NASCAR Cup Series
World Wide Technology Raceway
Team Chevy Driver Quotes
September 12, 2026
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Media Availability Quotes:
Can you just reflect on the re-signing of Corey Day?
“Yeah, I thought that was good news, for sure. Obviously, I think everybody had questions of what was going to happen with his future after signing Connor (Zilisch). But yeah, just happy to know that Hendrick Motorsports sees a place for him in the organization down the road and is willing to continue on with him. It’s been great to see his growth in the stock car racing over the last couple of years. I feel like he’s grown a lot, both on the track and off, and still has a lot of room to go. So, yeah, it’s exciting stuff, and it was cool to be there for the re-signing and get to witness that. Just proud of him and thankful for Hendrick Motorsports.”
How much progress do you feel like Hendrick Motorsports has made here (at World Wide Technology Raceway) over the last couple of years?
“Yeah, well, I feel like last year we made a huge step. We didn’t get the finish that we necessarily deserved in a way, but I felt like we had maybe the fastest car in the race last year, where typically when we come here, our finishes are way better than where we run. Every year, except for last year, we’re a 25th-place car and somehow finish fourth with it. So, yeah, last year was fun to have a good practice, qualify well, lead laps and pass people. And then, yeah, ultimately I think we finished 12th, but I left more encouraged last year finishing 12th than I had when we had finished third or fourth, whatever the other finishes were.”
I’m guessing you’ve seen Brad Perez’s scheme this weekend? What do you think about that?
“Apparently I’m getting old (laughs). But yeah, that was pretty cool. I was just watching the practice. I didn’t know they were doing that. So, yeah, it looks like it’s identical as you can get to it, as well. That was neat. They showed some highlights there right before I came in here from my first win in Michigan, so that brought back some good memories. So, yeah, hopefully we see him have a good night.”
Last week, you were on the bad side of the qualifying metric when it got rained out, and that kind of cost you guys a chance, for as good as a car you had, of getting stage one points. So this might influence your answer, but when you’ve thought about the way they do that, do you think there’s a better way to do it, whether it’s a qualifying draw or it’s lining up the field by points if there’s a rain out? Any thoughts on that?
“Yeah, well I think the whole metric, if I’m not mistaken, came about during the COVID era when there was no qualifying. So I think it was a good way to shake the field up back then and try to make it fair where it wasn’t the same starting lineup every week based off points.
So, yeah, I mean, selfishly, after a weekend like last, I wish we would just go back to lining up off points because we don’t see the metric kind of come into play. I mean, you can have the metric to set the qualifying order, but I think, you know, just lining up the field based off points would be good, especially with the Chase, this point format and every point being so important. It was kind of crappy to feel like we were starting off at a disadvantage last week, and we raced our butts off to just miss stage one points.
But I mean, you can look at it both ways. We could have done better at Daytona to set ourselves up better for the starting position. I think I’m curious what other teams think, but I think setting the metric for qualifying order is okay. But I think if it rains out, I would say I’d be for going back to just starting off points.”
To your point about how valuable stage points are; I mean, we saw last week both Denny (Hamlin) and Justin (Allgaier) in their respective series, they did not have good results. But because they scored a lot of stage points, they preserved their championship lead. On one hand, that’s reflective of an entire race’s performance. On the other hand, some would argue that maybe the results should matter more. I don’t know where I stand on that, but where do you stand on that? Are stage points too valuable?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I think as the Chase has become a thing now — yeah, it’s like stage points are even that much more important than they were in the regular season. So, yeah, you could look at it from both sides and be okay or not okay with either way about it. But yeah, I think this format really rewards consistency. But I guess it rewards consistency throughout the whole race, where I think if we really wanted to get back to the authentic part of our sport that we used to have, I think going off of just finishes would be the most authentic way to crown a champion at the end of the year. And this is coming from somebody who is up there in stage points, as well, throughout the season. Without stage points, we would be further down. I don’t even know if we’d be in the Chase without stage points.
