NASCAR: Kyle Larson wins his 9th race of 2021 at Kansas
Kyle Larson won again on Sunday.
Larson got his ninth win of the season at Kansas Speedway and has won at least 25% of the races in 2021. Larson won his third consecutive race for the second time this season and denied anyone else a chance of locking in a spot in the championship race.
Larson guaranteed his title shot with a win at Texas a week ago. He's been the best driver of the season — by far — and is the prohibitive favorite entering the title race at Phoenix. The only question now: Who are the three drivers who will join him?
Larson's teammate Chase Elliott finished second and will head into the final race of the third round at Martinsville on Halloween in a comfortable points position.
Sunday's race was the final intermediate track race for the current car in NASCAR and we have to say good riddance. The low-horsepower/high-downforce rules combination NASCAR has instituted at intermediate tracks provides artificially close restarts and aerodynamically dominated racing afterward. It's not the best way for NASCAR to showcase its product. In our opinion, anyway. NASCAR executives clearly think that drivers going flat-out at 1.5-mile tracks is the best way to put on a race.
NASCAR is moving to a new car in 2022. The car will be a spec car with most of its parts provided by suppliers to teams. The new car is designed to reduce costs for teams, though it will also reduce the space for ingenuity. Drivers will be racing largely the same cars against each other. The advantage that Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates had over the rest of the field at intermediate tracks will likely not exist next year and beyond.
What Hendrick did at intermediate tracks this season was incredibly impressive. The team's four drivers won seven of 14 intermediate track races (including Pocono) in 2021 and also dominated on road courses. Elliott and Larson combined to win five of the seven road course races this year.
Lots of playoff drivers have bad days
So many playoff drivers had bad days at Kansas that there wasn't much of a shakeup in the points standings.
Kyle Busch is still in fourth and a point ahead of fifth after finishing 28th and hitting the wall twice. Busch only lost seven points to fifth place because of Ryan Blaney's problems and issues for Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.
Blaney hit the wall in the final stage after he got tagged by Austin Dillon after a restart. The hard contact with the wall ended Blaney's day and he finished 37th.
Truex Jr. had an early pit stop for a flat tire and spent most of his race fighting back from that lost track position. He finished seventh but is still three points behind Busch.
Brad Keselowski also hit the wall and had a flat tire early in the race. He finished 17th after a caution came out for a spin for Ryan Newman right after he made his final pit stop of the race. Had Newman not spun, Keselowski could have finished a lot higher.
Joey Logano finished ninth and made up 17 points on fourth place after his engine blew up at Texas. Logano is still 26 points out of the final title spot but he at least has a chance to make it to Phoenix with a shot at the championship without winning the race. Had he been 40 points behind Busch in fourth, he likely would have faced a certain win-and-in situation at Martinsville on Halloween.
Points standings
1. Kyle Larson (2 wins)
2. Chase Elliott (+34 points to fifth)
3. Denny Hamlin (+32)
4. Kyle Busch (+1)
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Martin Truex Jr. (-3 to fourth)
7. Brad Keselowski (-6)
8. Joey Logano (-26)
Race results
1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Elliott
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Kurt Busch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. William Byron
7. Martin Truex Jr.
8. Christopher Bell
9. Joey Logano
10. Austin Dillon
11. Alex Bowman
12. Chris Buescher
13. Ross Chastain
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Michael McDowell
17. Brad Keselowski
18. Cole Custer
19. Chase Briscoe
20. Parker Kligerman
21. Ryan Preece
22. Tyler Reddick
23. Matt DiBenedetto
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25. Corey LaJoie
26. Aric Almirola
27. Ryan Newman
28. Kyle Busch
29. Erik Jones
30. BJ McLeod
31. Cody Ware
32. Joey Gase
33. Josh Bilicki
34. David Starr
35. Quin Houff
36. Ryan Ellis
37. Ryan Blaney
38. Anthony Alfredo
39. Justin Haley
40. Chad Finchum