CONCORD, N.C. — An emotionally taxing playoffs could be the stepping stone to another Cup title for former champions Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson.
For the second round in a row, Truex, the regular-season champion, hung on to advance. He made it into this round by five points. He moves on to the next round because Kyle Busch finished third Sunday at the Charlotte Roval instead of winning.
Crew chief James Small says the first six races of the playoffs have been “miserable” for the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, but if they could get to the Round of 8, he felt they could win this coming week at Las Vegas and earn a spot in the championship race at Phoenix.
Kyle Larson also advanced Sunday, completing a challenging round that saw him wreck while he raced for the lead at Texas and crash in practice Saturday. That incident forced his team to work long hours to prepare the backup car.
Despite those woes, Larson could be viewed as one of the favorites in the Round of 8. He finished second to teammate William Byron at Las Vegas in the spring. The round also includes Homestead-Miami Speedway, perhaps the track that best fits Larson’s driving style.
While six others will have their say in the upcoming round, it’s not hard to imagine both Truex and Larson being among the four to race for the title next month at Phoenix.
Despite the awful postseason for Truex — he has yet to finish in the top 15 in any of the six races and has an average finish of 21.3 in the playoffs — he will start the Round of 8 seeded second to Byron. That’s the benefit of 36 playoff points Truex accrued during the regular season. He’ll begin the round five points behind Byron, the top seed.
“I didn’t create the system,” Truex said on pit road after finishing 20th Sunday. “We used it to our advantage. That won’t get us through the next one. The next one, you’ve got to be running up front. Two winners of the next three races are probably going to be playoff guys that are still going. Need to turn it up and we need to figure it out quickly.”
Both Truex and Small anticipated Sunday’s elimination race being difficult and it was. They’ve struggled to find the right combination at this 2.32-mile track. But Truex stayed on course and wasn’t collected in any crashes — although he narrowly got past Erik Jones after Jones hit the wall.
Maybe that was a sign that Truex’s fortune could be changing. Already in these playoffs he’s been wrecked after a stage ended (Texas) and crashed in the opening laps after a tire issue (Kansas). There also have been execution issues in these playoffs but Truex made it through the Roval.
“One week it’s one issue, one week it’s another,” Small said.
But Small is focused looking ahead instead of behind.
“I 100% think we can go on and achieve what we need to and get to Phoenix and we have a one-in-four chance then,” he told NBC Sports. “It’s up to us to execute. Hopefully, we can do it.”
If they do, maybe set a record in the process.
“In 2017, we had the best average finish in the playoffs (at 4.3),” Small said of Truex’s championship season, “maybe we can do it with the worst.”
For Larson, Saturday was among the worst feelings he’s had in what has been a difficult three weeks.
He said it was his mistake that led to his car hitting the wall in practice Saturday. The damage was enough that the team had to go to a backup car. As crew chief Cliff Daniels noted, teams spend minimal time on their backup cars. Much work remained to prepare the car at the Hendrick Motorsports shop.
“I was upset at myself that I crashed, obviously, but I was more upset that all those mechanics and people probably have been looking forward to the only Saturday at home all year long and they’re spending it at the shop until three in the morning,” Larson told NBC Sports. “So, I was just embarrassed and upset.”
Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports vice chair, tried to lift Larson’s spirits shortly after the incident but Larson wasn’t in the mood.
“It was not pretty,” Gordon said of Larson’s mood in the garage Saturday. “It was tense. That wasn’t the time to really say anything or do anything even though I did say one thing.”
Gordon couldn’t get Larson to smile.
But Larson’s actions later led Gordon to smile.
“A couple of hours later, when you get over there to the shop and to see the energy of the team and what they were doing to go battle to get it done today, that to me is what I’m probably most proud of,” Gordon said. “And Kyle, being over there and being present, being a part of that, I think, is very important.”
Of course, it might be simpler if Larson didn’t charge as much. Then again …
“I’ll be honest, the thought has run through my mind a few times, but that’s not Kyle Larson,” Gordon said. “He pushes hard. He’s aggressive and that’s why he does the things he does on restarts, why he wins races.”
And why after a disappointing Round of 12, Larson remains a threat in the Round of 8. Along with Truex.
