Kyle Larson reacts to making NASCAR Championship 4, takes jab at Carson Hocevar after Martinsville

While Kyle Larson didn’t win the race, he was able to advance on points after the eliminations were made at Martinsville. William Byron, his teammate, did win, which opened up the door for Larson to be the last driver to advance on points over Christopher Bell. Now, two Hendrick cars are going to the Championship 4.

The Xfinity 500 was, really, a more old-school short track race than we have seen at Martinsville in recent years. Yes, Byron sat on the pole and led over 300 laps to win. That’s not uncommon at a track like Martinsville. And the 24 had to drive through the field at times as well.

Kyle Larson just beat Christopher Bell straight up. The two were separated by one point going into the race, with Bell having the minor advantage.

After the finish, Larson spoke about the race from his perspective. For a bit, it looked like he could win this race himself. But it wasn’t meant to be without long green flag runs.

“You know, a couple of times I just wanted it to stay green. Then, you know, the 77 [Carson Hocevar] was in like, every caution tonight,” Larson said, laughing. “I just, restarts, I felt good about my car on restarts, but you just never know how the aggression is going to pick up, and everybody’s ‘give a s**t’ factor goes out the window there. So, um, but we had good enough track position all day. We were kinda out of the, you know, mess, I guess. Yeah, that was good.”

This race featured a few Carson Hocevar spins. Kyle Larson wasn’t wrong about that part, and it did play a factor in why he wasn’t able to keep up with the leaders.

Kyle Larson credits William Byron for big win

During his post-race interview, Kyle Larson appeared to be rather happy. He advanced, his teammate advanced, and he has a chance to become a two-time Cup Series champion now.

“My HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast, our pit crew was on it all night, and what a performance by William,” Larson continued. “That’s awesome. I thought when the 12 gained control of the race, it was going to be really hard for anybody to beat him. But William did a great job on the restarts and just kept positioning himself and was good enough to get by him on that long run, and then, I was surprised on that restart there that the two tires were as good as they were. So, happy for him, happy for our team, happy for Hendrick Motorsports.

“You know, this went as good as it could have for us, for us to score more points than Christopher and then have William or Chase win, too. Glad we could give Mr. H an opportunity next week, and hopefully, you know, one of us can win it. But I’m proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, I feel like we’ve been just progressing so much through the playoffs, and to put two cars in the Championship 4 is awesome.”

Tonight, the Championship 4 was solidified. We know that it will be two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers and two Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. William Byron and Kyle Larson. That sounds like a showdown worth watching.

The current playoff format is likely done for after this year. At least, the single-race championship will be done away with, if not a pivot back to a 36-race championship season. But I can’t lie, the Championship 4 this year excites me.