Kyle Larson’s Darlington stats highlight superiority over Chase Elliott & William Byron

Kyle Larson made a splash at the top of the driver standings for much of the season, a feat all the more impressive since he sat out the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte due to bad weather conditions. This year, each of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers snagged a playoff berth, yet Larson stood out by topping a critical stat among his teammates. He was just a hair away from Tyler Reddick, the points leader, almost winning the regular season championship title.

Nonetheless, Larson led the NASCAR Cup Series with four victories, ten top-5 finishes, and thirteen top-10s. Despite his strong showing all season, in the final regular-season race, Larson only managed to come in fourth after leading the highest 263 laps.

Comparing the stat with his HMS teammates, the number of laps Larson led at Darlington was more than the combined season total laps led by his teammates—Chase Elliott with 213 laps, William Byron with 259 laps, and Alex Bowman with just 14 laps.

Throughout the regular season, the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver amassed a staggering total of 1,089 laps led, making him the first driver in 2024 to break the 1,000 laps led threshold. The feat was highlighted by NASCAR enthusiast Trey Ryan on his official X handle:

"A pretty insane stat, but yes. Kyle Larson led 263 laps at Darlington which is more than his teammates have led in the 2024 season. Larson also became the first driver to surpass the 1,000 laps led mark in 2024."

Larson recently shared his thoughts on his approach to the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington.

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Kyle Larson explains his less aggressive approach at Darlington's decisive race

Kyle Larson in a post-race interview expressed mixed feelings about his performance, noting that while he was mindful of the points situation, he consciously chose not to push too hard.

The 32-year-old said (via NASCAR):

"I just wish I would have maybe executed the restart zone a little bit better there and maybe the rest of the race plays out differently. But I had the points on my mind knowing how close we were to Reddick and the great day we had going and the kind of average day he had going."

"I just didn't want to get overly aggressive and take myself out of it too. So, bummer that you know we came up a point short but we still got the owners side of it so that that's always good," the #5 Hendrick Motorsports driver added.

Despite not winning the final race of the regular season, Kyle Larson remains atop the standings, boasting more regular season wins than any other driver in the Cup Series.