'Bummed' Kyle Larson assures he's 'still in it for the owner’s championship' heading into NASCAR Las Vegas race

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson dominated the field with his 10 runaway victories last season, a feat which carried him to his first championship trophy. Right after recovering from a forced sabbatical from the sport, Larson's return was seen as one of the, if not the most impressive ones in the sport to date.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver was aware a season like 2021 would be hard to follow up coming into this year. The Elk Grove, California native, however, certainly did not expect total elimination from contending for the ultimate prize.

Last Sunday's Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway saw the #5 hendrickcars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver make an uncharacteristic mistake on the track. A resulting broken toe-link and subsequent repairs meant he fell back several laps, unable to qualify for the Round of 8 in the playoffs. After admitting publicly to his mistake and citing himself as the reason for his crew's elimination from Round of 8, Kyle Larson was downbeat, to say the least.

Coming into the first Round of 8 race this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, however, the 30-year-old looked in better spirits with hopes of clinching the owners' championship. He said:

“I’m definitely bummed (to not be in Round of 8 for the driver championship), but we’re still in it for the owner’s championship. I feel Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) and Homestead (Miami-Speedway) are really good tracks for me and this No. 5 HendrickCars.com team. We’re going to work hard these next three races to hopefully contend for the owner’s title in Phoenix.”

Watch Kyle Larson take on the 1.5-mile-long Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday at 2:30 pm ET.

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Kyle Larson's crew chief elaborates on his team's goals going forward

Cliff Daniels, the crew chief for Kyle Larson, and the #5 crew at Hendrick Motorsports elaborated on what the team's goals are going into the first Round of 8 race this Sunday. As the team is still in contention for the owners' championship, Daniels elaborated on how the goal was to win races going forward and said:

“Our focus right now is certainly to maximize every week. Disappointed to be out of the driver championship hunt but our objective is always to maximize points and go for race wins. Having the opportunity still to compete for the owner’s championship is a big deal for us. So, a lot of motivation to go to try and get our car in the Championship 4 for the owner standings in Phoenix and still be able to compete for a championship.”

NASCAR will go live from Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday for South Point 400 at 2:30 pm ET.