It looks like Kyle Larson was able to find a friend or two when it mattered most last weekend.
The 2021 and 2025 series champion, Larson can claim his third NASCAR Cup Series title at the schedule’s penultimate event and final short-track race, the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon in Martinsville, Va.
Larson’s miraculous run in the last half-lap from 11th to checkers last Sunday at Talladega, aided by a push from Ross Chastain, put the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver in position for more hardware.
Larson has a 2023 Martinsville victory on his resume and a sizeable lead over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin (-73 points), Christopher Bell (-74) and Chase Briscoe (-79).
There could be an early coronation Sunday — if, of course, that entire coterie of Toyota drivers is 77 points or more behind Larson after 500 laps around the demanding short track.
In a sense, that would make Martinsville the equivalent of the old mile-long track in Rockingham, N.C., which often stole the thunder and sealed championships before the series would arrive at Atlanta’s season finale.
Hamlin has all but conceded the title run is over but gives credit to the car he’s chasing: Larson’s No. 5 that finished seventh in a winless 26-race regular season but is 3-for-8 in Chase events.
“Pretty much (over),” said Hamlin, a six-time Martinsville victor. “A one-race lead with two to go. … Yeah, I think at this point we’re all racing for second.
“To me, it’s undisputed: We had the best season of anyone, but Larson has had the best Chase of anyone. And that’s what matters. Their performance has been great. … He’s one of the best drivers on one of the best teams.
“If Larson closes it out, he deserved it over the last 10 races. That is what matters in our sport.”
For his part, Larson isn’t acting as though the Cup is in the bag.
“There’s still two races,” Larson said in his post-race news conference Sunday. “It’s so easy to look at it and be like, ‘Oh, the 5’s got it.’ We could go to Martinsville, there’s a stack up in Turn 3 on the first lap. I could cave in the radiator and be done.
“I’m just saying there’s still a lot of racing left and so much in the Chase.”
As for last Sunday in Alabama, might it be possible to prevent the same makes of cars, even from different teams, from helping out an obvious title contender at Talladega when the superspeedway’s race is the eighth event of the Chase and the championship race (Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway) is just two away?
NASCAR could move the frenzied race up to when all 16 drivers are still in pursuit of the big trophy. If Talladega is the second Chase race in September, drivers won’t be as generous because everyone is a contender that early.
But ultimately, a schedule shift would not prevent drivers from partnering up by blocking or refusing to make passes.
That happened at the 2024 Martinsville race, which set the field for the Championship 4 participants.
A gaggle of Chevys, led by the two-wide bowties driven by Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, set up a convoy that would have made Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed proud from their “Smokey and the Bandit” movie exploits, preventing Chevy driver William Byron from being passed and keeping the competition at bay. Bubba Wallace also worked to protect fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell.
NASCAR meted out $600,000 in fines and multiple suspensions among other actions, but there’s something at stake worth more than money: a championship.
So keep the possibility of shenanigans in mind this Sunday.
