Larson Hopes Balance of Patience, Aggression Can Deliver Big Brickyard Victory

At 2.5 miles, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the second-longest oval in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, along with Pocono Raceway and the Daytona International Speedway.

It’s also one of the faster tracks, with pole speeds in the high 180-mph range and straightaway speeds tickling 200 mph.

But Cup Series star Kyle Larson thinks a balance of tactical patience and aggression is the secret to speed in the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line on Sunday, Sept. 9 at IMS.

“Each corner drives different, for sure,” Larson said. “It makes it tough on the crew chiefs trying to find the right balance. The drivers kind of need to have the right driving style to get around here.

“It’s definitely a place where I feel like slower is faster. The easier drive, the better off you are throughout longer runs. Your more patient racers seem to pay off here, but it’s also a tough place to pass, so restarts are always intense. It makes for some exciting racing.”

Larson, from Elk Grove, California, has balanced the scales of driving styles well in his first four career starts at the Brickyard. He has three top-10 finishes, with a best of fifth in 2015, for Chip Ganassi Racing.

That past success marks Larson, 26, as one of the favorites for victory in the 25th Running of the annual NASCAR classic at IMS. He is winless so far in 2018 after recording four victories in a breakout 2017 season that secured his status as one of the top young talents in the sport.

Despite no victories this season, Larson clinched a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs with a hard-fought runner-up finish Saturday, Aug. 18 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It will be his third consecutive season in the NASCAR Playoffs, as he finished ninth in 2016 and eighth in 2017.

“We’ve had a good season; I would say it hasn’t been great lately,” Larson said. “We started off the year really good. It’s tailed off a little bit here recently.

“So we have some work to do heading into the Playoffs, and hopefully it’s not too late to find some speed. We’ve got a great team, and we work really hard. A lot of times we finish better than where we should run. So if we can get some good luck, maybe we can make a good run in the Playoffs.”

The Brickyard will play a new, pivotal role in the Cup Series this year by moving to the last race of the regular season, where the 16-driver Playoffs field will be set. There’s a 79-point gap between 16th-place Alex Bowman and 17th-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr., so it’s a pretty safe bet that winning at the Brickyard will be the only way for a driver outside of the top 16 to sneak into the Playoffs at IMS.

That could breed some unique strategies for winless drivers outside of the top 16 during the Brickyard, and the longer distance of the IMS oval lends itself to creativity from the pit box.

“There’s strategy that can come into any race, but with the track being as big as it is and pitting and not losing a lap and things like that at Indy, it opens some strategy for teams,” Larson said. “You might see some desperation out of those guys, but it’s still going to be the fastest car is going to win the race.”

Expect Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet to be among the fastest cars Sept. 7-9 at IMS. Besides Larson’s strong past performances, Chip Ganassi Racing has a legacy of speed at this event. Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the 2009 and 2010 races without winning, and Jamie McMurray delivered Ganassi his sole victory in the Brickyard in 2010.

Larson knows the importance of racing at IMS to team boss Ganassi, who has been a team owner or part-owner in five Indianapolis 500 victories.

“Chip’s pretty laid back all throughout the season, but I feel when we come to Indy, he definitely puts a little more pressure on everybody to do good,” Larson said. “It’s a good place for us, and hopefully this is the year we can put Chip back into Victory Lane at Indy.”

Indy also is one of Larson’s favorite stops on the NASCAR tour. Larson and his fiancée, Katelyn Sweet, spend Brickyard race week catching up and going out to dinner with numerous Indiana-based friends from his USAC racing days before he moved to NASCAR in 2012.

Larson raced in USAC Silver Crown, Sprint Car and Midget competition, becoming just the second driver – the legendary Jack Hewitt was the first – to win all three USAC classes in the same night in the 2011 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway.

One of his fiercest rivals during the 2011 season was Bryan Clauson, a three-time USAC National Drivers Champion from 2010-12, with National Midget titles in 2010, 2011 and 2015 and National Sprint Car titles in 2012 and 2013.

Larson and his fiancée and Clauson and his fiancée, Lauren Stewart, put their rivalry aside after Larson moved to NASCAR in 2012, becoming close friends. They stayed with Clauson and Stewart when visiting Indy and helped Stewart try to cope with Clauson’s tragic death in a racing accident in August 2016. Stewart will serve as a bridesmaid for Sweet in her wedding to Larson this fall.

So the inaugural USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Race at the new Dirt Track at IMS, the Driven2SaveLives BC39 Presented by NOS Energy Drink on Sept. 5-6, is especially poignant and meaningful for Larson. The race is named after Clauson, nicknamed “BC,” and features primary sponsorship from the Indiana Donor Network’s “Driven2SaveLives” campaign, an important cause for the Clauson family since numerous lives were saved from Bryan’s organ donation.

“It’s nice to see so many things in his honor since his passing,” Larson said. “It’s awesome. Having the race be named the BC39 is a cool deal. Bryan had a huge impact on dirt racing, and when he passed he had a huge impact on life, being a donor. So for everybody to show their honor with him is really neat.”