NASCAR: Kyle Larson pulls off feat last achieved by Dale Earnhardt

You have to go back to the 1987 NASCAR Cup Series season to find the last time somebody pulled off what Kyle Larson pulled off on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson continued his 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoff rampage with his series-leading ninth win of the year (nobody else has more than four) and fourth win of the postseason (nobody else has more than two) in the middle race of the round of 8 at Kansas Speedway.

It has been three weeks since Larson last failed to win a race, and that happened in a rain-shortened outing at Talladega Superspeedway when Bubba Wallace was declared the victor.

Larson went on to win the round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval before securing a win at Texas Motor Speedway to lock himself into the Championship 4 as well as an emotional victory for team owner Rick Hendrick at Kansas Speedway.

So the driver of the #5 Chevrolet is set to enter the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway on a three-race winning streak.

This streak comes just four months after another three-race win streak was pulled off by the 29-year-old Elk Grove, California native.

He won at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway back in late spring (May/June), and he would have won at Pocono Raceway to earn the first four-race winning streak for any driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 if not for a tire going flat on him in the final turn on the final lap.

But what Larson achieved by winning for a third week in a row this past Sunday may be even bigger than what that previous streak could have been.

Not since the 1987 season has a driver won three races in a row more than once in a season, and the last time that was pulled off, it was pulled off by the late, great Dale Earnhardt.

En route to the third of his seven championships, Earnhardt reeled off four consecutive victories at Darlington Raceway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway early in the year before reeling off three consecutive wins at Bristol Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Richmond Raceway later in the year.

Of note, all of Larson’s wins have come at different tracks, something that was not the case for Earnhardt.

This is a feat that not even Johnson or Jeff Gordon pulled off during their time at Hendrick Motorsports, and Larson isn’t even a full season into his time with the team yet.

Of course, both Gordon and Johnson reeled off winning streaks of four races during their time there, something that Larson has not yet done, and both won quite a few championships for Hendrick’s team.

Larson is aiming to win his first career title in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 7, and he is aiming to earn his fourth straight win for the first time in his career in the round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday, October 31.