Three Takeaways: Kyle Larson is back, Stewart-Haas struggles at Las Vegas
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR reporter
LAS VEGAS – Kyle Larson didn’t race in the NASCAR Cup Series for nearly a year, but his performance has not shown any impact from the layoff.
Larson, suspended from NASCAR and fired from Chip Ganassi Racing in April 2020 after using a racial slur on what he thought was a private chat while participating in an online racing event, won in just his fourth race for Hendrick Motorsports, as he captured the Pennzoil 400 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
While Larson had been out of a Cup car for the final 32 races of 2020, he spent the remainder of 2020 competing in sprint cars and winning dozens of races. He returned to the elite stock-car circuit this season, driving for an organization that has won 13 Cup titles.
In two of the first three races in 2021, Larson finished in the top-10, including a fourth-place finish last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He was clearly the best car Sunday, as he led a race-high 103 of the 267 laps, including 50 of the final 62.
"I was in positions to win races more so than any other race car driver in the world last year," Larson said. "You learn from all those moments. I feel I’m a much stronger racer today mentally than I was early last year."
Here are three takeaways from the Cup race Sunday:
1. Four races, three new playoff drivers
Larson became the third driver who didn’t make the playoffs last year to win this year, joining Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell on that list.
The playoffs consist of 16 drivers, so if there are more winners than spots in the playoffs, it could come down to points. But for the moment, there will be three drivers who didn’t make the playoffs last year who won’t make it this year.
Clint Bowyer is the only one of the drivers who made the playoffs last year who isn’t competing this season. With these new 2021 winners, it could make it a battle for only a couple of spots on points at the most, as drivers try to return to the playoffs.
So when a driver such as Joey Logano says he had a ninth-place car on Sunday, he isn’t sure if that will be good enough to make the playoffs.
"We were good at the road course – not winning but decent," said Logano, currently a "comfortable" sixth in the standings. "Superspeedways, we’re close. We can win one of those at any point and we’ll see where we are at [the 1-mile next week at] Phoenix.
"It’s safe to say that our mile-and-a-half stuff [for Vegas-type tracks] needs a little work. ... That smaller spoiler, less downforce seems to fit our car a little bit better. We’ll see if that’s true when we get to Phoenix."
In the biggest move in the standings, Ryan Blaney, who finished fifth, jumped nine spots in the standings from 24th to 15th.
2. Stewart-Haas struggles
Stewart-Haas Racing employees and drivers have to be scratching their heads after a rough day. Kevin Harvick started on the pole but was never a factor, complaining about a tight race car and finishing 20th.
And that was the best of all the SHR drivers, who all finished at least one lap down. Chase Briscoe finished 21st, Cole Custer was 25th, and Aric Almirola crashed and finished last in 38th.
With less than 40 laps remaining, Harvick summed up his day on the team radio:
"This thing is out of control," he said.
3. Kyle Busch rebounds
Kyle Busch rebounded in a race where he struggled early, especially on restarts, to finish third.
While he isn’t thrilled when he doesn’t win, Busch could see a bright side with that third-place finish as he and new crew chief Ben Beshore continue to learn each other in their handling Cup races, especially without practice and qualifying.
Busch said "overall our speed was a little off" and he wasn’t going to be able keep up with Larson nor second-place Brad Keselowski.
"He was making good adjustments all day," Busch said. "It seemed like the first two or three of them kind of didn’t do anything but then we just started taking swings. ... Last week, we were on the simulator for Homestead and the same thing this week for Vegas and it’s just not correlating close enough for us.
"If we can get that better and get that closer, I think there is something there."
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass.
