“If He Wants a 10…”- Rick Hendrick’s Star Employee Left Unimpressed by Kyle Larson’s Playoff Sweep

Hendrick Motorsports superstar and 2021 Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson is showing no signs of slowing down as he clinched one out of the four spots in the final 4 for his second title run. The mile-and-a-half Vegas track witnessed an epic showdown between the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and Larson’s HMS Chevy where he edged out the JGR car by a 0.082-second margin, pulling off a spectacle.

Christopher Bell who outpaced Larson during the qualifying race, despite showing exceptional pace did not quite catch the #5 Chevy in time as Larson barely held onto the lead to sweep the playoffs. While the #5 driver managed to snatch the lead from Bell in the opening laps of the race, the stiff resistance from the #20 Toyota meant that Larson had to give it his all and go to the edge to prevail. And he did just that, he survived a possible race-ending slip to claim his 2nd playoff win.

Despite Larson’s miraculous save, Rick Hendrick’s team member and Larson’s 2021 championship-winning crew member is still unimpressed with the driver’s save that got him one step closer to the title.

The “Ridiculous save” from Kyle Larson has his crew chief unimpressed

The week certainly has Larson on top of the world. A Sprint car championship, a successful trial IndyCar run, and an exceptional NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway got the driver to the epitome of his racing career. While he lost to Bell during the qualifying, getting edged out by the JGR Toyota to the 2nd place, he redeemed himself with a win during the main event.

Despite fierce adversity (read Christopher Bell), Larson managed to take it home. This would guarantee that Larson would get some appreciation and back-tapping from his team, right? Well, things seem to be quite the contrary, as the #5 driver’s team member had a rather critical take.

It seems that his crew chief Cliff Daniels wasn’t so impressed with Larson’s save. Daniels took a more sarcastic approach as he credited the driver. He said, “Huge credit to him. I got interviewed earlier; they said, hey 1 in 10 how would you rate that, Larson’s save? I was like, man, everybody wants to give it a 10, I would give it a 9.4, they’re like 9.4? Well, we hit the wall, I mean, if he wants a 10 you dont hit the wall, it was a ridiculous save. 

WATCH THIS STORY: Christopher Bell had Kyle Larson’s heart in his mouth during lucky championship 4 escape 

The man of the hour, Larson himself, also knew how lucky he was to win against Christopher Bell’s impressive challenge.

Larson thanks his Vegas rival as he barely wins the race

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Now, if one is to consider Dominic Toretto’s words seriously, then Larson’s win isn’t by a thin margin. While a win is still a win even if it’s by a tenth of the second or by a mile as per the fictional character, Larson really had to sweat it out, to keep the JGR driver off his back. Despite surviving the slip that could’ve been catastrophic, Larson barely held on till the last minute with Bell breathing down his neck until he crossed the line with a 0.082-second margin.

Larson admitted he wasn’t confident enough on whether he could hold off the persistent attack from Bell who raced him like his life was on the line. Speaking to the media presser after the race, he said, “Then I was like, the whole way down the back, I was hoping the #38 was going to run the middle or the top. I wanted that clean air for the bottom. When he pulled down to the bottom, I knew I couldn’t follow him because it was going to choke me down too much.”

While the HMS driver maintained composure and did what he had to, he thanked Bell for his clean racing. “He hit me square in the back bumper, kind of closed off the win for me. Yeah, got much closer than I wanted it to. Thankfully we were able to edge out a win. Thankfully, Christopher ran us really clean there off of four,” said Larson.

READ MORE: Jeff Gordon Elated Over Kyle Larson’s Stepping Stone to Fulfilling His, Rick Hendrick’s & Father’s Special “Childhood” Dream

With this win, the #5 claimed his 23rd career Cup Series win and a fare ticket to the final 4, becoming the first driver to punch his way into the fray.