Kyle Larson overcame a spin to win the NASCAR Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway a few weeks ago, allowing him to check off the first of three boxes as he attempted to become just the second driver in NASCAR history to sweep a weekend tripleheader.
He then dominated the Xfinity Series race, opening up a 16-second lead before a late Taylor Gray spin set up an overtime restart. Contact with Sam Mayer on the restart dropped Larson down the order, and he could only finish in fourth place.
Then Larson won the Cup Series race, meaning that if not for Gray's spin and Mayer's contact, he would have become the first driver to sweep a weekend tripleheader since Kyle Busch pulled it off for a second time at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2017.
The irony of Kyle Larson's tripleheader attempts coming up short
Larson's tripleheader attempt at Bristol this past weekend never truly got off the ground, as he could only rally to second place after a pit road speeding penalty in the Truck Series race.
He proceeded to dominate both the Xfinity Series race and the Cup Series race, once again making him two for three over the course of a weekend.
The irony of it all is that, on paper, the Cup races should have been the hardest races for Larson to win. Yet it was the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series which derailed him from joining Busch on a list that includes Busch's name, and only Busch's name, twice (2010 and 2017).
Whenever a seasoned Cup veteran races top-tier equipment at a lower level, he is considered to be one of the favorites, and when it's Larson, you can probably expect him to dominate. That was indeed the case across his four Truck Series and Xfinity Series starts with Spire Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports, respectively.
Yet he only converted two of those four efforts into wins, and by the time he took care of business on the Cup side, it was already too late.
Larson does not have any more starts scheduled for the Truck Series or the Xfinity Series later this year, though he is technically allowed to compete in as many as five races in each, and there are still races for which Spire Motorsports need a driver in the Truck Series and Hendrick Motorsports need a driver in the Xfinity Series. Is a tripleheader sweep still in play for the 2021 Cup Series champion this year?