Kyle Larson drives to his fifth pole of the season as he looks to win Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
CHICAGO — Like most high caliber athletes, Kyle Larson is the first to attribute his success to his team. After winning the pole for Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course, Larson credited his diligent crew for preparing another fast No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Speeding to a time of 87.836, Larson captured his fifth pole of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. As he points out, while the drivers may play a factor on these serpentine layouts, the team factors into the overall success from start to finish.
“Any road course, I think you feel like the driver means a little bit more,” Larson said. “But I don’t feel like I’m any better of a road racer one year later. I think my team is just, like I just mentioned, it’s their second year here. They studied their notes from last year and made our car a lot better in the areas that I needed help.
“So I think that’s what makes me really proud, too. We have a team that’s capable of doing that. I feel like last year, in qualifying especially, the Gibbs’ cars were – gosh, I was like a second off the pace. I mean I still made the final round, but I was like close to a second off the pace.”
It was a dramatic final qualifying round where Larson was within a whisker of the fastest time initially set by Michael McDowell. Opting for a second lap, Larson bested Ty Gibbs by just 0.01 seconds, a year in which the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series and close margins have become a recurring theme.
“This year, I know we barely beat Ty, but I feel like compared to Martin [Truex Jr.], Denny [Hamlin] and [Tyler] Reddick, guys like that, I feel like we’re now not quite a bit better, but better than we were last year,” Larson said. “I’m mostly, for this weekend, proud of that and our team.”
Heading into Sunday’s race, Larson gained valuable experience on the 2.2-mile, 12-turn street circuit. Competing in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series’ The Loop 110, Larson qualified second, led thrice for 12 laps and tallied a podium for the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro team.
Before clambering into Hendrick’s part-time XFINITY ride, Larson wanted to get more experience in terms of his attack points. Considering his performance in both cars on Saturday, the 31-year-old felt he was in a good place with his Cup ride.
Kyle Larson noted how his No. 5 team came prepared for the Chicago Street Course race weekend. (Photo: Kevin Bowman | The Podium Finish)
“I feel more in rhythm in the Cup car, for sure,” Larson observed. “I think it just has a more equal balance throughout most of the corners. The XFINITY car, it just has smaller tires and stuff, so there’s just less grip. A little more on edge in that, but yeah, two good racecars, so far.
“Hopefully we’ll have a good [XFINITY] race. Obviously, the main objective is just to learn more about the track; more about where you can pass and making moves that maybe I wasn’t able to make last year. Yeah, so far so good.. just still a lot left to do.”
Larson, who raised his average starting from 10.0 to 9.53, considered how experience and data have helped tremendously with being on the attack with qualifying. Aside from optimum pit stall selection, the Elk Grove, California, native chalked up his Super Saturday showings once more to his team.
“I don’t know. I think just probably the notebook,” he said. “I think of now, we’re three years into this Next Gen car, so you hope to get better every time. I’m sure you’re getting every little detail more fine-tuned.
“Yeah, this year in qualifying – really racing too – has been a strong suit. But qualifying, we’ve been able to execute and get five poles to this point. That’s special. Hopefully, we can keep that up and keep our speed up in races, as well.”
Prior to arriving to “The Windy City,” Larson remembered how the inaugural race went for his team when he placed fourth to winner Shane Van Gisbergen.
“I thought we had a good race there last year, but we need to improve in some areas to battle for the win,” he recalled. “Shane was super fast, so we need to make some gains. The fans in the Midwest are incredible and they braved the elements to support Cup Series racing there last year.
“It was a cool event — one that we all hope is better this year with better weather.”
As seen during last month’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, pit strategy and grip paid off for Larson when he restarted deep in the field before charging his way to his third win of the season. Now, he pursues his fourth to draw ahead of Christopher Bell in the Playoff standings.
“Yeah, track position is really important, no doubt,” Larson shared. “It is at an oval, as well, that you run 30-second laps times on. Here, I think it’s important, but I think with stages and stuff like that, it honestly can mean a little bit less just because you’re always going to find yourself in traffic at some point, I feel like, with road course racing and stages.
“People flip the stages or whatever. Like Sonoma, for instance, like we had to restart towards the back. We just had a really good car and were able to drive to the front. We qualified good there, as well. So I mean, yes, it helps. But you also have to have a good racecar and execute good restarts to pickoff spots quickly.”