So, yeah, I think I’m open to it. And I don’t know if they would make a change or not while still having stages, but yeah, I think stages, they seem to just be crazy important, which it is what it is. But yeah, last week I was like — man, I had an awesome night. I finished second in the second stage, finished fifth in the race and gained six points, which is insane. So, yeah, it’s crazy. It’s like three races within one race.”
For Las Vegas, you’re taking on the role of ‘Tiny Kyle’, throwing it back to Kyle Busch. What do you think about that? How did that all come about? I’m assuming you’re going to be quite honored to be able to run that…
“Yeah, absolutely honored to be able to run his scheme. We were originally wanting to do the Bristol night race. But when Ty (Gibbs) and Joe Gibbs Racing came out with their scheme, I felt like it would be weird to have two Kyle Busch throwbacks at one event, so we pushed ours down the road.
Kyle (Busch) meant a lot to all of us, but especially me. I had a lot of fun battles with him. For him to have raced at Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 5 car, it was really important to me to try to be able to run that scheme. So, I asked Samantha (Busch) if we could do it, and she was all for it, and so was Hendrick Cars. So, thankful for that. And, yeah, hopefully we can go and have a good run in his hometown and try to get a win.”
I know you mentioned Darlington. But, I mean, you look out into three of the last four weeks, in general, for you guys, those were some tracks where you’ve struggled at over the past couple years. So do you feel like maybe the tide’s shifting? Are you guys starting to really click and find what you need at the most important time of the year?
“Well, I feel like our speed has been similar the last few months. You know, Darlington (Raceway) was definitely a gain, for sure, from where we’ve been the last two times there. I thought Darlington went as good as it normally does for us, outside of those two, where were able to pass cars easily, lead laps and have a shot at a win. But yeah, I mean, just based off the last few years, I thought it was a huge improvement, so that was good and definitely helps the confidence as we go forward.
And then looking at how we ran here last year compared to other years, I feel like we could hopefully get a good string of races here to start the Chase, if everything goes right. And, yeah, just keep fighting along. It’s a long few months, it seems, of the post-season, so it takes a lot of consistency, which is really hard to do in this era of racing. But yeah, I think our team is always capable of performing at a high level, and if we can get our cars to match, I think we can be dangerous.
But yeah, it’s hard to look at one weekend and say that it has turned around for us for the rest of the year, but we’ll see. I’m excited about practice and qualifying, and then hopefully, we have a good race.”
I know that you mentioned, obviously, the strides you made here last year, but more in particular, what are the biggest challenges, I guess you could say, when it comes to this racetrack, considering track position is very important and weather difference, as well?
“Yeah, I think just speaking on where I felt like we’ve struggled here before, was that I just always felt so on edge. Like I could not touch the throttle without feeling like I’m just going to twitch. And, yeah, I can’t carry any pace on entry. We got to test here last year and went through a lot of different packages. I can’t remember who was here with us, but maybe (Brad) Keselowski and somebody else who I thought were pretty good here in other races, so w had a good gauge off of them. And yeah, we showed up and was really fast and did all those things better. So, yeah, hopefully that’s going to translate to this aero and horsepower package. But, you know, that’s still yet to be seen until we get out there.”
How much of a nuisance is it when you have your fellow competitors, you know, potentially teasing or flirting with the idea of intentional contact, especially at this time of the year? Obviously, I’m talking about the 6 and the 77. Depending on timing, you know, you can’t really time when they potentially do something about it, and then you end up collateral damage in what could be intentional contact that they’ve been discussing over the last few weeks?
“I have no thought on that, really. Obviously, if Brad (Keselowski) is around him, I would keep my eyes peeled a little bit more. But more just like when you’re behind it, you’re like hoping something cool happens (laughs) and you don’t get caught up in it. But, yeah, it’d be funny.”
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