Larger tires for better gas mileage (Feb 6 show)

Some similarity, yes, but the difference between the axle ratios is 25%!!, while the difference between the tire sizes is a very much smaller percentage.

On the farm years ago we had a Chevy pickup truck with standard tire size 6.70x15 on the front and my dad put 7.10 size on the rear to increase load capacity.

That difference was (7.10-6.70)x22/7 in circumference. or only 1.26 inches in a circumference of 89.3 inches. or 1.4%!! Needless to say, we never noticed any difference in gas mileage.