Five Questions With Kyle Larson; NASCAR, Sprint Cars, He’ll Drive Anything With Wheels

Column By: RUSTY RHOADES / RPW – BECHTELSVILLE, PA – Another sweltering Speedweek in Pennsylvania is upon us again. And right on cue, another equally hot Kyle Larson has brought his unprecedentedly diverse driving talent off the NASCAR podium directly into the Keystone State winged 410 battlegrounds seeking more top tier racing action.

His 2017 run of six straight winged 410 sprint car wins and a Cup Series win around this same time is almost unmatchable, both historically and logistically. But he’s not resting one bit on those laurels.

Larson got rolling again on dirt a couple weeks back with four straight Ohio Speedweek nights finishing either 1st or 2nd.

He parlayed that onto the pavement at Chicagoland last weekend, rocketing through the Xfinity field from the rear and winning by over 8 seconds. Sunday he charged back into contention late, running his usual line inches from the wall and through the top 5, eventually reaching Kyle Busch’s bumper coming to the white flag and setting the stage for a classic ending. He somehow came across in 2nd, correcting a massive sideways slide through the final turn down onto the infield grass after Busch returned Larson’s contact in turn 2 with his own contact and pass for the win.

Add to these efforts another solid runner-up Tuesday at Lincoln Speedway after leading early and battling hard with local heavyweight Danny Dietrich, and the heat around Larson only intensified right in sync with the escalating temperatures around our region.

I knew that If I did get the chance to catch up with Larson at Grandview Speedway again for a brief interview, I had both NASCAR and Sprint Car related questions for him. But I didn’t want to disregard any of them just for the sake of keeping the story structure specific to just the dirt or Cup community readers.

Well, last evening the world-class wheelman added another to his trophy case by going out and winning again for back-to-back PA Speedweek checkers on “The Hill”.

Just prior to that, I exchanged pleasantries with Kyle and asked if he had a moment to answer 5 random questions of mine after the driver’s meeting. As always from my experiences with him, Larson was quick to oblige, and more importantly be his usual straightforward self in answering.

RR: After your great race Sunday with Kyle Busch, the boos came raining down on him as always. I personally think he and maybe a future rivalry with you are great for the sport, and during post-race you said that you love racing against him…why is that?

Kyle: I wouldn’t say we have a rivalry really. It’s more like I think every sport needs a villain, and he plays the villain role pretty well. He brings attention to our sport, good or bad. Most of the time it’s good. Along with that attention, he’s a great racer. I think he does a good job with it.

RR: Was that save you made Sunday, sliding all the way through turn 4 basically down onto the apron yet still getting 2nd, one of your best saves in a Cup car from what you can remember off hand?

Kyle: I don’t really think about saves like that one. I mean I’m sure it could be, along with a few others. But when it’s not for a win, nobody really remembers or realizes it like that. It was still great to get second out of it, but it would’ve been a lot cooler and thought of as more of a memorable save if I would’ve won the thing.

RR: Now that you’ve been to Grandview, and won here in fact, what are your impressions of the facility, specifically how it is come feature time?

Kyle: It’s a really fast track. It gets pretty slick and technical come main event time too, which adds to the difficulty. It’s just a really tight and racy place, exciting for sure.

RR: Any other track you’ve been to, recently or from your time coming up through the ranks, that you could similarly compare Grandview to?

Kyle: Honestly no, I really can’t. It’s its own unique place, especially with the inside wall like it is. Different than anywhere else I’ve run before.

RR: When, if at all, are you planning to make it back to this area in a 410 sprint car this season, if that’s been discussed or planned yet?

Kyle: As of now, it looks like I’m gonna try to hit some of the All Stars (Tony Stewart’s ASCoC Tour) when they come back through Pennsylvania. Hopefully that will work out when we get closer to it.