Autosport Top 50 of 2024: #16 Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson had one of many strongest seasons within the NASCAR Cup area, successful a series-leading six races.

He almost gained the common season title regardless of lacking a race whereas making his Indianapolis 500 debut and secured a NASCAR crown jewel at Indy later within the 12 months by winning the Brickyard 400. However his most spectacular victory got here at Bristol, the place Larson led 462 of 500 laps within the iconic quick monitor’s most dominant exhibiting since 1977.

But on this risky playoff format, he nonetheless missed out on the Championship 4 and needed to accept sixth within the last standings. 

Why Larson’s season was higher than outcomes point out 

Kyle Larson’s place of sixth within the 2024 standings does not inform the story of the 12 months he actually had.

The 32-year-old was a relentless menace with wins on intermediate tracks, quick ovals, highway programs, and the two.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Each week, the entire area knew that they might doubtless must cope with his #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. 

However though his season was championship-level, when going through a knockout-style format, that does not at all times equate to a title. That explains why he’s behind Joey Logano in this year’s list. 

Larson led 1700 laps, besting each different driver within the area by that metric. His tally of wins wasn’t eclipsed by anyone else both, and that’s even with out contemplating what number of different potential victories slipped via his fingers because of incidents or circumstances exterior of his management.  

That he missed out on the common season title by a single level owed a lot to lacking NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, because of climate delays in Indianapolis. A pitlane speeding penalty that limited him to 18th in the Indy 500 was a disappointment, however after qualifying a surprising fifth on his open-wheel debut, rookie of the 12 months honours had been deserved. 

Having secured passage to the playoffs by successful in Las Vegas, Larson emerged ahead in NASCAR’s closest-ever finish when he slammed doorways with Chris Buescher at Kansas, crossing the road simply 0.001s forward.

Conquering the recently-revived Brickyard 400, again for the primary time since 2020, was adopted by a road course success at Sonoma that solely underlined his versatility. 

As soon as the playoffs commenced, he gained the elimination races for the Spherical of 16 (with the most important margin of victory at Bristol in three many years) and 12 (on the at all times tough Charlotte Roval), guaranteeing his development. However sadly for Larson, he got here two positions shy of repeating that within the crucial Spherical of 8 and finally missed out on a shot on the title in Phoenix.  

However a driver who at Bristol put collectively simply essentially the most dominant efficiency by anybody within the final 5 years had already confirmed his level. 

Larson might contemplate himself unfortunate that he did not arrive on the last race with an opportunity to win a second NASCAR Cup title after such a robust season

Photograph by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Photographs