Once upon a time, Rick Hendrick didn’t allow his drivers to race outside of their Cup rides. “We always did not want them in anything other than a Cup car or Xfinity car,” Hendrick told me on Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

On that day, Larson was completing his Rookie Orientation Program for next year’s 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500. Two days prior, he won the High Limit Racing sprint car championship.

Think about that. In the midst of a playoff run, especially during a season that Chase Elliott missed six races due to injury suffered while snowboarding and Alex Bowman missed three races due to a crash in that same sprint car series that Larson competes in, Larson was allowed to run a sprint car and an Indy Car just days before strapping into his No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the Round of 8 opener at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Wouldn’t you think Hendrick would revert back to his old stance and want his driver concentrating at a championship ahead? Instead, he’s softened his approach and says that’s why Larson is on the verge of a 2nd championship in 3 years since joining HMS.

“When I first started talking to Kyle, he convinced me that it made him sharper.”

He had a case. Larson before joining Hendrick Motorsports was an ace on dirt. He’s Picasso painting a masterpiece on dirt tracks. Plus, there’s something to be said for honing your craft in other forms of racing.

In a day-and-age of limited testing opportunities and just a handful of minutes in practice, racing on dirt is not only a way to keep Larson sharp, it’s his hobby. Some drivers hunt. Some drivers fish. Some golf. Larson…he races.

So Larson pleaded his case to Jeff Gordon to if you sign me, let me run dirt. Gordon talked to Mr. H. Hendrick changed his stance.

“When Kyle came onboard, he made it clear that this is something he’d like to do, and he’d like to do it before he feels like he’s outside of his prime, I guess, is the best way to put it,” Gordon said.

However, Hendrick then saw a video of Larson that nearly ruined it all.

“One of the shows I watched, they had a clip on Kyle Larson crashes. I called him. He said, You weren’t supposed to see that,” Hendrick said.

But he relinquished that control and allowed Larson and all of his other drivers for that sake run extra races. It’s paid off in massivfe ways.

“I think it does make our guys — it helps them,” Hendrick continued. “William (Byron) has followed in his steps, run other cars. Chase (Elliott), too. Alex (Bowman) got hurt this year, a pretty bad example. Alex gets hurt in a car, he’s done racing those cars. Then Chase gets hurt on a snowboard. They’ve got to have a life.

“Jeff (Gordon) and I have talked about it. I think it does make him sharper to get in other things and drive ’em. I know one thing, he would be hard to handle if he wasn’t in those kind of cars. I’d have more problems with him, I think (smiling).

Larson joked: “Yeah, I might be skiing or snowboarding more often (smiling).”

Luckily he’s not. He led a race-high 133 of 267 laps in Sunday’s South Point 400 to not only win the opening race of the third round, but as a result, will advance to the Championship 4 as well.

“We know what Kyle’s capabilities are. We’ve seen him drive everything and anything, succeed at it,” Gordon said.