Kyle Larson returns to track where he had breakout weekend in 2014
Elk Grove, California native Kyle Larson heads into Auto Club Speedway as the hottest driver on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit.
Going back to the final race of the 2016 season, Larson has finished second in four of the last five races in NASCAR’s top division and he comes into Auto Club leading the points standings for the first time in his still-young career.
It was at this track three years ago when Larson had a breakout weekend.
At Auto Club in 2014, Larson scored the first of his five career NASCAR XFINITY Series wins, holding off Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano to win the TreatMyClot.com 300 by 0.342 seconds.
The next day, in the Cup race, Larson finished second to Kyle Busch, scoring what at that time was his career-best finish in that series.
Larson would use the weekend at Southern California as a springboard, going on to win Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the Cup series in 2014.
So now, Larson returns to a track where he’s had success in the past, and he’s coming back here while enjoying a career year so far in 2017.
“Like I've been saying all of this early year, we've never had that speed,” Larson said after finishing second last week at Phoenix Raceway. “It's a lot of fun right now. I'm sure, you know, if I ran second for the next eight weeks, yeah, it's probably going to grow old. But, yeah, it's so cool to be one of the fastest cars every week.
“I feel like I've got a shot to win every week at a racetrack like here and Vegas where I don't normally run good, and challenge for wins,” said Larson, who drives the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.
And as Larson well knows, running well makes life look a whole lot better.
“It's been a lot of fun to start this year,” he said. “I just hope we can continue to work hard, be consistent, be mistake-free on pit road and on the racetrack. If we can just keep doing that, the wins are going to come. I could easily have four wins right now. Just got to keep working hard.”
