NASCAR Cup Series

Why Kyle Larson is a driver to watch at New Hampshire

Published Sep. 25, 2016 9:52 a.m. ET

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Kyle Larson's first appearance in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup didn't get off to the kind of start he wanted, but he could well reverse his fortunes today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Larson finished 18th in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway last week, but so far at the Magic Mile he's been money. Larson qualified sixth for today's Bad Boy Off Road 300 at NHMS, which definitely is a good starting spot.

More impressive, though, was the speed his No 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet showed in practice. In each of the three sessions on Friday and Saturday, Larson topped the speed charts, which is unusual. 

"I felt good about it in race trim," Larson said of his car after Happy Hour on Saturday. "Our short run speed is really good. I fall off a little bit too much compared to other people, but I'm sure there are some things I could do differently to help that out."

Larson said he was encouraged that his speed was trending in the right direction. 

"Our car though this last practice was really good, I thought," he said. "We made some big improvements from the first practice. First practice I was extremely loose on entry. With this last one I felt better with that and drive off stayed good. I just get a little bit too tight past the middle of the corner.  We've got to work on that a little bit." 

In the three races before Chicagoland, Larson finished first, third and second, so he will definitely be a driver to watch today.

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