Forget the 303-point deficit to Denny Hamlin in a winless regular season, which saw him set the all-time record for longest win drought by a reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion.
The Kyle Larson and No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team we have seen over the past three weeks are the Larson and No. 5 team we have all come to expect.
And it's starting to feel a lot like it felt when Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team would hold something back during the regular season, only to tear it up during the postseason as they racked up championship after championship in the late 2000s.
There was always a chance that something like this would happen when NASCAR went back to the same "Chase" postseason format that Johnson used to win five straight titles from 2006 to 2010, before adding another in 2013.
For as much criticism as "win and in" got during its 12 years of usage from 2014 to 2025, the added element of randomness to the three-race postseason rounds prevented there from ever being a repeat champion.
Sure, Larson's 2025 title came under "win and in", so a 2026 title wouldn't be a repeat "Chase" title. But he didn't actually win a single postseason race in 2025. He wasn't necessarily at his best when it mattered most, but he was still better than everybody else when he needed to be. And for the full-season points enthusiasts, yes, despite the way the season ended, he led the series in total points over 36 races as well.
This year, he didn't need to be at his best during the regular season. Nobody wants to admit it, but the regular season is arguably less important now than it was during "win and in".
Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team saved their best for the postseason
For as much talk as there was about Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet being "behind" Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota during that regular season, does anybody really believe they just so happened to find something at the most opportune time possible?
Does anybody believe they were showing their hand in April and May when September and October are what really count – and with no more volatile three-race playoff rounds to worry about, no less?
At first, Larson's Gateway win was considered lightning in a bottle. Gateway is a unique 1.25-mile oval and the race featured 18 cautions. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, right?
The three-race stretch at 1.5-mile ovals, starting with Kansas Speedway this past Sunday, was supposed to be the true test, given just how much of an advantage JGR and Toyota, Hamlin in particular, had on such tracks during the regular season.
Yet Larson opened up that stretch by leading 235 of 267 laps at Kansas. He's now led more laps than anybody in 2026. And yes, he is a three-time winner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (all since 2021) and a past Coca-Cola 600 winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hamlin has won two races in a row at Las Vegas, and probably would have won May's Coke 600 had it not been shortened by rain. So these next two races could still go a long way toward deciding the championship.
But if Larson can do anything close to what he did on Sunday at Kansas over the next two weekends, there's a very real chance that he could end up locking up the championship even before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.
And there's no reason to believe he won't keep up his hot streak. Because for as much as the narrative has been that Toyota should have the advantage on these tracks, Larson proved at Kansas that when it matters most, he and the No. 5 team are really the ones to beat.
Let's not forget that this is driver who has historically excelled on 1.5-mile ovals during pretty much every stretch other than then 2026 regular season. That's a dangerous reality that the rest of the field, specifically JGR and Toyota, must deal with, especially since it's now Larson who sits 26 points ahead of Hamlin in the standings.
Live coverage of the South Point 400 is set to be provided by USA Network from Las Vegas Motor Speedway starting at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 4. Don't miss any of the action from the race that is set to mark the halfway point of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason!
Add us as a preferred source on Google