“It’s really the first time in my playoff career I’ve not been close to the cut line, so it was good to kind of have a little bit of stress-free of a weekend,” Kyle Larson had confessed merely a month ago after winning this year’s playoffs final Round of 12 race at the Charlotte Roval. With high spirits, the Hendrick Motorsports driver had aimed to increase his championship tally after a lone triumph in 2021. However, that’s easier said than done. As NASCAR bigwigs started falling off from the playoff standings—Denny Hamlin’s maiden championship hopes were dashed (YET AGAIN), Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman were all eliminated—Larson found himself face-to-face with a similar fate.

The HMS star slipped and tumbled through pit-stop miscues, flat tires, and bizarre spins. Then, in Martinsville, he could not keep up the trend of winning the last race of each playoff round. This bleak scenario stands against a starkly opposite canvas. One which displays the HMS racer’s glittering achievements this year. From attempting the 1100-mile-long Double to outsmarting his rivals with a series-high six wins, the driver should ideally be branded as the best racer. Yet petty mistakes during the Round of 8 sealed his fate under NASCAR’s cutthroat playoff format.

Kyle Larson’s heartbreak is contradictory

Without a doubt, the No. 5 Chevrolet driver has been the crown jewel of the 2024 Cup Series season. Besides winning 6 races, Kyle Larson led 1,615 laps, which is 613 laps more than anyone else. He also won a series-best 12 stages and had the closest finish in NASCAR history in Kansas, where he beat Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds. Despite these magnanimous achievements, he failed to deliver when it mattered the most. Under the playoff format, the rest of the season goes to ashes if your playoff performance is not good. And Kyle Larson slipped up in the Round of 8, right before the Championship 4 race.

Kyle Larson missed his must-win opportunity at Martinsville Speedway. Although he ran well and finished P3 after a three-way tussle with Chase Elliott and race victor Ryan Blaney, the past two races hung like a dark cloud and prevented his entry into the Championship 4. NASCAR insider Eric Estepp reflected on Larson’s slip-ups in a video. “Kyle Larson – 6 wins this season but very up-and-down. A lot of self-inflicted wounds, mistakes in this round alone. The flat tire at Homestead wasn’t their fault but Larson spinning himself out racing for the lead – that was his fault. Pit crew errors at Las Vegas cost them stage points, cost them a top ten.” 

Entering 2024 NASCAR Cup Series’ penultimate race at Martinsville, Larson needed a win to guarantee himself a spot in the Championship 4. However, despite qualifying 9th and leading 71 of 500 laps and a strategy they hoped would work, the racer lost the lead to Chase Elliott in the late stages. Talking about strategies, the #5 team had chosen to stay out during a late-race caution, to capitalize on any sliver of opportunity they could get their hands on. However, as the 2021 champ himself admitted, Ryan Blaney was just too good. “We made the right call for our race and gave ourselves a shot, but the 12 [Blaney] was just super good,” Larson said after the race.

Notably, with less than 20 laps to go, Ryan Blaney had made an aggressive effort to outdo Larson. Despite multiple contacts from his opponent, Blaney never backed down, beating the HMS racer fair and square—something even the Larson admitted: “It was fair, super fair,”  he said, before admitting to his own faults. “If anything, it was foul what I did, shoving him back through the other end of the racetrack.”

Homestead, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson (5) races during the Dixie Vodka 400 Homestead-Miami Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY SportsThat being said, it was evident that Rick Hendrick’s golden boy lacked the usual speed he had in the previous rounds’ last races this weekend. Estepp continued that Kyle Larson could not keep up with the playoff system’s high-pressure situation this time. “Larson’s finishes weren’t terrible…but the lack of stage points at Las Vegas and Homestead – that was their undoing…In these playoffs, he only has four top-tens in 9 races. That’s not very good…Today they just didn’t have the speed. I think Chase Elliott was faster than them – obviously, Blaney was. Even William Byron was faster…three races in a row where they left a lot on the table and they’re out.” 

Kyle Larson finished P13 at Las Vegas, and P13 in Homestead-Miami, which definitely didn’t help his case. And while calls keep mounting on the NASCAR’s playoff’s controversial format, the 32-year-old knew exactly what he did wrong. “The wins do benefit you a lot. We won a lot of stages… You just can’t have two bad races in the Round of Eight.” 

The same cannot be said for Christopher Bell, who saw his playoff hopes burn to the ground, thanks to a controversial/banned move. While Bell finished P22 last weekend, he was tied with William Byron for the last Championship berth. Generally, that spot is awarded based on the best finish in any of the three races in the third round by a playoff driver, and in this case, Bell was the clear winner. However, closer inspection revealed that the #20 driver had attempted Ross Chastain’s infamous ‘Hail Melon’ or riding the wall move from 2022, to gain an advantage on Bubba Wallace on the last lap, thus tying him in points with Byron. The move was deemed to be a safety violation and Bell was relegated to P22 from P18.

A perplexed Bell later said, “It is a shame that it comes down to a ball and strike call like that. You can look at both sides of the fence – the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so that the 24 (William Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.” NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, on the other hand, defended the controversial call, saying, “There was language in the rule book. When you look at it today, (Bell) clearly got up against the fence there in (turns) three and four, and rode the wall all the way off four there. Strictly it’s to protect our drivers as well as our fans. So yeah, it was pretty straightforward.”

As for the No. 5 team, it seems they were prepared for any kind of scenario before Martinsville.

Teamwork makes the dream work

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Well, making it into the Championship 4 round is the ultimate goal of any Cup Series driver. But for the Hendrick Motorsports team, other golden goals exist. For 40 years, Rick Hendrick has been at the head of a stellar team boasting 312 Cup Series victories. And this glittering history rests on a basic ideal – team unity. All four HMS teams unanimously share racing resources and data, working together to achieve the best race results possible. So even though Kyle Larson failed to clinch a championship berth, his team will pride itself on the achievements they had this year. From running the Indianapolis 500 to clinching double the number of wins of any other driver, they have come a long way.

That is what the No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels emphasized right before Kyle Larson’s last chance at Martinsville. He said he is “almost thankful for some of the highs and some of the lows (this season) because it’s really tested our team. I’ve had to learn a lot as a leader of the team and the maturity of handling both sides of the coin and keeping our team together and connected and our faith and trust in each other in our process.” He added that whatever happens next, the No. 5 team will still be proud. “That’s how we’ve learned to navigate through the journey. Win, lose or draw over the next two weeks, I think that is a very valuable principle that we’re going to learn and carry with us moving forward.”

Now Kyle Larson is out of championship contention. It is time for him and his team to reflect on an amazing year of learning and preparing for 2025.