run, and I was just really loose from the get-go and hanging on.”

The No. 5 team took a big swing on their adjustment under the first pit stop, which took longer than Larson was expecting. That's when Larson began to wonder if something was wrong and, seeing smoke, wondered if a part was on fire and the cause of the early race trouble.

Larson fell off the lead lap soon thereafter. The first caution of the day on lap 44 gave the team the chance to take the wave around, putting them back on the lead lap. But he did not score stage points in the first stage.

“We just, honestly, kept working from there and inch by inch getting better track position and the last stage went well,” Larson said. “We had a great flag pit cycle, and I could tell I was closing on them and really taking my time getting there, too. By the time I got there, my tires were really hot.

“I thought the top might be there, but I didn’t want to do it too soon and burn my tires off even more. So, I tried to wait, and felt like I did it at the right time, and tried to push as hard as I could in [Turns] 3 and 4 to build a run down the straightaway and got loose.”

Larson hit the wall off Turn 4 and then was run into by Tyler Reddick, who spun to a third-place finish through the grass. The result, meanwhile, was Larson's fourth straight top-two finish and his fifth straight top-five finish in the Chase.

“I’m going to let you guys give all labels,” crew chief Cliff Daniels said about whether it was a championship-type performance. “For us, yeah, it’s what you have to do in this format to get all the points you can. I think there are a lot of really capable teams of putting up tough fights like we had today. A week ago, the [No.] 45 was nowhere to be found in Stage 1, and they came back, and I think before they had an issue before the end of the race, they were really strong, too.

“There are a handful of teams that can dig out of a hole like that. I’m proud that we’re one of them. You don’t love to have to play that card, but our team is tough. We’ve been seasoned really hard this year with the ups and downs of the way our year has gone, and a performance like today is something to be proud of, and now we’ve got to make sure we start with a better balance at Charlotte.”

The reigning series champions gained 14 points on Denny Hamlin to extend the championship lead from 26 to 40 points.

“I feel good about it, but I also look at it as, man, I only scored one stage point today, which is very minimal for what we’re used to scoring on intermediates,” Larson said. “So, I feel like there were a lot of points left out there had we started off the race with a good, balanced race car. It would have been nice to take advantage of their misfortune.

“But it’s still good to gain points after I thought I was going to lose a lot of points today, and potentially lose the point lead. Yeah, I’ll take it; definitely happy with it, and the average finish got better.”

Larson has a 2.2 average finish in the Chase.