When Kyle Larson won at Darlington in the Round of 16, he posited himself in a situation where he could just take a vacation for 2 weeks and show up for Texas Motor Speedway. And 5 weeks later, he repeated the fear with a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports icon could have taken it easy and gotten ready for revving his Chevy at Phoenix. But he didn’t.

Recently, a Brad Keselowski insider revealed the sole factor that could ruin Larson’s shot at his second Championship title this year. And no, it’s not his car, it’s not his driving prowess. It’s something that the RFK Racing member calls the ‘3%’. But what does that even mean? Let’s take a look.

Brad Keselowski’s spotter pointed out Kyle Larson’s fatal flaw

The entire postseason is a body of work. Which means it doesn’t always matter if you win right from the beginning. All that matters is to stay away from mistakes, gather stage points, and go for the win only when it’s absolutely necessary. Needless to say, Larson has won exactly where he needed to. But last weekend, he left the field with a DNF, and everyone in the community has been talking about it.

He had just tried to maximize everything he could during the 213 laps that he ran throughout the course of the 267-lap-race. But things went south when Larson ran into the barriers that stood at the entryway of the pit road, in an attempt to get a better pit halt than Ryan Blaney. But was this desperate move necessary? The DBC crew had their takes on the same.

According to TJ Majors, Kyle Larson strives to give his 103% into every race he runs. Which is good, but sometimes that extra effort backfires on the Elk Grove resident. Majors explained, “I think he’s (Larson) his own worst enemy at times, just tries too hard, and that 3% sneaks up once in a while and gets him.”

“I know he wants to win,” said the number 6 Ford team member. “I love watching everything he goes races…dirt late models, the midgets, the sprint cars, I mean, he is fun to watch in everything,”

Majors felt like at such a stage in the playoffs, Kyle Larson shouldn’t have taken the chance. He said, “But that 3% in our races right now, you can’t afford that. That 3% is what’s gonna cost him at some point. Luckily that 3% happened at a certain spot that it didn’t at Vegas, otherwise he’s probably not winning that race.”

“I think if it happens five car lengths earlier or later, he’s probably backing into the wall or something. He had a great save afterward, but the wall is what saved him in the beginning,” he added.

Interestingly, the wall is what gives Larson the biggest advantage over almost everyone on the roster. How come? One might wonder.

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Kyle Larson name-dropped the person who had once taught him the secret behind making speed at Homestead-Miami

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Kyle Larson seemed quite confident about gathering speed at the 1.5-mile intermediate oval in Miami. And that’s because he knows the art of riding the high line. But exactly what does that mean?

Homestead-Miami is a tricky racetrack for many seasoned drivers out there. Being close to the sea, there’s sand everywhere, making the tires tear off faster and reducing the grip on them. Hence, it’s necessary for the drivers to find the perfect lane to find the race-winning momentum. Kyle Larson, however, had no difficulty in doing that.

Moments before the race, he explained to the reporters that he knew that his expertise in cruising on the top groove at Homestead-Miami was what gave him the biggest edge over everyone else. Nevertheless, he also revealed that this trick was not something he had picked up on his own.

Back in an Xfinity race a decade ago, Kyle Larson ran alongside Richard Childress Racing icon Kyle Busch and struggled to pick up pace. It was then that Rowdy signaled Larson to get a hold of the top lane with his index finger pointed upward.

During the 4EVER 400 pre-race media availability, Larson said, “I was running fairly high and then Kyle Busch passed me and then stuck his hand outside the window and told me to get higher. So I just started running as high as I could.”

“There were points in the corner where I’d get really close to the wall and once you do that a few times, you can feel the effect that the right side of the car has against the wall,” he admitted.

Let’s hope Larson makes no such mistakes at Martinsville and, more importantly, at Phoenix. After all, it’ll hurt even more if Larson doesn’t win even after qualifying for the Championship race.

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