NASCAR insider: Kyle Larson had ‘a perfect weekend’ at Kansas

There have been more than a few dominant performances by Kyle Larson in the NASCAR Cup Series circuit over the years. Few will top Saturday’s at Kansas.

Larson recorded a clean sweep of the points, taking home both stage wins, the overall win and the fastest lap point. It was a monster showing, one that propelled him to the top of the Cup Series standings.

It also left a pair of NASCAR insiders searching for the right words. It’s hard to do Larson’s win full justice.

“We need to give Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team their just due,” The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast. “When they’re on and they’re flawless, there’s just nobody that’s in their class. I mean Kyle Larson, we have to tip our cap: A perfect weekend.”

Bianchi broke down the sheer dominance. The facts of the matter are impossible to overlook.

“Started on the pole, led 221 laps of 267, won both stages. Even got the fastest lap point,” Bianchi said. “Max points, 61. I mean this was a complete butt-kicking by the 5 team. And even that one moment there where they got behind a little bit, there was no panic. We go about our business. (Cliff) Daniels comes on the radio like, ‘We got this, don’t worry about it.'”

There were a few conclusions Bianchi came to about Kyle Larson and his race following the event. Namely, when he’s on, he’s on.

“What this shows you is that when this team doesn’t make mistakes, when Larson doesn’t make mistakes, when the pit crew’s on their game, no one’s even close,” Bianchi said. “So I think that needs to be said. And I agree with you, this race wasn’t to the level that we want to see at Kansas. Now that bar we have to acknowledge is high, probably overly high, ridiculously so where it’s getting increasingly harder to meet that standard. Like that’s just not realistic.”

One reason the race wasn’t particularly close until things got hairy for Kyle Larson with a tire potentially going down on the last lap or two was that nobody proved capable of adequately applying pressure. There was too much fall-off from other drivers.

Bianchi discussed that with his co-host on the podcast, Jeff Gluck. The two pointed out that it was a perfect combination of Larson being dominant and others struggling.

“And your point about the other drivers falling out of the race is a good one, and I had it in my notes because (Brad) Keselowski, (Denny) Hamlin, William Byron, Chase Elliott, all at different times looked like they were in, looked like they were going to challenge Larson or at least had the opportunity to push him a little bit and for various reasons they fell off,” Bianchi said.

“If they don’t have their issues maybe we have a better ending. Maybe it’s closer at the end. Maybe Kyle Larson isn’t able to flip it and get it back. That’s on them, and it also speaks to Larson: On a day when a lot of people had issues, he didn’t.”