There is no gray area anymore! With just 10 races left in the regular season, there are just two sets of drivers in the Cup Series garage. The first set is still trying to find their footing and somehow make the cut for playoffs. On the other hand, there are those few who are now planning their championship strategy, having taken care of their playoff qualification. Kyle Larson is part of the latter group, and he is feeling really strong about his chances of clinching his second championship win in the Cup Series.

Larson vaulted to the top of the points standings after his win at Sonoma last Sunday. Not only that, he also has more playoff points than the rest of the competition. So you see, the No. 5 HMS team has already started to pull the levers to get their championship plan in motion. Even Larson has now come out in public, sending out warning shots to his rivals on the back of how good his team has been this season.

Kyle Larson compares his 2021 championship run to this season

Back in 2021, Hendrick Motorsports was the team that put faith in Larson after his controversial exit from Chip Ganassi Racing. In return, the driver repaid the goodwill with a championship win. He snagged 10 Cup Series wins that season, and four of those came during the playoffs, so knockout stages are indeed a strong suit for the #5 team.

It is hard to imagine how Larson could better or come close to his dominating run in 2021, where he had 10 wins under his belt and led for a total of 2581 laps. But surprisingly, the driver thinks that this season’s preparations and build-up have been better compared to his maiden championship run.

“Honestly, 2021 went amazing, but I would say this year seems even better than that year because we’re like, executing good, which we were executing good to win those races, but we were also making mistakes as well. I feel like, as a team, we haven’t really been making too many mistakes this year … proud of the effort and just trying to do my best to keep it up,” he said.

What’s more impressive is that Larson missed out on the rain-washed Coca-Cola 600 race and wasn’t credited a single point. Despite not running a race, he is leading the points standings along with most laps led. However, despite securing his spot in the last 16, Larson and his team are focused on collecting as many bonus playoff points as possible. “I mean you want to continue to run up front and snag as many as points can. It’s pretty tight at the top of the standings right now and we would love to win the regular season points to get those extra bonus points in the playoffs.”

While Larson has dominated the early proceedings of the 2024 Cup Series season, he is yet to collect back-to-back wins as he did during the 2021 campaign. Perhaps this weekend’s Iowa race could provide him the opportunity to further cement his dominion over his rivals. Although Larson is the favorite going into Iowa, there are others to keep an eye on as well.

Drivers to watch out this weekend at Iowa Speedway

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This weekend’s race at Iowa marks the first time a NASCAR Cup Series race will be run on the ⅞ mile short-track oval. A lot has been said about the controversial repave job at the race track by NASCAR, which certainly notches up the excitement level for the fans. With no previous runs and no history of Cup races at Iowa, it is indeed hard to predict the winner. But there’s a select group of drivers who could find themselves contesting for the win this Sunday.

Kyle Larson is certainly among the frontrunners to win this weekend. The driver does have four Xfinity Series starts at the racetrack, resulting in two top 5 and top 10 finishes. Another added advantage is the fact, he was a part of the Goodyear tire test in May. This could prove to be a differentiating factor, considering all the noise has been about finding the groove at the newly paved track.

Denny Hamlin would like to make a case for himself, given how good he has been on short-track this season. He won at Bristol and Richmond and has finished in the top three in five of the last six short-track races. Another added incentive for him will be to respond to Larson’s win at Sonoma; the two drivers are brewing up a healthy rivalry this year. So keep an eye out for that.

Next up, another JGR driver, Christopher Bell, would also like to stake a claim for a victory. The driver has already notched two wins in 2024 and will look to get on level terms with both Hamlin and Larson in terms of wins. He does have a splendid track record at Iowa from his Xfinity Series days; with 2 wins and 2 runner-up finishes, it certainly won’t be a surprise if he is running up top, trading blows for the lead.

Moreover, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski are the two Ford drivers to look out for, as recently the Ford drivers have started to get back into the mix for winning races.