Kyle Larson has taken a liking to Watkins Glen International long before his double strikes with Hendrick Motorsports in the past two years. (Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Much like Darrell Waltrip’s stance on sports jackets, Kyle Larson likely feels great when he races at Watkins Glen International.
From the prior Gen 6 stock car to the current Next Gen vehicle, the 31-year-old Elk Grove, Californian is comfortable and confident at this serpentine course. Other than a few hiccups in 2016 and 2017, Larson has three top fives and five top 10s to go along with his back-to-back wins in his past eight starts.
With an average finish of 10.5, Larson has made a case as one of Hendrick Motorsports’ best hopes to win at the 2.45-mile, seven-turn road course. While Chase Elliott would be the first name to come to mind as a Hendrick hopeful, Larson has rained on his parade in recent years.
Since Larson’s arrival at Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, he has captured four wins to Elliott’s two victories on these venues. Recently, Larson reigned supreme at Watkins Glen in a still discussed duel against Elliott in last year’s penultimate regular season race.
Larson may have not been proud with how the win was wrangled against his corporate teammate. Still, that victory netted some Playoff points to boost his postseason ranking.
Ahead of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, Larson observed how his success at the Finger Lakes region speed palace was long before driving the No. 5 car.
“Even when I was at Ganassi, I would say this was one of our better tracks for racing,” Larson said. “Then you come to Hendrick Motorsports, and they have a really good package here and setup. Chase (Elliott) has pretty much dominated and won lots of races here and led lots of laps.
“Things just kind of worked out the last couple of years to get the win. We’ve been fast, probably not as fast as Chase still, but hopefully today we can be competitive and have another good shot.”
Kicking off Saturday’s on track activities with the fourth fastest effort in practice, he nearly backed it up by qualifying fifth.
Kyle Larson hopes to score a turkey in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
Although Larson may start inside the top five, he was the second fastest driver in a 10 lap consecutive run trailing William Byron, his Hendrick teammate. Given how stage break cautions are a thing of the past, a car that excels in a long, green flag run may be pivotal with battling for the win.
“It’s more of a pure race,” he said. “I know it’s probably super-boring on TV with no cautions, but I think the strategy and the race playing out how it should is what racing is all about, especially road-course racing.
“With the old way of how it was, it wasn’t ever fair, I felt like, that teams that ran around 20th or 30th could stay out and get stage points and take them from teams who were really fast. Now if your car is fast, you stay up front, you get the points you deserve and get a good finish.”
A car that runs well in a long green flag run may be the difference between running inside the top five or hanging on to a top 10 position. Mistakes need to be limited as Larson can attest with last Sunday’s race at Indianapolis when he bobbled in the penultimate corner as he pursued a top five spot from Elliott.
The regular season championship may be out of sight for Larson and his No. 5 team. Then again, along with going for an Empire State turkey at Watkins Glen, it is about snatching the third position in the Playoffs standings to battle for a second Cup championship.
“Definitely I’d say that’s our goal… get to third and get those two extra playoff points if we can do that,” Larson said. “It will be tough. William (Byron) is really good at road-course racing and superspeedway racing as well.
“We’ve been really strong here at Watkins Glen and hopefully things work out well for us at Daytona to get some points.”
Editor’s Notes
Nathan Solomon contributed to this article from Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.
