Kyle Larson enjoys an 'awkward' media day ahead of NASCAR finale and his shot at a 3rd title

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Kyle Larson’s championship media day at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Thursday could be summed up in one word: awkward.

Larson was the lone Cup Series “contender” on hand for the event. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, both technically still in the mix for the title, were excused. So Larson was alone on the stage, the first time that’s happened since NASCAR moved to a playoff format more than two decades ago.

“We’ve earned the right for it to be awkward,” Larson quipped. “I like awkwardness."

Larson holds a 67-point lead over Bell heading into the season finale at Homestead and needs only nine points to secure his second consecutive Cup title and third in six years. He will get one point for starting the race and could earn more based on where he finishes the opening stage.

Even if Larson struggles — unlikely considering he has two wins and six top-five finishes in 12 starts at the track — either Bell or Hamlin would need to accumulate significant points to catch him. The maximum points for a race is 76.

That kind of cushion has removed most of the drama from the finale, which returned to Homestead this season after six years in Phoenix. But Larson insisted he’s still feeling some pressure.

“Man, you’ve done such great work to this point to put yourself in position,” Larson said. “I would just hate for something crazy to happen, to eliminate all the work that we’ve gone to get ourselves in a great position to where you don’t have to score a ton of points.

“I think that’s the pressure. Like, man, don’t (screw) it up at this point.”

He expects those butterflies to end once he slides into his No. 5 Chevrolet, locks in and forgets about “what’s at stake.”

“I foresee my race looking like any other Homestead race for me: try to get to the front and manage the race from there,” he said. “Hopefully the first stage goes well and then you can really just race free after that. I still don’t think it’s going to change the approach of the race, but you can race with less worry at that point.”

Larson essentially could end up turning hundreds of “victory laps.”

He is trying to become the 11th driver in NASCAR history with three Cup titles, joining a list that includes seven-time champs Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson. Jeff Gordon has four. Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano have three.

“More people have walked on the moon than won three Cup championships,” retired driver and current NBC Sports race analyst Jeff Burton said.

Burton and his partners in the broadcast booth, Leigh Duffy and Dale Jarrett, plan to spend time comparing Larson to other drivers considered the best to ever step foot in a race car.

Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, and Stewart are widely regarded as racing royalty, guys who proved their worth by winning across various series.

Jones won in sprint cars and stock cars around the same time he won the 1963 Indianapolis 500. Andretti won four IndyCar titles, the 1967 Daytona 500 and the 1969 Indianapolis 500. Foyt won four Indy 500s and the 1972 Daytona 500. Stewart won the 1997 IndyCar championship, three Cup titles and is currently racing dragsters at the top level, the NHRA.

Larson raced twice at the Indy 500 and has won just about every dirt-racing event around the world.

“He’s a renaissance man," Duffy said.

Added Burton: “It’s so hard to compare drivers or athletes across different generations. Things are different than they were. ... Kyle Larson, I think he’s the best race-car driver in the world. He wins in everything he does, and they’re all completely different cars and tracks, and racing against the best in every discipline.”

Larson clinched his first two Cup championships in vastly different ways.

He dominated the 2021 season in his first year at Hendrick Motorsports, winning four of the last five races – including the finale at Phoenix Raceway – while still dealing with questions about how his time at Chip Ganassi Racing ended.

He pulled off a stunner last year at Phoenix, using a late caution and pit strategy to vault sentimental favorite Denny Hamlin — an outcome few, if anyone, saw coming.

“They all both equally memorable,” Larson said.

His third one might be the most unforgettable. He ranked 10th in the standings late this summer and carried a 50-race winless streak into the Chase. But then he got hot, winning three of the first nine playoff races and finishing in the top 10 a stunning eight times.

Justin Allgaier, a veteran driver who competes in the second-tier O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, called it “a generational run that I don't know if anyone will ever match again.”

“This one I’ll remember forever because of just the season that it was and the struggle that it was,” Larson said. “Hopefully there’s other championships down the road for us, and I think those will each mean something different. ... Hopefully we have more and we can keep comparing.”

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