James: Fickle Chase again shows no margin for error
DOVER, Del. – Jimmie Johnson learned last year that statistics at Dover International Speedway or any other site of an elimination race are rendered useless in this version of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Kyle Larson sat through his own frustrating lesson Sunday in the first elimination race of the 10-race playoff. Nearly 350 of 400 laps unwound before the first-time Chase-qualifier was officially eliminated.
Larson entered Sunday holding the 12th and final transfer spot into the second round. Precarious, yes, considering he led by just five points over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon. But Larson was a hard-charging second in the spring race here won by Matt Kenseth and had two top-5s and four top-10s in four Cup starts on the one-mile concrete oval.
That was reassuring.
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None of it mattered Sunday as he experienced a power failure that forced a slow pit stop, putting him a lap down after running in the top 10 at the start. He was subsequently penalized when too many crewmen crossed pit wall to assess his problem, forcing him to pit again under green and dropping him three laps down and 39th of 40 drivers. His Chase, which had been awaited breathlessly by much of a NASCAR community that considers him a future star, was over after he earned entry with his first career win in Michigan this summer.
Larson’s predicament was similar to, but of a different degree of magnitude of disaster which befell six-time series champion Johnson last year in the Dover elimination race. Johnson, a 10-time winner at Dover – including three of the previous four - entered the race fifth in the driver standings, 27 points ahead of 13th place, but was expunged when a failure in a rear axle seal sent him to a 41st-place finish.
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Larson worked his way back to 30th by Lap 160 but blew a right front tire on Lap 181 and slammed the wall, sending him back to 31st place, four laps down. He eventually finished 25th.
A $5 part was the culprit. Larson’s season was undone by some sort of electrical problem and the rush to save a season, and the third-year elimination format has no such room for problems. It has room for winners, though, which is why Kevin Harvick's suspension problem was not terminal to his Chase chances despite a 39th-place finish. His win last weekend in New Hampshire assured that.
Sure, he could have come to Dover winless and reflected on his last-ditch win here last fall to advance through the second round and how much it implied comfort this time. But he probably knew better than that.
Follow James on Twitter @brantjames
