NASCAR Insider circles out turning point for Kyle Larson in 2025: "Since then they have not run as well"

Kyle Larson had a tough start to his playoff campaign as he finished the race at Darlington in 19th place. This ensured Larson went to third place in the playoff standings with a +38 advantage.

The subject of the Hendrick Motorsports driver's playoff campaign and his teammate, Chase Elliott, was discussed on the latest episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast. Elliott finished outside of the top 15 at Darlington as well, in 17th place. He's currently ranked 11th with a +9 advantage.

As the subject of 'playoff driver panic level' was brought forward, the show's co-host Tommy Baldwin said about Elliott:

"I think the #9 is close to struggling, man. I just I don't know, man. We'll see." [47:27 onwards]

Baldwin further spoke about Kyle Larson, reiterating his point about the 2021 Cup champion losing his groove since his second Double attempt earlier this season.

"The #5 car is going to be the one everybody's going to watch because I keep saying it, ever since the Indy 500, they have not done much. Since he started driving that IndyCar, and I don't know what's happened. I'm not saying it's coincidence, but since then they have not run as well," Baldwin described [47:30 onwards].

It's worth mentioning that ever since his Indy 500-Coke 600 attempt, Kyle Larson has had only three top 5 finishes. Comparing that to his pre-Double numbers, he had five finishes inside the top 5 and three wins to his name.

Moreover, Larson ended his regular season with two finishes outside the top 20 at Iowa and Watkins Glen and two top 10s at Richmond and Daytona.

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Kyle Larson claimed the #5 team is stronger than ever heading into the playoffs

Ahead of the playoffs, Kyle Larson had commented on the state of the #5 team and their mindset as he pursues his second Cup title. Larson claimed that at times, he also feels lost about where his team is, as they were really fast at one point, but then 'plummeted' and got slow.

But then they got fast again and had some 'misfortune along the way'. Having said that, Kyle Larson insisted that the #5 team was stronger heading into the playoffs than they were when they were winning. Larson's three wins this year all came within a span of seven races, from Homestead to Kansas.

Apart from the three wins in those seven races, he also finished three times inside the top 5. Further talking about his team, Larson added:

"I believe just on the stuff of just being battle tested in the garage area, fixing things or trying to dig and make your car better. I just think we're much tougher and well prepared for the playoffs because of the dip in our season throughout the summer."

With that said, it'll be interesting to see if Kyle Larson and the #5 team bounce back in the upcoming playoff races to contend for the Cup championship.