Kyle Larson Has Heck Of Week

By ESPN

Kyle Larson had another heck of a week.

If driving fast sprint cars and stock cars in a week wasn't enough, Larson had a little extra drama that culminated with a second-place finish Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.

Larson won three of his four sprint car races in Pennsylvania earlier in the week, something that either delighted or frustrated the sprint car fans. Many in that area have fierce loyalty to their home-state drivers and not as much love for the California-born Larson.

But Larson also stepped into the quagmire of the NASCAR merchandise business when he noted he'd make more money selling merchandise at the dirt tracks. He then followed it up implying that what he makes selling merchandise at a hauler signing at the track is not worth his time with other entities making more of the profits.

So if Larson thought he was hated by some sprint car fans earlier in the week, he earned the ire of some NASCAR fans on social media for what could be considered somewhat tone-deaf comments. And then his car never made it through prequalifying tech, which some saw as justice for what they perceived of his attitude.

What a week.

"Went to Pennsylvania, where I haven't ran good in the past and was able to get three wins out of four nights, which was really, really cool -- something I'm extremely proud of," Larson said. "Then the social media stuff, that was kind of a bummer because I didn't intend for my comments to get taken that way.

"But after I had read it, I understood the mistake I had made in wording it."

Larson stressed he wasn't saying he won't sign autographs.

"I should have worded it a lot different because I love my fans, and there's not very many other people out there that are as personable as me, fan friendly, open to signing autographs as me," Larson said. "My tweet didn't come across right, so hopefully they forgive me someday."

If they love pure racers, they probably will get over it. Not only did he finish second Saturday at Kentucky, he did so coming from the back twice. His team failed prequalifying inspection and he never made a qualifying lap, so he started 40th. A speeding penalty early in the race relegated him to the back after the first stage, and he drove right back through the field again.

The inspection issues -- Larson's was the last car to pass prerace inspection -- could result in harsher penalties, including the team losing a set of tires for a race.

Larson will continue to not worry about those inspection issues and said he believes in crew chief Chad Johnston.

"I like that Chad and them pushed the limits and all that," Larson said. "I don't really know how the tech process works, and I don't know what we get in trouble with. I don't really pay attention to that stuff.

"If they took tires away, that would be a huge penalty, so you're going to have to clean it up a little bit to try and pass tech earlier than the fourth or fifth time you go through. But ... I like the dedication that our team has to try and push the limit, and I think it shows on the race track."

It does. Larson currently leads the NASCAR standings by one point over Martin Truex Jr.
Xfinity Series: In search of ... playoff points

With NASCAR Cup drivers winning the stages and the race, that meant no playoff points to any of the Xfinity regulars vying for the championship.

There have been 16 races -- meaning 32 stages -- and only 11 of those stages and four races have been won by Xfinity regulars. So while playoff points are available each week, it also means that the regular-season standings could mean much more as playoff points will be distributed to the top-10 on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale.

Justin Allgaier ranks second in playoff points with seven, four behind his teammate and series leader William Byron with 11. But their JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler leads the regular-season standings (he has a 45-point edge on Byron and 58 points on Allgaier) despite having just four playoff points. Ryan Reed, thanks to his win at Daytona, has five playoff points.

"We have to go 100 percent," Allgaier said. "We made some choices on stage ends and tire strategy that maybe we wouldn't normally have done. Maybe most of the time you follow the majority and now maybe we do something a little bit different."

Daniel Hemric, fourth in the standings, is 124 regular-season points behind Allgaier.

"We want to build our program and make it better and not worry about what happens," Allgaier said. "On the flip side, you need those bonus points, you need those stage points. It's an advantage when a guy not running for the playoffs gets the stage points and playoff points."
Camping World Truck Series: Christopher Bell shows asphalt-track ability

Maybe the most impressive part of Christopher Bell's win Thursday was the fact he was able to keep Brandon Jones from getting a good draft to set up a slingshot pass.

Bell, who made his name in sprint-car racing -- he is expected to drive for Tony Stewart in one of the biggest events at Eldora Speedway, the Kings Royal, this coming weekend -- doesn't have that much experience in having to weave in front of another driver while maintaining the lead.

But he didn't do just that, he also used lapped traffic to gain a draft and extend his lead at times over Jones.

"Whenever I was leading, it's nerve-racking whenever he keeps getting those draft runs on you and getting up to you, but I just kept reminding myself how tough it was for me to pass the leader whenever I was in second," Bell said. "Thankfully, [Jones] ran me clean."

And now his next race will be at a track he's used to at Eldora, a half-mile dirt track.

"I call it 'The Week Of Eldora' -- the Kings Royal starts on Thursday and we go Thursday-Friday-Saturday and then the truck race is the following Tuesday-Wednesday," Bell said. "The Week of Eldora is my second-favorite week of the year behind Chili Bowl week."