Kyle Larson 1-on-1: 'It's been a successful year. But the year is not over'
Kyle Larson had a heck of a week last week. He opened it Tuesday when he won the championship of the High Limit Sprint Car Series that he co-owns.
Two days later, he was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway taking his first laps in an IndyCar as he passed his Indy 500 rookie orientation program.
Then three days later, he won the Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, clinching a berth in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. No matter what happens this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway (where he is the defending winner) and Martinsville Speedway, he will compete for the championship on Nov. 5 at Phoenix.
Larson doesn't have any additional sprint-car races on his calendar after a season in which he has run at least a couple races a week throughout the summer. He also won the 2023 Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals, one of the biggest sprint-car events of the year.
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Larson talked to FOX Sports on Saturday at Las Vegas about his season and the Indy 500 test. Here is what he said, including a couple of questions and answers from his FOX Sports interview in victory lane Sunday at Las Vegas.
Where do you think your Vegas win puts you as far as trying to win your second Cup title? Drivers have been able to ride the momentum of a win to open the Round of 8 to the title.
It definitely helps. We were able to win the first Round of 8 race a couple years ago [in 2021 and won the title] and it really just kind of helps you just focus on the next few weeks in front of you, not just the next one. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. I really want to go have a good run these next two races. But it's nice to get to go there and race with just winning on your mind and not points racing on your mind. We'll go to Homestead and try to do what we did [at Vegas] and go to Martinsville and do the same thing, and then hopefully have a lot of momentum going into Phoenix.
Some drivers by this time of year, the grind has gotten to them. But do you feel refreshed despite all the racing you do? Do you feel good into these last few weeks?
I feel good. Obviously, I think when you get close to the end, you look forward to offseason plans and stuff like that. But our focus is still on ... to try and do a good job at some good tracks for us. I know my race cars are going to be really good like they've been all season long. Just like every weekend, I just try and execute and gain as many points as possible, and hopefully we get a win.
What about Homestead, where you typically run well, clicked for you so early?
I'm not sure. I think just being able to be comfortable running next to the wall, but lots of people run by the wall. And I don't know what makes me go faster up there than some others. It just suits me, and I think the Next Gen car helps me a lot because you can make mistakes and get into the wall a little bit where the old car, you couldn't really make mistakes and hit the wall because you ended up getting a flat tire or you'd mess up your aerodynamics pretty badly. Now the bodies are so tough that you can kind of drag along it a few times and be OK.
Kyle Larson on putting himself in good position for a win at Homestead
You've been involved in incidents six times while leading this year. How do you move on from that? The one good thing is that you're in the lead, but has it been tough this year to have these things happen when you're running so well?
I try to always, I guess, find the positive from it. So, yeah, at least you're having things happen from the lead and not from 15th. That just shows how good our race cars have been all season long, and we've put ourselves in position a number of times. We've won three races (four now with Las Vegas) plus the all-star race. It's been a good year, but there's been a lot of missed opportunity. You keep working hard, keep trying to execute and just putting yourself in position. If you can put yourself in position, you may not win all of them, but you'll win some of them.
Has it been a fun year?
Yeah. We've been in contention more often than we were last year, so it's been a lot of fun, knowing that you're going to show up to the racetrack with a shot to win at every style of track is always good. I've had a lot of fun really in all my racing — sprint car, everything, getting to run the IndyCar car for the first time this week, the [dirt] late model, I haven't been in that in a while but we've had a decent season in that as well. It's been a successful year. But the year is not over. There are still a lot of races left to win, a championship left to win. So we're going to try and do that.
Is your golf game solid, too, or just racing stuff?
I haven't really golfed as much this year as I have in other years. I've enjoyed golf more because of that, I think. My expectations aren't as high and when I have, I've played a little bit better than years before. Life's been good. We have a new baby [now 9 months old]. It's all good.
You get enough sleep? You said you're not tired?
I'm good. I think when you train your body to be tired all the time, you're fine.
What do you think winning a second championship would do for your legacy? And for the way you would even look at your career?
I don't know. I never really thought I'd even win one, so I haven't really thought about winning two. I don't have an opinion on it. I'm happy to have one. For sure I want more. But I don't know how winning two changes anything at this point. Later on down the road for sure it does. But I don't really have an opinion.
You're not one of those guys who is like I need to have a certain number of championships or a certain number of wins?
If you win a second one, that's one step closer to [the Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt record of] seven or eight. I think that's everybody's goal is to surpass them. But in this day and age, I think that'd be very difficult. But I'd love to get one step closer.
