NASCAR's return to the Chase for the Cup postseason format isn't pleasing everybody, and for the full-season points absolutist portion of the fandom, it never will. But it cannot be denied that it is a massive upgrade over what we had the previous 12 years.
And Kyle Larson is proving the number one reason why.
Larson has gone scorched earth over the course of the fall months. Aside from one blemish at Phoenix Raceway, he's been next to perfect, and his thrilling last-lap theft at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday has now all but sealed his third Cup championship.
It's the type of run legacies are defined by. And we haven't been able to see anything like it in a long time.
Kyle Larson is bringing back the true clutch factor of the Cup Series championship
NASCAR tried to be like the NFL with its playoff format. Only, the difference is that in the NFL, you have to be great every week in the playoffs. When a quarterback puts together some heroic Super Bowl run, it's about so much more than just the Super Bowl itself.
Even in other pro sports, a team has to win four times out of seven in a round to advance. But NASCAR decided you only had to win once per round, and drivers like Joey Logano exploited that. How much real playoff magic was there to the Team Penske star's three championships, and how much was just sporadic bursts at opportune moments?
The number of times during the playoff era that a driver was rewarded for truly leveling up at the end of a season were few and far between. Chase Elliott in 2020 and Kevin Harvick in 2014 both going out with back-to-back wins come to mind. Other than that, most titles involved some level of luck, or were won by someone who had done the bare minimum to squeak into the championship round.
The Chase gives us the happy medium. You have to be at your best when it counts the most, which you don't under a full-season format. But you also can't just get lucky, especially with the added winner's bonus points NASCAR instituted this season.
In both of Larson's previous title years, he got lucky. Yes, even in 2021, when he capped off arguably the greatest season the Cup Series has seen this century. Had it not been for a late shakeup on pit road, Martin Truex Jr. was going to win that championship.
Even without leading the full-season standings, this title, if it stands, feels like it means more for Larson's legacy than either of his previous two did, because he has had to be nails every single week down the stretch. He's given us so many championship-defining moments, from his late-race pass on Chase Briscoe at Kansas Speedway, to his something-out-of-nothing performance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to now his emphatic statement at Talladega.
NASCAR wanted to create Game 7 moments with the playoffs. But all along, the Chase is a much better format for capturing the type of clutch performance to end a season that the greats are remembered for.
And where Larson is concerned, he's two weeks away from undeniable immortality.
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