“As strong of an eight as we’ve seen” - Kyle Larson’s crew chief extremely clear about the Round of 8 lineup after "wild card" battles

NASCAR driver Kyle Larson's crew chief Cliff Daniels recently gave his take on the contenders in the Round of 8 in the 2024 Cup Series playoffs. Larson advanced to the Round of 8 following a dominating victory at the newly repaved and reconfigured Charlotte ROVAL.

The Round of 8 contenders for this year's Cup Series playoffs has 4 former champions, with Larson leading the pack. He is joined by two more HMS drivers, Chase Elliott, and William Byron, in the running for the title. Commenting on the competition in the Round of 8, the #5 team's crew chief Daniels said (via SiriusXM),

"The first 2 rounds, just with all of the wild card track types that were in there, there was just a lot of chaos. And it was really hard to have a good feel for who was where in you know the playoff hunt. And now that it's this 8, that it is, that's a very strong field[...]I think it's as strong of an eight sas we've seen and I think going into the next 3 races, that's where you'll see, you know, kind of where everybody stacks up,"

"Hopefully the next 3 weeks is you know, less chaos, and all the teams that are, you know, in the 8 can show what we're all made of. And I look forward to racing all those guys, have a lot of respect for all the teams that have made it, and yeah, its certainly going to be tough."

The only HMS driver to not make it into the playoffs was Alex Bowman, who initially advanced to the round of 8. However, after failing a post-race inspection, Bowman's #48 Ally Chevy was disqualified, allowing Team Penske's Joey Logano to take his place.

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series, has earned 47 victories, with 29 in the Cup Series. In 2021, Larson dominated by sweeping both the regular season and Cup Series championships. As the playoffs progress this year, he remains a strong contender to repeat his success. The California native is known for his versatile driving style and is widely regarded as one of NASCAR's top talents.

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Kyle Larson comments on replicating Tony Stewart's 2011 Cup Series championship feat

Following his dominant victory at the Charlotte ROVAL, Kyle Lason spoke about the possibility of replicating the NASCAR playoffs record held by former champion Tony Stewart.

Stewart secured a win in five of ten playoff races in the 2011 Cup Series campaign, winning his third and final title before his retirement. In a post-race interview at Charlotte, Kyle Larson responded to a question about his thoughts on breaking Stewart's record. He said (via Cup Scene),

"I don’t know. I would like to have three at this point because I feel like maybe you could win a couple more, but yeah, it’s really tough. I think in the Next Gen era, it’s just harder to win races in general. Yes, we’ve won six races this year, which is great, but yeah, it’s just hard to execute Next Gen races. They’re just wild and all that" [28:30].

It will be interesting to see if Kyle Larson can increase his wins tally at Las Vegas. Fans can follow the next race on NASCAR's calendar on October 20 at 2:30 PM ET, on NBC Sports, PRN Live, and via SiriusXM NASCAR.