NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 31, 2024
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Darlington Raceway.
Media Availability Quotes:
As we head into this weekend, it’s obviously the end of the regular season and the regular season champion will be crowned tomorrow night. Tell us a little bit about this weekend and what it means to your team to be here.
“Yeah, it’s kind of wild that we begin our playoffs next week. It’s flown by and we’ve had, as I’m sure every team has, we’ve had our ups and downs.. a little bit opposite, I guess, from Tyler (Reddick). I feel like we started our year off really consistently and strong. I’ve had some inconsistent races on my end here lately, where Tyler had tough luck early in the year and then has been super consistent since. And then now, we’ve kind of met with similar points at the end of the regular season.
So yeah, it’s been fun. It’s been good to be upfront. We’ve been fast most weekends, so now as we approach the final 10 weeks, we just have to be on our A-game.”
Can you think about the regular season points battle while you’re out there, or are you more content with running your own races and not paying attention to that until maybe the end of the race?
“As well as both Tyler (Reddick) and I run here, there shouldn’t be too many points exchanged. It just kind of comes down to making sure you have the cleanest race possible to not hinder yourself in the points position. Yeah, it’s a tough track; one that the strategy is very straightforward, and if you have a good car here, you’ll be upfront. You’ll probably be taking tires almost every chance you can get, if the caution comes out. Nothing to kind of really get off strategy.”
You’ve conquered so many cool race tracks, not only in NASCAR but in your dirt racing career. What does it mean to have won at Darlington Raceway?
“Yeah, you know a lot like Tyler (Reddick), I’ve run upfront here for years; have led hundreds and hundreds of laps here, maybe the most in my Cup career, and had yet to win a race. Last year, finally conquering the Southern 500 felt really rewarding because this is such a difficult track. It’s one where I feel like if I had more experience and had done things differently, I could have won a couple others, at least. When you finally close out a win here, it feels great. When it’s a crown jewel and one at a historic race track like Darlington, it’s great. It’s definitely up there on my list of race wins and memories, and hopefully can have another opportunity again this weekend.”
Looking ahead to next weekend, we start the playoffs at Atlanta. Your thoughts on starting the playoffs at a superspeedway-style race.
“For teams like ours, it’s probably not one that we were excited to see on the schedule. But I think it’s a good thing for the teams that have performed well throughout the regular season. You hopefully have some bonus points along the way and a little bit of a buffer to the bubble. So yeah, it’s an ‘anything can happen’ type of track. We’ve been really strong there, but I don’t think I’ve finished a race yet at Atlanta since they repaved it. Just have been caught up in different wrecks every time. Hopefully next weekend is a little different and we can be upfront; get stage points and at least see the checkered flag.”
Joey Logano was in here earlier and basically thought that all three races in the opening round are going to be wildcards. How do you guys feel about those three races and are they all wild cards?
“Almost every race in the Next Gen era could be considered a wild card (laughs). There’s just always crazy things that seem to happen. Yeah, you just have to kind of take it week-by-week; assess where you’re at and what your goals are going forward. The first round I think can definitely present more challenges than other rounds, but like I said, every track, anything crazy can happen.”
As the most recent national series winner at Rockingham, how cool is it to see that track back on the schedule and would you consider running there?
“It’s Easter weekend? No, I’m taking Easter off. I love to race, but not that much (laughs).
No, I won’t be there, as much as I like Rockingham or liked it back then. I guess it would be different now since they’ve repaved it. But I do think it’s awesome that we’re going back to venues; kind of restoring venues like Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, all that. So yeah, I think the schedule is pretty cool. Obviously wish we had at least one more off weekend. But I think the variety and for the lower series to tie in those grassroot-style fanbases is great. You won’t see me at Rockingham, but I might be watching.”
You raced on one of those K&N races at Bowman Gray. Talk about the idea of going back to Bowman Gray for the Clash and what you remember about the K&N race there.
“Yeah, honestly it was so long ago, I don’t really remember much about the race. I remember qualifying. I got the pole the time we ran, so I remember part of that. I just remember it being really slick. Like your tires were never quite ready in qualifying, so it was like dirt tracking around there. But that was different back then; a different car, tire, horsepower, all that. But regardless, I’m excited to go there. Logistically, it makes way more sense for the teams and drivers. And the fan base there is just amazing. I’ve been there to watch local weekend shows. I sat in the stands that night we ran the K&N race.. afterwards I think they had modifieds or something running. There’s no other experience like Bowman Gray as a race fan. I hope that same style of a crowd shows up for a Cup race there; flipping all of us off, leaning over the wall and screaming at us (laughs). It’s amazing. It’s such a cool atmosphere. I’m excited for it. I just hope the weather cooperates.”
The year you won your championship, you won 10 races. If it wasn’t for a great pitstop at Phoenix, you might not have been the champion. Does that system kind of seem odd to you.. that you can dominate the year but it comes down to something that close?
“I don’t know.. I mean, it’s the system, so it doesn’t really matter. I think it makes for storylines and whatnot. When we went into Phoenix with nine wins and dominated the year, I was like – man, I can’t believe.. and I was thinking about it right before that final caution, that I can’t believe we’ve been the best car all year and I’m going to finish fourth in points. And then the magic caution came out; we had a magic pitstop and the rest is history. But yeah, I don’t know. I think I’ve heard people mention that – I think I would be in favor of like a three-race little stretch to decide the champion, rather just one at Phoenix. I don’t know that we’ll ever see that, but yeah for right now, it is what it is. You have to be good everywhere, especially at Phoenix.”
Ray Evernham mentioned yesterday that he could probably put you and Max Verstappen in an IROC car somewhere, if you had a mentioned in that. Has the response to all that talk kind of surprised you?
“No, not necessarily. Obviously there’s different fan bases throughout the world. I think everybody’s definition of ‘the best all around driver’ is a little bit different. So yeah, I don’t know. I think it was a fun little topic of conversation there for a couple of weeks. Obviously, you’ve got the American fans that stand by me, and then the rest of the world. But regardless, it’s cool to just be in the topic of conversation as one of the best all around current drivers. Like I said, everybody’s definition is a little bit different, so I think that makes your opinion of what that might be a little different.”
If it comes down to winning a race, you’re going to be manufacturer-centric towards the end. But tomorrow night when we’ve got the cutoff and guys that could win to get in, are you guys aware of manufacturers? Do you tip-toe around those drivers to make sure you’re not a factor in a bad way?
“Yeah, I mean I think for a place like this, you’re not as conscious about it as you are maybe last weekend. Yeah, sure – if it’s like Ross (Chastain) and Kyle (Busch) lined up at the front at the end, you just don’t want to be the reason why they crash and don’t make it or something like that. But you’re still trying your best to win for yourself and for your team. And the same goes I think even at a track like Daytona. But yeah, it’s not something that you typically think about here.”
When the schedules come out, do you look at them as hard as we do, or do they just tell you where to go and you go do it every year?
“I mean for me; I haven’t really studied it a lot because there’s no sprint car schedule out yet (laughs). Once sprint car schedules come out, that’s when I start building my schedule for next year.”
Is there more calmness heading into this one, knowing the points and what you both need to do to win the regular season title compared to ending at Daytona, where the points change every single lap?
“Yeah, I like Daytona being the finale of the regular season. I think that extra – like imagine if Harrison Burton would have won this weekend, I think it would be an even bigger story. And I think it’s that way next year again.. that we go back to Daytona for the finale.
So yeah, not that it matters a whole lot, but I think just the storyline of it being the final race to get in is pretty cool.”
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