Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 and the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Camaro SS for Hendrick Motorsports, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 32-year-old Elk Grove, California, returns to the 2.5-mile Indiana oval as the defending winner of the Brickyard 400.
Media Availability Quotes:
How will your approach change this weekend, knowing that you’re the reigning champion of the Brickyard 400 – you’ve done this before, you’ve won here. Does that change how you approach this weekend?
“No, not at all. I’m just happy to be back (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway). Hopefully our car is good again. I believe it should be as fast, if not better, than it was last year. Hopefully we’ll have a good practice session today, a good qualifying run tomorrow and be able to execute a good race on Sunday.”
How does it feel to have a race like Dover, where you guys had speed, it seemed like. You had a relatively uneventful, clean race after kind of that little stretch there, where it just kind of felt like things just kept happening?
“Yeah, it was good. And I knew that Dover would be a great opportunity for us to have a day like that, where we could just be clean all race long; have speed and have things work out. But yeah, I mean, it got a little sketchy there when (Christopher) Bell spun. I thought I was going to get collected in that and be like — oh, well, just continuing on our bad finishes here.
But no, it was good. So yeah, hopefully that’s the beginning of it kind of turning around for us. But we’ll see.”
How would you describe Cliff Daniels on the radio, in terms of communication style?
“Well, I don’t know. I mean, maybe, I don’t know if he would be for everybody, but I really like it. I think he does a great job of keeping me focused and focused on the next task. When I sound mopey on the radio, he can kind of pick me up, too. He can also challenge me and pick out things that I’m not doing right, which I like. So having that relationship with your crew chief is important. Having trust between the two of you is important. And yeah, he’s a great leader. He works really hard at it. He’s really evolved his leadership, I think. He’s always been a great leader. But his leadership has evolved, even since 2021. He studies it. He works hard at it, and you can see it.”
He is a little bit different than other crew chiefs. It seems like he can be a taskmaster, right? But he’s also, on the radio, very encouraging and motivational. How does that work for you?
“Yeah, like I said, I like that. I feel like he always knows when to say something, and it’s usually the right thing or what I need in that moment. So I think, yeah, we just have a great relationship when it comes to that.
He has a great sense of what I need from him, as far as just words. And yeah, so we’ve just worked really well together. I’ve have never had a crew chief like that in any of my racing before, and I didn’t know how I would like it when I first came to Hendrick Motorsports. But I could tell very quickly that I was going to get along really well with him and we would gel well in competition.”
For most of us looking at these corners, they look similar or even the same. But the more I talk to drivers, it sounds like they’re different. Can you explain that, or how different all four corners really are?
“Yeah, they are different. Overhead, they look similar. But I just think with kind of how the sun hits each corner and the wind direction and stuff, it can get different. Turn one, I feel like is a pretty, for your balance anyways, a tight corner. It gets really kind of slick feeling off of turn one. Turn two can be similar. Turn two is easy to get kind of lost on your entry because it’s a much wider visual corner with less grass and stuff over there, so it’s easy to kind of get lost and miss your turn-ins and stuff over there. Turn three and four have more grip than this end of the track. Turn three has got some bumps and it just feels like a faster corner. And then turn four is probably the easiest corner just because I feel like it gets the most shade and stuff and has the most grip. But yeah, each corner is definitely a lot different.”
I know you were asked about your approach to this weekend being any different having won last year. But what was just driving into the track this morning, returning as the defending Brickyard 400 winner, does it feel any different coming in here, just kind of knowing what you experienced? Did it kind of bring you back to any of those moments celebrating last year?
“Well, I got here at about 2:45 a.m., so I was just like — I didn’t care, I just wanted to get in my bed (laughs). But always, I feel like when I drive in here at night and looking at the top of the Pagoda and seeing the flags all lit up is really cool.
But yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it’s great to be back here in Indy and back in a stock car. Hopefully, I’ll do a much better job than I did in May. But yeah, it’s a privilege to get to run here and race this facility. I would love nothing more than to have a good run and hopefully kind of put the bow on the double stuff with another Brickyard 400 win.”
Just looking forward to Iowa, what did you learn last year and what do you expect?
“Yeah, I think our car was extremely good last year. I was having a bit too much fun and put myself in a bad spot and got crashed. I would imagine that it’s going to be quite a bit different, though. I mean, just watching the INDYCAR race, the color of the pavement, the new pavement, has changed quite a bit. So I’d imagine the grip level has changed. Whether it be more or less, I don’t really know yet. But it’s going to be different. So we’ll see, though. Like I said, we were good last year, so hopefully we can be good again.”
What’s your thoughts on the San Diego announcement… hearing that we’re going to be at a new street course and the innovations and everything that goes into that?
