Kevin Harvick rejects claims that Kyle Larson is a better racer than Willaim Byron at HMS
Kyle Larson and William Byron have been two of the most consistent drivers in the Next-Gen era.
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William Byron, Kevin Harvick (In Circle) and Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO)
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is considered by many as the most talented deriver of his generation. He has proven he deserves the title by wining the Cup title in 2020 with a 10-race win season. Larson has been able to establish himself not just as the top driver at HMS with this performance, but now the No:24 Chevy driver of Rick Hendrick, Willaim Byron is in the same level as Larson in terms of performance.
There are still a lot of people in the NASCAR community that doesn’t see Willaim Byron as a driver on the same level as Kyle Larson. 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick has addressed these group of fans with the data from last two season’s and has rejected these claims. He asserted via his podcast that over the last two years Byron has more wins and similar top-5s and top-10s as Larson and the duo has been verry close based on performance.
OK, so right off the bat, everybody thinks Kyle Larson is head over heels better than his teammates. He’s won more races, he’s got more top 10s, he’s — I guess not even close, right? Wrong. So, they have the same amount of starts, they have the same amount of poles over those 78 races. William Byron has won 10 races, and Kyle Larson has won eight. Seconds you know, they’re close. Top 5s, they’re close. Top 10s, they’re close.Kevin Harvick said on Happy Hour podcast.
The duo has been arguably the best drivers in Chevy and HMS, as they have already secured playoff berth by winning races. Larson has won once, while Byron has two wins. The latter has been the first driver to secure multiple Cup race wins in the all of the three season’s in the Next-Gen era and has been more clean on the track compared his experienced teammate.
Kevin Harvick shows the difference in Kyle Larson and Willaim Byron’s racing style with DNF data
Harvick then went on to discuss the number of DNF both drivers had in the last two season and it shows the huge difference in their racing style. Larson has almost twice the number of DNFs as Byron, showing the risk-taking nature of the No:5 Chevy driver compared to his young teammate who prefer more less risker paths which needs more patience to succeed.
DNFs, this is where the debate really started for me. Kyle Larson has 16 DNFs, and William Byron has nine. Lead lap finishes, William Byron has 63, Kyle Larson has 56. So, the thing that I wanted to point out, they’re both great. But they’re both very different.Kevin Harvick said.
In terms of pure pace, Larson is the better driver of the two, but Byron gives the team more assurance and consistency with his racing style. Right now the duo is among the most valued driver in the garage and they are the ones HMS should never look offload if they find themselves in a tough situation.
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Justin P Joy
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