As far as your rookie test at Indianapolis, was it more excitement or relief to finally get some laps in that IndyCar?
Both I would say. I was definitely excited. I never really got nervous, so I was surprised by that. It was just nice to get it done, kind of get a feel for the car and have some expectations now leading into the next time I get in the car. And we can just kind of go out there and have a test plan and stuff like that now. It was good to get in. It was really cool to see the amount of fans that came out and were standing in Turn 2 to watch me just run some practice laps was pretty neat. It was a fun experience. I'm kind of glad that's over with so we can move forward and focus on the important stuff.
Kyle Larson on his first Indy 500 test
Was there anything physically from that test that you felt in the car or maybe soreness or anything afterward that made you think about how you're going to have to train to do the 1,100 miles (Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coke 600) in one day?
No. I was surprised that the cockpit wasn't hot at all. I didn't sweat any. I only ran like 50-some laps, but while I was making laps, it didn't feel like it was getting hotter or anything. So that was good. Obviously, in May, it'll be hotter than it was in October in Indy, but it could also not be. The heat wasn't really a factor the other day. The weight of the wheel was heavier than I thought it might be for an oval, but still wasn't as heavy like the simulator. That was good. Nothing really surprised me too bad. The G's [forces] in the corner on my neck and stuff were fine. When you're in the corner, you can feel the constant G's like it's a little tougher to breathe, but the pace should slow down in the race, so it shouldn't be as big of a deal.
Is it exciting because you always wanted to do it or is it exciting because you're going to be the first person in 10 years to do both in one day?
I don't know. I think I'm just excited to do it. It doesn't feel like it's been that long since Kurt [Busch] did it, but it has been quite a while. I'm just really excited about the opportunity, excited to get more laps, get more comfortable in the car, and then trying to race and do a good job. Now that I got laps done by myself, I'm really anxious to get behind cars and see what the air feels like, see what visually it looks like being behind a car, feel what it's like when somebody's blowing by you or you're blowing by somebody else. There's so much to learn still, but it was good to get some laps.
This past week, you win your High Limit championship, you go to Indy for your first IndyCar test, and you win this race. Where does this rank among the weeks of Kyle Larson's racing life?
It will definitely be a week that I probably won't ever forget. A lot of cool experiences this week. Winning the High Limit championship on Tuesday, get my first laps in an IndyCar on Thursday, and then capping it off with a Cup Series win that locks me into the final four at Phoenix. So just a neat week, but honestly, kind of a normal week for Kyle Larson with all the different types of cars that I get to run. I'm just blessed overall as a person and as a race-car driver to be able to get to do and experience the things that I experience. It's just been a fun week, and hopefully we'll end the year on a high note.
What To Watch For
The topic of this newsletter — Kyle Larson — will be the definitive favorite at Homestead. He swept both stages and the race last year at one of his best tracks.
Also watch pit road and visibility. Last year, Martin Truex Jr. moved to turn late into his pit box and ended up getting spun by Larson. The windshields get dirty from the sand and there is some glare late in the day on pit road.
Truex was the leader at the time, and this could be the track where he rebounds from a lackluster playoffs.
Also watch Tyler Reddick. This has been a good track for him, but the team surprisingly lacked some speed at Las Vegas.
Thinking Out Loud
This weekend's Cup race is named the 4Ever 400 in honor of Kevin Harvick's final Cup season. Stewart-Haas Racing has been using his car number and the hashtag #4Ever as part of its branding and marketing since announcing prior to the season that this would be his last year in a Cup car.
Harvick's crew chief, Rodney Childers, and his family will give the command to start engines.
This honoring of Harvick, who will join the FOX Sports broadcast booth next year, with a couple of races remaining is a good idea. The next two races — an elimination race at Martinsville and the championship at Phoenix — are so focused on who will win the title, that any retirement celebrations either get drowned out in the last couple of weeks or take some of the spotlight away from the championship contenders.
Harvick isn't vying for the title, so this is his weekend where he can be a bit more of a focus. That's not to say his last race won't be part of the Phoenix storyline championship weekend, but at least there might not be as much pressure on the industry to make sure it acknowledges his contributions since the race this weekend and some of the race dignitaries are honoring Harvick's career.
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They Said It
"I'm not going to blatantly wreck somebody. And I don't even think that I really had the opportunity to blatantly wreck him. It's not like I lifted coming to the checkered flag. I didn't lift off the accelerator and I didn't pile-drive him. My run wasn't massive." —Christopher Bell on finishing second to Kyle Larson at Las Vegas
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
