Kyle Larson won his third straight NASCAR Cup Series points race and fourth overall Sunday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway.
He qualified fifth and led 264 of 300 laps to win the race. He had to save fuel over the final run and navigate trash on his grille, which raised water temperatures but still pulled away to win by 4.33 seconds over Ross Chastain.

Larson now leads the series with four wins, in addition to the All-Star Race he won at Texas a week ago. He is on a tear right now and is just 10 points behind Denny Hamlin for the championship lead after facing a 100+ point deficit just a few races ago.

He entered the race as the overwhelming favorite to win at +275. After winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, the road course at Sonoma, and the All-Star at Texas, Larson became the obvious choice to win in NASCAR’s return to Nashville. He took the lead early and accumulated 59 of the possible 60 points available by winning a stage and finishing second in the other.

Chastain finished second, his career-best result. William Byron, Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-5 in a good day for the Stewart-Haas Racing teammates. Almirola started on pole position and was one of the longshots to watch in Benzinga’s race preview.

Larson’s championship odds: Unsurprisingly, sportsbooks now list Larson as the heavy favorite to win the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

According to Draftkings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG), he is +300 to take home the championship come November. Chase Elliott and Hamlin are both +700 and are first and third in the standings as of now.

Larson is -134 to advance to the Championship Four race at Phoenix. He has accumulated 32 playoff points already, which carry over throughout each round he advances. That will give him a big advantage come the playoffs and he will only continue to gather more points as the summer goes on.

Given the unpredictable nature of the NASCAR playoffs, there is no such thing as a sure bet to advance through the rounds and into the championship race. Last season, Harvick won nine races and was considered a lock to advance. Yet, he was eliminated in the penultimate race.

Larson is having a season even better than Harvick had. He has led 1,426 laps, nearly doubling the second-most of 756 for Hamlin. Larson’s dominance has him as the deserving championship favorites and all signs point to him bringing home his first NASCAR title this season.

(Photo: Zach Catanzareti via Wiki Commons)