MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
SOUTH POINT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 DC SOLAR/CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1, met with members of the media at Playoff Media Day. Select Quotes
I BELIEVE YOU ARE THE ONLY DRIVER GETTING MARRIED DURING THE PLAYOFFS UNLESS SOMEONE ELOPES HERE IN VEGAS. USUALLY THAT IS AN OFFSEASON THING, BUT YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, Kaitlyn wants a warm wedding, and I race during the off-season so I didn’t want to mess up my offseason plans. It happened to work out that we can do it right before the ROVAL there. So, it’s coming fast and I am ready to get it done.”
THAT’S KIND OF A LOT FOR ONE WEEK ISN’T IT?
“Yes, it is. It has been pretty busy here lately, but I haven’t been too involved in it. I have kind of let her handle most of it and I will be there for the rehearsal dinner, the wedding and hopefully we don’t practice on Thursday. Because that will be rough.”
HEADING INTO THESE NEXT FEW WEEKS AND YOU ARE UP AGAINST 16 OTHER GUYS, WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO BEAT THEM?
“Just a solid 10 weeks of racing. You have to be up front every lap of every race and rack up as many points as you can and hopefully get some wins while you are doing it. Our team has been racing really well here recently, so I am looking forward to it. We have the speed in our cars, but we just haven’t executed as well as we have wanted to the last couple of weeks. If we can clean up some stuff, we will be able to contend.”
LOOKING AT THIS FIRST ROUND, EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE UNKNOWN OF THE ROVAL. IS THAT PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON THIS WEEKEND AND NEXT TO GET IT DONE?
“Yeah, I think so. It puts a little more pressure on the first round for sure and I would like to have a good start at Vegas and Richmond. That would take a little bit of pressure off of the ROVAL and not knowing what to expect there. It’s definitely going to be an interesting race, so we will see how it goes.”
GIVEN THAT YOU GUYS DON’T HAVE AS MANY BONUS POINTS AS OTHERS, ARE YOU GOING TO START TAKING MORE GAMBLES?
“I don’t think we can race any differently than we have all year. You still have to position yourself as far up in the field as you can for the last couple runs of the race. I don’t see us doing anything crazy like that, we have never really done things like that in the past. And we have never sacrificed our race to gain Stage points. I don’t think we will race any differently and we should be fine.”
DO YOU LIKE THE NEW RACES IN THIS FIRST STAGE?
“I think for a sport that Vegas being in the Playoffs is good. You know, to do the media deal like here today, the deal we are going to do on the Strip – I think that is good to promote the Playoffs and to promote NASCAR. I think having a short track in Richmond is good and we have been asking for a road course in the Playoffs for a long time, but I don’t think the ROVAL was the best option for that. It is what it is. I think for my strengths, the way the schedule was before, suited me better. But if you are looking at it as a sport, its better now than what it was.”
INTERNALLY IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE WILL BE CHANGES WITH JAMIE MCMURRAY TAKING A LIMITED ROLE. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE DYNAMIC OF A NEW TEAMMATE YET?
“Honestly I haven’t talked to anybody really about it yet. I haven’t even talked to Jamie about it, or anything like that. I have been focused on our season and everything we have had to do leading into the Playoffs to try and get a championship. I am sure that is something that I will worry about later on down the road. But right now, I haven’t put too much thought to it.”
DO YOU CARE WHO YOUR TEAMMATE IS?
“I think you always care who your teammate is for sure and I have enjoyed having Jamie for my whole Cup career. He has been such an amazing friend; teammate and he has taught me a bunch on and off the track. So, I don’t know what the future holds for him, but he has done a lot for my life and my career.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE STRENGTHS OF THE PLAYOFFS WILL BE FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM AS FAR AS TRACKS OR A PLAN FOR EACH ROUND?
“For each round I would think our best track for round one would be Vegas. Kansas would probably be my best track in the next round. Kansas and Dover are both pretty good for me. For the third round I would say Texas and Phoenix because I struggle at Martinsville. Then, Homestead is my best track. If I get to Homestead, I think I would be the favorite. Not sure if the media would think so, but based on laps led and other stats, I would think I would be the favorite.”
WITH THE NEW AERO PACKAGE COMING NEXT YEAR, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO GET IT DONE THIS YEAR NOT KNOWING HOW IT WILL AFFECT YOU?
“I didn’t think of that until just now. I would like to win the last championship where a driver means something. So, we will see what package they bring out and how often we have to run it. It would be cool to win the championship this year when you actually mean something.”
DO YOU FEEL IN THE ZONE AND FEEL LIKE THIS RACE TEAM IS READY FOR THIS MOMENT?
“Yeah, I think our race team is in a good spot. Our race cars have gotten faster here recently and it’s fun to go to the race track again and feel like you have got a shot to contend for a win. Next 10 weeks will be fun, just try and get through this first round and see where things go after that.”
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