The 2024 NASCAR season is 11 races old, but Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have already established themselves as championship favorites after finishing first and second, respectively, in the April 28 race at Dover.
Hamlin’s victory was his third of the season, tying him with William Byron for the most among all drivers. Denny now has 54 career Cup wins but is still searching for his first title.
Larson has led 570 laps this season, the most among all drivers. Right behind him with 535 is Hamlin, the only driver to have led laps in every race this season.
According to research from Racing Insights, Hamlin and Larson have finished first and second six times in the Cup series, with Hamlin winning all six times.
Though the stats might seem like an indictment of Larson, Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast that he uses Larson to measure himself. “I feel like we’ve been one-two a lot just week in, week out,” he said. “When I go to the racetrack, I look at the No. 5 car like, where’s he at on speed and how do I measure myself against that?”
“It just seems like we find ourselves together up front a lot. So this is going to be — there’s going to be a lot more one-twos in our future, for sure.”
In the four races where one of these drivers has won this season, the other has finished inside the top eight each time. Hamlin was eighth when Larson won at Las Vegas. In Hamlin’s three victories, Larson has finished fifth, third and second.
“I just know the pressure that it puts on me, because I know that he’s willing to take chances to reel me in.”
-Denny Hamlin tells @stephen_stumpf about racing with Kyle Larson for the win: #NASCAR
Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports have dominated this season, winning nine of the 11 races. The other two were superspeedway races, won by Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick. Ford has yet to visit victory lane, as these two organizations continue to crush the competition.
Kansas is the next race on the schedule, which is the place where Hamlin and Larson had their big feud last year. Denny got his nose to Kyle’s rear bumper, putting the No. 5 car into the outside wall. It was a win filled with controversy as boos were raining down from the grandstands. Both will likely reflect on that race this weekend, but they are also ready to move on.
Race Leader Air Blocking
Sunday’s race was a much cleaner victory for Hamlin, but it still involved a hot topic: air blocking.
Hamlin took away Larson’s air to hold him off in the closing laps, a strategy that is nothing new. Drivers are beginning to use this method more and more throughout the race — especially at the end. Larson acknowledged it afterward on pit road but did not accuse Hamlin of any wrongdoing.
“Aero blocking didn’t just get invented this week.” 📹
It was Larson who did the same thing to Reddick at Vegas to get his win. The debate now is about eradicating air blocking — if it truly is a problem. Larson suggested taking the rear view cameras out of the cars, but Hamlin suggested that some drivers don’t even use them.
The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck called air blocking a “required tool any winning driver must use.” But at least one driver, Kyle Busch, did call it a problem.
“The aero blocking is just so bad,” Busch said, according to FrontStretch.com. “It’s so bad and everybody knows it and uses it as a defense item.
“We lost a straightaway to [Martin Truex Jr.]. That’s what frustrated me the most is — he was slower,” Busch said. “He was slow and just would not give me an inch in order to be able to get by. I about wrecked us twice off of [turn] 2.”
Kevin Harvick Is In for Kyle Larson
Larson is about to embark upon the busiest month of his career as he tackles the Indy 500 on May 26. In preparation for that, a lot of practice and qualifying will take precedence in his schedule. To make this happen, he will need to be in Indianapolis during NASCAR All-Star week at North Wilkesboro.
The solution was unveiled in a surprise announcement before the race at Dover when Larson named the substitution driver. Kevin Harvick will strap his helmet back on and drive the No. 5 Chevrolet in practice and qualifying. It is the perfect choice, as Harvick has a lot of experience with this current gen car, and he can provide more to the viewing audience as the Fox Sports commentator for the actual race.
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Unique Rivalry Molds Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson as Championship Favorites