"Be as tunnel-visioned as humanly possible": Kyle Larson's crew chief downplays competition from Denny Hamlin and others in Round of 8

After Kyle Larson took his 6th win of the season at the ROVAL, his crew chief was asked for a forecast, going ahead in the playoffs. Despite Larson being the only repeat driver in the playoffs and the one with the most wins this season, his competition in the next three races includes some of the biggest names in NASCAR.

Drivers like Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell, are all part of the driver competing for a spot in the final 4. Keeping this in mind, #5 Chevrolet Camaro crew chief Cliff Daniels was asked in a post-race press conference after ROVAL about his mindset heading into the Round of 8.

The crew chief claimed that he has 'a very strong amount of respect' for all the teams and drivers still in the playoffs. Daniels further credited his rivals by adding that they've all earned their way to where they are.

However, he ruled out seeing any of them as his and Kyle Larson's biggest competition.

"I think our No. 1 competitor is ourselves, and I think if we do the things that we need to do, our team can execute. Kyle has been done an amazing job, the pit crew, everybody in the shop. Yes, the competition is going to be there. I think our mission is going to be probably to be as tunnel-visioned as humanly possible to stay on our path and execute the things that we need to," Daniels claimed.

What is Cliff Daniels' strategy for Kyle Larson entering the Round of 8?

Kyle Larson has been part of the Round of 8 in the playoffs for three, out of the four seasons he's been at since he joined Hendrick Motorsports. In all those three seasons, he has opened his Round of 8 with a win.

In his first season with HMS, Larson won at Texas, which was preceded by a win at the ROVAL. And in 2023, the #5 driver won the opening race of the Round of 8 at Las Vegas.

Despite the history and these trends, Daniels emphasized that the opening race of each of this season's playoff rounds hasn't been kind to the #5 team. And because of that, they need to approach Las Vegas with something extra.

"We want to go to Vegas with a lot of confidence just in our recent run there. We’re going to have a healthy amount of respect for that race and really for all of them. Yes, we look forward to them and think we have a good opportunity ahead of us, but it’s going to take the little details to get it right and make sure of where we need to be," Daniels described.

With that said, it'll be interesting to see how Kyle Larson fares at Las Vegas. It's worth mentioning that he won at the racetrack earlier this year.