Kyle Larson fought hard to finish second in Sunday’s Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had a chance to get the lead and possible win late in a battle with Martin Truex Jr. On the day’s final restart, Larson and Truex Jr. put on a furious struggle for the top spot before last year’s series champion was able to get the advantage and drive away to the win.
“Yeah, I actually liked that the 78 (Truex Jr.) tried to pull down and block me a little bit because it messed his angle up to the corner,” Larson explained of the fight for the lead. “I knew he would have to slow down a little more on entry and I was hoping I could get close enough to him to get him loose. Which I did, but I also got kind of loose behind him.
“So I just had to tuck back in line on exit and then had to try and fight off the 18 and the 4 behind me. I was just trying to stay lower than them on exit to get them tight.
“I am happy we finished second because we were probably a sixth or seventh place car today and to finish better than where you run is always a good thing.”
While Larson was overall pleased with the runner-up finish, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver is still looking for his first win of the season. He believes his team needs to find another gear to get back to being more competitive for wins on a weekly basis.
“Our DC Solar Chevy was competitive, but needs to be a little bit better to compete with the 18 (Kyle Busch), the 4 (Kevin Harvick), and the 78, Larson said. “They are definitely the class of the field. We are close and we are getting a little bit better, but so are they. So we just have to keep working hard.”