“I mean, we’ve all heard the rumors for quite a while, and I was just hopeful that they were going to close the deal out and be able to bring us there. I got to go a couple of days ago and it’s awesome. I didn’t get to see the track, but being on the Navy Base was really neat and much more different than I was expecting it all to look. It’s going to be an awesome atmosphere. The Southern California fans are amazing and been starving for some NASCAR racing, so hopefully they all show up and it can be a massive event.”
Can you give us a sense of what these restarts are like and how maybe different they are? I’m assuming it’s different because it’s a more narrow track in a lot of ways. But obviously, you had to go through it last year with going through the back and avoid some stuff. But there were a lot of things on restarts here last year…
“I would say restarts, when you’re mid-pack to the back or so, maybe not even mid-pack, towards the front — like, yeah, the straightaways are so long, so there’s drafting that happens. There’s a lot of time spent side-drafting, which just slows you both down, so then there’s always big runs coming behind you. And then late moves, you know, into (turn) one or into three. Especially into three on that first lap, I feel like it gets kind of thinned out by the time you get to four. But yeah, I mean, restarts are pretty hectic. It’s the best opportunity to make up track position, so guys are always ultra-aggressive.
But yeah, it’s fun. It’s fun to try and position your car in the right spot and make the best decisions.”
I know last year’s race, you benefited because of the pit strategy. You had more fuel, so you weren’t having to save as much. Obviously, able to pass while others were saving. Still, how challenging was that? And what is it like to have that advantage, or when you’re having that disadvantage and having to save and somebody else isn’t?
“It was nice being able to be on offense throughout that run last year. It was still difficult to pass. I had to make a lot of super late moves to get those passes done. But yeah, thankfully, the pace was just slow enough.
It kind of kept the accordion on entry a little bit there. We were able to be really aggressive and make some of those moves. But I had gotten stuck once I got to third or fourth… I wasn’t going to be able to pass my way to the lead. Tires had kind of equaled out at that point and whatnot. And then, yeah, I just got some good fortunes, so it worked out.”
(No Mic.)
“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, yeah, sure, it can be sketchy because it’s really late. The guy in front of you is turning in the corner and you’re kind of popping out, and I’m sure their spotters are screaming ‘inside, inside’ or they’re looking in their mirrors and whatnot. But I don’t know. Once you do it, it becomes less sketchy because you’ve gotten a rep at it. But no, it’s just — yeah, I mean, you’re trying to catch people off guard, really. I don’t really know how to describe it that much.”
For many Cup drivers, they can just race on Sunday. They’re satisfied. Obviously, you have a heavy schedule during the week. How do you feel like that contributes to you being extra sharp on the weekend? Do you describe that for yourself?
“Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t be doing it as often as I do if I didn’t believe that it helped me. So yeah, I don’t know. I just feel like the more racing situations you can keep yourself in, the sharper you hopefully are. There’s a balance, though. I mean, it can get, schedule-wise, kind of grueling at times when you’re gone a lot, which my schedule’s been wild this year. So just a few more weeks of dirt racing for me, and then I can just be a Cup guy again. But yeah, I don’t know. It works for me. I don’t know if it’ll work for everybody, but I think staying busy and active and racing definitely works for me.
High Limit was coincided to be at both Las Vegas and Texas. Is that something that you could possibly see here on this Brickyard weekend, or is that something you’re keeping under wraps?
“No, I mean, there hasn’t really been any talks of that or anything. I would love it. I mean, I watched the final restart last night of the sprint week stuff. It would be great. I mean, I don’t know. It’d be a tiny track for winged sprint cars, but I feel like a lot of times when you get on a small track like that, it just creates chaos; fun, different winners and stuff like that. I for sure would be open for it. I’m sure there’s a lot that goes on to make it happen.”
What do you think about IMS expanding its dirt footprint here at the track and just kind of having that symbiotic relationship between grassroots, where it kind of all begins for a lot of people and then people who become superstars like you, Justin Allgaier, move up in the ranks?
“Well, I think it’s awesome. This is the most prestigious racetrack in the world, so when you can add a form of racing into the walls of this place, like dirt racing, is pretty cool. I saw a picture of Roger there last night, so I hope he enjoyed it. I don’t think he loves dirt racing, but I hope he had a good time with it and can see the impact that it has on grassroots racing because it is important to be a part of a place like this.
But yeah, it’s been awesome to see kind of the BC39 grow to what it is. I think it’s got the potential to grow into the biggest midget race of the year, so that’s exciting. I just hope they can stick with it; keep investing in the race and maybe some other races and keep trying to grow grassroots racing.”
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