It's high stakes for Kyle Larson as he races for a second Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon.
However, ahead of the action, the Hendrick Motorsports star has made a surprise admission, confessing he thinks it would be 'cool' to see rival Denny Hamlin take the title.
Hamlin is 44 years old and one of the greatest to ever grace the sport, sitting top 10 in the all-time Cup Series wins list, but crucially, lacking a championship victory.
The Joe Gibbs Racing star has come close on many occasions, however, and ahead of the race on Sunday, The Athletic's Jeff Gluck carried out a poll, in which a whopping 49.9% of voters said they wanted him to finally get that duck off his back this weekend.
Larson issues Hamlin championship verdict
Given Hamlin often divides opinion among NASCAR fans - some hate him, some love him - this result came as a surprise to some, but Larson says he gets it.
In fact, he admits that if he doesn't win and Hamlin does, it won't 'kill him'.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised I guess," Larson said the media at Phoenix regarding the poll.
"I think because everybody likes a story like that. Somebody near the end of their career, all that, all that's great, so I can see why people would cheer for him.
"I mean, I'm a competitor, I obviously want to win," Larson continued. "But it would be really cool to see somebody who's put in so much time to this sport, and get close so many times, sixty wins.
"So I'm gonna want to kick his ass tomorrow, but it's not going to kill me if he wins. Unless he runs me in the fence again."
Sunday's championship race at Phoenix is set to get underway at 3pm ET (NBC).
