Kyle Larson overshadows Denny Hamlin’s 100-race stat in the NextGen era

Kyle Larson, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, has surpassed Joe Gibbs Racing team driver Denny Hamlin. NASCAR is an evolving sport, and since the introduction of Next-Gen cars in 2022, things have been changing rapidly, new records are being made, and one such record is now under Larson's belt.

Trey Ryan shared an X post, featuring the top 10 drivers with the most top-five finishes in the last 100 races. Larson, the 2021 Cup Series Champion, overshadowed Denny Hamlin, a two-decade veteran in NASCAR, and now sits at the top of the list.

Larson has 38 top-five finishes in the past few years in the Cup series. Hamlin is now five races behind Larson with a total of 33 top 5s in his past 100 races. This season, Larson has 10 top-five finishes and four wins in just 27 races. On the other hand, the Joe Gibbs Racing team driver has nine top-5 finishes and three wins in 28 races.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver is leading Hamlin on the points table. Larson is in ninth place with a total of 2069 points, and he is just 20 points behind the leader. However, things are a bit tight for the Joe Gibbs Racing team driver; he is in 13th place with 2043 points. He is 46 points behind the leader and 26 points behind the former Cup Series Champion.

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Kyle Larson's road to the playoffs

The Hendrick Motorsports driver is in the top 16 drivers of the 2024 playoff phase of the Cup Series. He is currently in ninth place in the playoff standings with 25 points after two races. Larson didn't have a satisfactory start in the playoff phase with a DNF on the Atlanta Motor Speedway track.

The #5 driver began the race in sixth place and competed in the top five cars on the track. However, during the 56th lap, things changed, and Larson's car snapped, sending him into the wall and involving Chase Briscoe in the crash. This resulted in Larson ending the race in 37th position with just one point.

Things didn't change much even in the second playoff race at Watkins Glen International track held on 15 September. The #5 driver qualified for the race in 20th position with a best time of 72.704 seconds. In Stage 1, he managed to move up 12 places and ended the stage in eighth place, earning three points.

However, things changed once again in the next stage, and Larson fell back to the 27th position by the end of stage 2. Yet before the race ended, Larson managed to climb back up to 12th place, securing 28 points. He has some promising records at the Bristol Motor Speedway; it'll be intriguing to see him race next Sunday.