Title before the finale? Why a Kyle Larson clinch at Martinsville would be NASCAR’s first since 2003

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson got the perfect opportunity to make NASCAR racing history on Sunday by winning the championship at Martinsville.

Title before the finale? Why a Kyle Larson clinch at Martinsville would be NASCAR’s first since 2003

Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels (Via charlotteobserver.com)

The NASCAR Cup Series chase races this Sunday at Martinsville might witnessed history, as Kyle Larson has the opportunity to clinch the Bill France Cup even before the finale at Homestead Miami. The reigning champion was able to secure a massive 73 points lead after his impressive comeback with last Sunday at Talladega.

All three of his major rivals, the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe are 70+ points behind the star driver. They have to outscore the two times champion significantly to remain in the contention for the tile. The No:5 Hendrick Motorsports team can win the title if the can secure more than 59 points in the week, regardless of rival’s results.

If he wins’ it would be NASCAR history has no other driver has won the title before the finale in more than two decades. The last driver to do so was the Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth in 2003, who ironically was also the last champion under the full-season points format. Hence, the veteran can also become the first driver in the chase era to win the title with a race to spare.

In his one only championship season, Kenseth was unstoppable. His earned the title with his supreme consistency, not race wins, as he had just one victory to his name. 11 top-5s, 25 top-10s and an average finish of 10.25 helped him to win the milestone trophy. What’s more remarkable is the fact that the veteran led the title race from week-4 till the end.

Kyle Larson on the other hand wasn’t as consistent, as he struggled a lot in the regular season before founding his footing in the chase, that saw him secure three wins in last eight races of the round. He had found DNFs and the worst average finish of P14.7. His 2021 championship run that saw him win 10 races was more dominant.

In the modern era, only two NASCAR driver including Kenseth has won the championship before the season finale. The first one to do it was Dale Jarrett back in 1999. The likes of Bill Rexford in 1950, Ned Jarrett in 1961 and Benny Parsons in 1973 were the ones to secure the Cup title before the season finale in the pre-modern era.

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Kyle Larson doesn’t think the title chase is over yet

Though many in the community expect Larson to secure the title, the veteran is keeping himself grounded. In his pre-race media session, he asserted that he doesn’t anticipate clinching anything this week and is focused on securing a solid finish good enough to place him in a secure spot for the finale.

Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson (Via imago)

Yeah, obviously there’s some really good drivers here, so I don’t anticipate clinching anything. I just want to just have a good day and not give up too much before next week.

Kyle Larson said during his media availability.

Further in the same conversation, he highlighted how he is going to approach the weekend. The No:5 team is going to use the same tactic as the previous weekends to make sure they have a solid race weekend.

Just continuing to sort of do what we’ve been doing here throughout the Chase, being at a really good level and having a solid day, really, from start to finish.

Kyle Larson added.

The comments from the champion driver show he has the perfect attitude towards the potentially championship determining race this week at Martinsville. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver next week.

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