Kyle Larson celebrates his 19th career pole and Hendrick Motorsports’ 250th Cup series pole ahead of Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Larson continues to rack up the Busch Light Pole Award as he does accolades in motorsports. Like Caitlin Clark garnering awards in college basketball, Larson’s efforts, as an individual athlete and team player, are in the spotlight ahead of Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
After winning the pole at Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway, Larson drove to the fastest pole position time in the Next Gen era established in 2022. Most impressively, Larson backed up his strong Saturday practice efforts by posting the fastest time in Group B qualifying with a time of 28.338 seconds/190.557 mph.
Despite losing 0.028 seconds in the final qualifying round, Larson captured his third consecutive pole position and 19th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Logging a time of 28.366 seconds/190.369 mph, the 31-year-old Elk Grove, California, native accomplished another historical feat for Hendrick Motorsports.
While Larson’s track record at Texas is middling with an average finish of 18.6 and five Did Not Finishes, or DNFs, he won this race in 2021, leading 256 laps to score his eighth win of his championship season. Most recently, Larson led 99 laps and was within 19 laps of a potential win before wrecking in Turn 1 to place 31st.
Following William Byron’s third win of the season at Martinsville, leading the Hendrick podium sweep, Larson captured the 250th Cup pole for the storied organization. This was not a fact lost with Larson, who placed runner-up last Sunday.
Kyle Larson backed up his third quickest time in Saturday’s practice by winning the pole for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
“It’s pretty neat,” Larson said. “Whenever you can kind of be ‘the guy’, I guess, to know that your name is going to be next to that milestone number – it’s pretty special. You know, like when I was able to be a part of win 269, like you feel the excitement; the happiness from Rick (Hendrick) and everybody that’s been a part of the organization for a long time.
“And then, even being out there on the opposite side of things – with William (Byron) winning 300 last year here at Texas, I was obviously super bummed because I was dominating the race and lost, but at the same point, I was really happy for the team.”
Ever so competitive, Larson is motivated to make his mark not just for himself as a versatile driver but for the Hendrick organization.
“Even last week, I’m obviously bummed I didn’t win, but super, super happy for the team,” he shared. “Especially this year, being the 40th anniversary season for Hendrick Motorsports, there’s these milestones that are all kind of coming up right now. It’s just cool to get the 250th Cup Series pole, and I feel like I’m contributing to the record books at Hendrick Motorsports.”
Along with adding more accolades to the Hendrick success story, Larson’s pole was the 52nd overall for the Drive for Diversity program. Larson, the first Asian American to win the Cup championship, tipped his cap to the program’s contributions to provide quality opportunities to foster a more inclusive environment in stock car racing.
“It’s just really cool to see it all paying off,” he said. “I think now, you’re seeing it pay off because these drivers are in really good equipment. You need good equipment in this sport, but it takes a large investment and they’ve been able to do that here lately. It seems like the last few years have helped get their drivers in some good stuff.
“Yeah, it’s awesome and I definitely always cheer those drivers on. When they can get a pole or get a win, it’s definitely good for the program.”
In recent years, Hendrick has the reputation of having their cars trimmed for fast, sleek speeds in qualifying while struggling in race conditions. Then again, Larson observed how his commitment going into Turn 1 in past qualifying efforts cost him a pole while being a major contender for the win at Texas for the past two years.
As Kyle Larson mentioned to John Roberts of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he committed to driving deep into Turn 1 at Texas for the pole. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
Now, with the pole position and clean air within grasp at the race’s start, Larson knows he has a great pit stall choice, pit stall number one, versus those who start toward the rear like four-time Texas winner Kyle Busch.
“Well I think in the Next Gen stuff, qualifying is very important because of just track position and it being much harder to pass than it used to be,” Larson explained. “As far as pit stalls and stuff, this is one of the easier pit roads, I feel like.
“It’s wide and the stalls are not too small, so it’s not too bad, as long you as you don’t get stuck. Like say you qualified bad and you have to pick a stall in between two good cars and you’re also a good car.. like Kyle Busch will probably have a rough day on pit road tomorrow. But yeah, you try to put an emphasis on qualifying for sure these days.”
