Kyle Larson hopes to improve his best Talladega finish (fourth, Spring 2022) by three positions. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. – If Martinsville Speedway, one of Kyle Larson’s troublesome tracks, was any indication, at least for this year, then Talladega Superspeedway ought to be a hoto for the No. 5 team.
Namely, Larson enters his 17th race at Talladega with a top-five, a fourth in last year’s GEICO 500, and three total top 10 results. His average finish at the 2.66-mile superspeedway is an alarming 22.8, a sign of this track’s tricky nature.
Perhaps the 21-time Cup race winner experiences a bit of deja vu for Sunday’s GEICO 500 (3 p.m. ET on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as he also entered Martinsville’s race weekend with a dubious 0 for 16 record.
As evident with last Sunday’s NOCO 400, great teamwork, patience and fortune were the difference makers for the 30-year-old Elk Grove, Californian’s chances at the 0.526-mile paperclip shaped track.
On Sunday afternoon, Larson prepares for another showdown at the mammoth Alabama superspeedway. Last year, it appeared as if the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion figured out how to race at Talladega, tallying finishes of fourth and 19th.
Despite the fall race’s result being less than ideal, he appeared more confident and willing to be in the volatile lead pack. Moreover, he was in the mix in last spring’s race, placing second and third in Stages 1 and 2 before settling for a fourth place result.
“We had a good race there and thought that maybe we figured something out, or at least for me,” Larson said in a team press release. “I feel like I’ve always struggled on superspeedways and that race I just never left the bottom lane. That’s kind of what I would love to do every time.”
In last year’s spring race, Larson hugged the inside line at any possible moment, preferring to let his competition take on the middle and high lines. Meanwhile, in the fall Playoff duel, Larson tallied finishes of eighth and third in Stages 1 and 2 before being shuffled back to 19th.
Larson was the sole Hendrick and Chevrolet racer to qualify inside the top 10 at Talladega. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
After analysing last year’s Talladega performances and this year’s Daytona 500, Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief, seemed hopeful for a better performance and result ahead of the 188-lap race.
“Looking forward to Talladega. I think it was an okay race for us at Daytona with the way our cars performed,” Daniels said in a team press release. “Obviously, we pressure ourselves to qualify up front. (We) did that in Daytona and raced reasonably. Our car hung around in the top 10 for most of the day.
“We are still trying to find a little bit to some of those other OEMs that are a little bit stronger at the plate races than we are. Folks at Hendrick Motorsports have been hard at work trying to find that and hopefully we’ll see it show up on Sunday.”
On Saturday morning, Larson was the sole Chevrolet to qualify inside the top 10, placing ninth. In fact, the next, nearest Hendrick Chevrolet is William Byron in 18th while Alex Bowman (27th) and Chase Elliott (29th) have a ways to go.
Then again, Hendrick, like the Chevrolet camps, may be putting more focus on race trim efforts than sheer, raw speed in a one-lap effort. Talladega’s surface has aged considerably from its fresh blacktop during the fall of 2006 with distinct crevices, bumps and a rougher surface.
In other words, it may boil down to teamwork and guile like last Sunday’s race at Martinsville. Like Larson noted, things change considerably at the superspeedways much like the quick decisions made to get to the front of the pack.
“It seems like superspeedway stuff changes a little bit every time you go back, at least a little bit, and makes the style different,” Larson said.
