Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and the likely Rookie of the Year, took a moment to reflect on rookie lessons learned as he met with the media at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the site of the last NASCAR racing of 2014.
First and foremost, young Larson has learned quite a bit about respect, especially after last weekend’s hard racing with Ryan Newman, who was desperate to move Larson out of the way to make the Chase.
“I think in the Cup Series, most people race with respect,” Larson said. “So, I think I’ve gotten a lot better with that throughout my career so far, last year in Nationwide and this year in Cup, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better with give and take and things like that.”
“With this new format, it kind of throws a little different curve into it, where in the Chase, each race is so important so you see people take chances like that.”
Larson also learned a lesson about himself as well, that he can get over his upset on the track, such as the tangle he had with Newman last weekend, fairly quickly.
“I didn’t want to kick his butt,” Larson said of his Newman encounter. “He called me this week and we talked. I told him I was upset for ten minutes then I realized what was on the line for him. I think there are a lot of people out here that probably would have done the same thing that he did. At least he is in the Chase; it would be a great move if he goes on to win the championship.”
“Like I said, I get over things pretty quickly.”
Larson has also learned the valuable but difficult lesson of patience as well, particularly at the short tracks, as he completes his rookie season.
“I think my patience has gotten better throughout the year,” Larson said. “Then as a way of going back the other direction, but I think overall my patience has gotten better. They are longer races. Everything I grew up racing was 30 or 40 lap features.”
“In the Nationwide stuff, you have to learn more patience there and Cup races are almost twice as long as those,” Larson continued. “You have to get better at that. The place where I feel like I need to get a lot better, if I want to contend for more wins and championships are definitely on the short tracks. I felt pretty good at Phoenix last week, but Martinsville and Richmond are probably my two worst tracks.”
“I felt like I was decent on the road courses during the races and stuff but the short track stuff is where I struggled most.”
At the end of this race weekend, Larson is in for some real learning, that of learning just what it is like to be the Sunoco Rookie of the Year. Larson will join the likes of the late Dale Earnhardt, who also secured that honor.
“I mean it’s not official yet I guess, but it feels awesome,” Larson said. “I think everybody kind of picked Austin Dillon as a favorite going into the year and I don’t blame them. He has accomplished so much in his NASCAR career and even dirt career before that. I have only been in stock cars a couple of years, so it’s nice to prove some of the doubters wrong.”
“It’s nice to see a lot of people who have won Rookie of the Year have gone on to win NASCAR Sprint Cup championships,” Larson continued. “I hope I’m another one of those guys that can do that. I feel like I’m with a great team that could win championships if we get ourselves in the Chase.”
“I have enjoyed the whole season.”
There is one lesson, however, that Larson does not want to learn. He emphatically does not want to be ‘that guy’ who influences the results of the Chase championship in any way, shape or form.
‘Hopefully I don’t get into any of them,” Larson said. “I got into Ty Dillon here a couple of years ago and he was going for a Truck championship and I felt horrible after that. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“I’m going to try my best to get a win and if they are in front of me, I’m definitely going to try and pass them, but not do anything stupid or crazy to ruin their chances of winning a championship.”
“Because none of them have won a championship, I know how much it means to them.”
Larson is also learning lessons off the track, from how to be a new homeowner to what racing he will do during the holidays and his short off-season.
“We spent our first night in the new house on Wednesday night,” Larson said. “We got the downstairs remodeled so there was a lot of construction going on. Nothing is in there yet but a bed, so there is still a lot to put in there.”
“The furniture and all that should be delivered this coming week,” Larson continued. “I bought a lot of TVs so I’m excited to put those up.”
“I’m going to Turkey night to race the midget at Perris (Auto Speedway) this year for Thanksgiving,” Larson said. “Usually in years past, at least since I’ve been alive and been going to Turkey night, it’s been at Irwindale Speedway and now they don’t go there anymore so they have been going to Perris the last handful of years.”
“I’m going to go race the USAC midget at Perris,” Larson said. “I’m so excited to do that. I will eat some tacos at the pit shack there. They have good food in the infield.”
In the meantime, instead of learning lessons, Kyle Larson has been teaching a few at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In fact, he schooled the field in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Ford EcoBoost 200, securing the pole with a speed of 167.431 miles per hour and a time of 32.252 seconds.
Larson will continue learning his final rookie lessons by competing in not only the Truck Series, but also both the Nationwide and Cup Series races, the Ford EcoBoost 300 and the Ford EcoBoost 400 respectively.
