Kyle Larson is keeping a close eye on the NASCAR Cup Series point standings as more rivals enter the picture for the regular-season championship.
“Absolutely, I pay attention to it every week, and I would imagine everybody probably does — even the guys that say they don’t,” Larson said at Pocono Raceway. “I pay attention to it a lot.”
Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team lead the championship standings. He has an 11-point advantage on teammate Chase Elliott going into Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA), and this is despite Larson having competed in one less race than the competition because he did not start and earn points in the Coca-Cola 600.
There are seven drivers less than 100 points behind him in the point standings. Christopher Bell is eighth, 85 points back.
A driver can earn a maximum of 60 points in a race. There are six races left in the regular season before NASCAR awards 15 playoff points to the regular-season champion.
“I feel like all of us probably feel like we’ve missed out on opportunities to either gain points…especially here lately for us,” Larson continued. “Iowa and then Chicago — if I could have those two races back and be a little bit more conservative, I would probably have a 60-point lead right now.
“That’s frustrating on my end, but we have six races left, so we just have to get back to those consistent runs and hopefully that’s enough to get those 15 bonus points.”
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The ever-changing landscape in the point standings doesn’t surprise him. He, like many of his peers, has found that competition in the Next Gen era is more inconsistent than in years past. In other words, it’s far easier now to see teams be hot one week, cold the next, and back and forth.
As such, when Larson looks at the standings as much as he does, some drivers stand out. One, lately, has been Tyler Reddick, who now sits third.
“He has surprised me where he’s at currently because I feel like he’s just been quiet, which is odd for Tyler Reddick…” Larson said. “I was surprised [because] before Chicago, I looked and was like, ‘Man, he’s actually within range.’ I’ve just been so focused the last four or five weeks on the No. 9 (Elliott) and the No. 11 (Denny), and then it was like, ‘Wow, he could easily steal this thing.’
“I think you’ve seen some inconsistent runs from myself, the No. 11, the No. 9 here lately with different issues at the end of the races where Tyler has been kind of quietly up there and finished [well] the last couple of weeks. Runs like that really help. We just have to continue getting good stage points, which we’ve done a really good job at, but then get back to finishing races.”
Larson leads the points and the series in laps led (754) and is tied with Reddick for the most top-five finishes in the series (eight). Reddick leads the series in top 10 finishes (13).
Bell leads the series in playoff points (24). Elliott leads the series in average finish (10.6).