Kyle Larson qualified 12th for Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Jennie Mae Lingle | The Podium Finish)
LONG POND, Pa. — Kyle Larson has been in a position to win at Pocono Raceway in his past four starts. Namely, in last year’s race, he battled Denny Hamlin for the victory before late race contact sent him into the Turn 2 wall, ultimately relegating him to place 20th.
This time around, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion comes into Sunday’s running of The Great American Getaway 400 with a quiet but measurable sense of confidence. Even with a late spin in Turn 2 on Saturday, Larson posted the eighth fastest time in practice before qualifying 12th in the field of 37 starting drivers and teams.
In Larson’s past four starts, he has finished ninth, second, fifth and 20th. Namely, Larson nearly won in 2021 before a cut tire sent him into the Turn 3 wall to limp home in ninth, a result considered each subsequent visit to Pocono for the Elk Grove, California, native.
Before taking on the track on Saturday, Larson considered how he and his team have knocked on the door at Pocono’s winner’s circle in the past three years.
“We seem to have good pace at Pocono, so I enjoy going there,” Larson said in a team press release. “We’ve been real close to a win a couple of times. Cliff and the team do a good job of understanding the race strategies and executing, so hopefully, we put ourselves in position to battle for a win again.”
Often, Larson emerges in the late going of a 400-mile race at Pocono. Like races on the serpentine road courses and Pocono’s 2.5-mile layout, it takes 52 seconds or more to get around the triangular shaped track.
Kyle Larson (No. 5) has an average finish of 9.0 in his past four races at Pocono Raceway. (Photo: Jennie Mae Lingle | The Podium Finish)
Pocono can be a crew chief’s dream track in terms of the different strategies that can be explored to put their driver toward the front of the field. Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief, knows there are plentiful options to explore to be in a position to win at this unique superspeedway.
“We had a good baseline setup at Pocono last year and we’re going to try to build on a little bit of momentum we had there,” Daniels said in a team press release. “The fun part about a Pocono race is that strategy always comes into play, even if you have issues like we did with the spin last year.
“You can create opportunities to be different to catch cautions and, if things work out, to get you back up front. We’ll need to be aware of the different strategies and make sure we make the right decisions at the right time.”
Even with stage break cautions, there is still the variability factor to consider with the best pit strategies that result in optimum track position in the final laps of the race at Pocono. More times than not, Larson has been on the offensive end to battle for the win or a top five finish.
While Larson starts on the outside of Row 6, he knows Pocono is a different beast than other tracks. In that sense, even with Indianapolis Motor Speedway looming next Sunday with the return of the Brickyard 400, he does not foresee this Sunday’s race as a prelude to the crown jewel in Speedway, Indiana.
“I don’t think there’s anything similar to it,” Larson said during a bullpen session. “Even the corner that they say is modeled after it, it’s not. I’m sure there’s always something to always be taken each weekend. I’m sure the team will learn something.
“I didn’t get to do the test or anything like that. I think our cars have been pretty good on bigger style tracks so I would hope that we’re strong next week as well.”
