Auto Club Schedule | Starting Lineup
Kyle Larson is in search of his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season and second straight at Auto Club Speedway.
Larson won last year’s Auto Club 400, the first of three wins one tracks two-miles in length. The California native would like nothing more than to continue that success this weekend and take home victory number one of 2018.
“It’s just kind of a track that suits my driving style quite a bit,” Larson said. “I think that is why we have had a little bit of success here with a couple of Xfinity wins and the Cup win last year. We are just running the Cup car this weekend, but we should be good.”
Larson specifically likes racing at tracks that provide options. ACS does that in his opinion and thanks to its worn out surface creates the opportunity for drivers to use a number of different lines around the track.
“Having a fast racecar is probably the most important key to any race, but we were lucky enough to have a really fast car last year at a lot of tracks, but especially here,” Larson explained.
“I felt like when we got to this race, throughout practice, I felt like I had the car to win. It felt like that was the best Cup car I had ever had to that point. Was able to capitalize on it and get the win. I really enjoy this racetrack. It’s got a lot of different lanes to choose from. You have a lot of tire fall off. “
But despite his success at Michigan International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, two other intermediate tracks on the schedule, Larson doesn’t equate either to ACS.
“I don’t think it’s any similar to either track,” he said. “Atlanta is still way more worn out than this place is. And then, this place is still more worn out than Michigan. It doesn’t … like I don’t know I guess you drive this track differently than you do each of those two. So, I don’t know I would say it’s in the middle of those. It doesn’t really compare at all.”
See Also: Auto Club Race Winners
Larson is optimistic about his chances on Sunday but knows there will be several competitors, led by Kevin Harvick who is shooting for his fourth consecutive victory. But although he knows the competition will be stiff, Larson is confident in his Chip Ganassi Racing team.
“The No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) he will probably hit his stride here soon and people may forget what Harvick did early in the year, because that is kind of the dominance they had last year with the No. 78,” Larson said. “And then you know, us, hopefully we can get a little bit better and contend, but we just have to keep doing what we are doing and try and execute the races well and not make any mistakes and hopefully we can be running up front at the end. Have a good restart or something, good final pit stop and kind of steal a win.
“That is how a lot of these Cup wins come, but yeah, Harvick has been extremely dominant, but I don’t think we are too far off of that.”
