Kyle Larson likes his chances in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA. (Photo: Sean Folsom | The Podium Finish)
AUSTIN, Texas – In Kyle Larson’s past two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Circuit of the Americas, it has been a tale of two cities.
When COTA hosted its inaugural Cup race in 2021, Larson was among those in the mix before rain curtailed a potentially thrilling battle against Chase Elliott, the eventual victor.
Last year, Larson was nowhere to be found in the mix, hovering below the top 12 for a majority of the race before placing 29th.
Despite qualifying in the same position, 13th, for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Larson has one of the fastest cars at the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course.
As Larson can attest, those two results offered drastically different on track conditions.
“We’ve gotten both COTA’s I feel like,” Larson said in a Chevrolet press release. “(We got) the monsoon the first year, which was my first ever time really racing in the rain. So that was a blast. We came up a little short there because it started raining a little too hard and we had to call the race short. We were in position to win that one.
“Last year, I didn’t qualify well, didn’t race well and did a terrible job on restarts. I look forward to going back to hopefully do a better job behind the wheel, having a better setup under us and having a better opportunity to race for a win would be great.”
A bit of miscommunication toward the tail end of Group A qualifying cost Larson with a quality opportunity to battle for the pole on Saturday morning.
“Our car is good,” he said following Saturday’s qualifying session. “I (was) just was hoping to qualify a little better there. (We) just had some miscommunication or, or lack thereof, I guess, and didn’t make it out for the to make a second run in the first round.”
Still, the 30-year-old Elk Grove, California native remains optimistic about his chances given Hendrick Motorsports’ track record at road courses in the past five years. Not to mention, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion is a bit of a road course warrior with his victories at Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte ROVAL in 2021 followed by a win last year at the Glen.
Unlike those four wins in the past two seasons, this year’s race at COTA offers a new wrinkle. For Cup road course races, there will be no cautions between each stage.
In this case, it puts a premium on track position and more emphasis on the driver to avoid unforced errors.
Larson has been fast since the cars were unloaded from their haulers on Friday morning. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
“Yeah, it makes it makes it a little tougher just because I mean, potentially, you have less restarts less opportunity to get the field bunched up,” Larson said. “So the cars are all… everybody’s pretty tight on time. So that makes it a little tougher to pass. So we’ll see.
“But, you know, (we’ll) try and get get a handful here early in the race and then pick them off one by one.”
COTA’s incredible track size and corners offers Larson plentiful opportunities to put his plan into fruition, especially if his quick pace on Friday carries over into Sunday.
Maybe a 13th starting position will be a lucky one for Larson. (Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
“There’s so many corners. I think that’s what makes it makes it tough,” he said. “I mean, you could be off half a second, which looks like a lot, but it’s just a little bit here and there. And you’re right there. So you’re piecing all that together can get difficult, but it’s a flowy track, some heavy braking zones.
“It’s a fun place. It’s gotten to be definitely gotten rougher over the last year.”
Although the focus will be on William Byron, defending race winner Ross Chastain, and the road course ringers in Jordan Taylor, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Conor Daly, Larson is confident about his chances to score his first win of 2023.
“I think we definitely can,” he said. “I mean, our speed has been there. I feel like we’ve been in some sort of contention in every race so far. It’s just been a bit disappointing that we haven’t gotten to do any wins or really any consistently good finishes.”
