Kyle Larson acknowledges the New Hampshire Motor Speedway faithful before the USA Today 301 on Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
LOUDON, N.H. — It was not the most memorable or thrilling race for Kyle Larson at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Instead, Larson’s efforts in the USA Today 301 was workmanlike and enough to garner a fourth place finish on a damp Sunday.
Starting 19th and fighting an ill-handling car, particularly on the loose side, Larson willed his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a 12th place result in Stage 1. With some pit strategy in Stage 2 and tenacious driving by the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Larson placed seventh in Stage 2, netting four stage points.
As storms approached the 1.058-mile speedway, drivers and teams amped up for a potential, rain shortened finish. With Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick asserting themselves as the definitive favorites, Larson mixed it up with the Toyota duo, running as high as second inside the final 90 laps.
Inside the final 30 laps, Larson held onto his car with a tire that corded. On Lap 285, Carson Hocevar spun off Turn 3, prompting a caution.
Kyle Larson felt his car was a seventh to 18th place car in Sunday’s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
With NASCAR allowing teams to change to another set of wet tires in noncompetitive pit stops, Larson found himself inside the top five for the Lap 293 restart. Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell tangled in Turn 2, immediately bringing out another yellow flag.
A Lap 298 restart led to a caution just a few laps later when Brad Keselowski spun off Turn 2, resulting in a NASCAR Overtime. With darkness looming, Bell led the field in the Overtime restart without any further incidents.
Bell captured his third win of the 2024 season, moving to second in the Playoffs standings, while Larson captured his eighth top five finish of the year.
After the race, Larson reflected on how his dirt track experience factored into his comfort and confidence in the damp conditions.
“I think just feeling track conditions changing and scanning with your eyes, the track changing,” Larson said. “So yeah, it’s a lot of fun. And I think that’s why you see dirt guys towards the front when it’s like this, even on road courses.
“So, there’s pavement guys up there as well. They’re obviously really talented race car drivers.”
Although some drivers struggled with adapting to the damp track conditions, Larson gave his flowers to those who excelled, especially those without dirt track experience.
“It’s funny seeing some guys that have no dirt experience just drop anchor right away,” he said. “It’s like they have no clue where to be. But, thankfully for us, it just worked out early and I got a big chunk of cars quicker than I thought I would.”
For what it is worth, Larson shared a consensus about the first Cup race that finished under the wet weather package on an oval.
Kyle Larson found a bit of magic on the apron of New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the USA Today 301 on Sunday, June 23, 2024, at Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
“I’m sure there is a lot to learn,” he considered. “I think there’s a lot to learn from how the tires wore in the damp to dry conditions. But then also, just in the strict dry stuff, we’re just still not very good here at New Hampshire. So, I think we’re basically a seventh to like 18th place car, depending on where we’re at.”
Even with Larson’s thoughts on his team needing to improve at Loudon, he praised the calls by crew chief Cliff Daniels to put him in a position to challenge for the win on Sunday.
“Our team did a good job keeping or gaining traction and with their strategy,” Larson said. “And then, yeah, just got to get our car a little bit better.”
Editor’s Notes
Terrill Covey contributed to this article directly onsite from New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.
