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Kyle Larson Looks To Carry Momentum Through The Round Of 8

by Camille Jones October 6, 2019 0 comments

Kyle Larson punched his ticket to the Round of 8 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a victory in Sunday’s Drydene 400 at Dover International Raceway.

Larson, driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet, broke a points race winless streak that spans back to the fall visit to Richmond Raceway in 2017. After making his way into the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Playoffs without a win, proving his ability to finish off a dominant performance provides a surge of confidence to the first team locked into the next round.

“Yeah, it’s always good to win, but to end a winless drought was good,” said Larson. “But you know, it’s not a shock, either. I feel like we’ve been running really well this year, aside from the beginning of the year, and even at the beginning of the year we had some good speed, I was just making a lot of mistakes. We were able to clean up what we’ve been doing on race days and executing and going about the races more patiently. Our car has been getting better the last couple months, so it was good to dominate a race like we did today.”

Heading to the risky Talladega Superspeedway next weekend, Larson won’t have to worry about the unknown or try to strategize his way into a win. He can also relax the following weekend at Kansas Speedway, where he’ll work his magic while watching the rest of the field battle their way to making it into the Round of 8.

Larson looks forward to the next round, but he knows the Round of 8 will pose a challenge to each competitor. Getting an early win doesn’t solidify his chance to make a run for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

“You know, depending on who makes it out of this round, I’m still going to be a ways back on points to Martin (Truex Jr.), Kyle (Busch), Kevin (Harvick), Joey (Logano) to start the next round,” Larson said. “To start today, I was like 18 points back of (Brad) Keselowski, so like that’s still a lot to overcome. It’s going to be even bigger probably to start the next round.”

Larson continued and said, “But you know, Texas we could go there and win. We could go to Phoenix and have a good shot to win, Martinsville, hopefully we can go have a good run there. But we’ll see. It’s just nice to get a win, get some playoff points and just kind of chip away at our deficit that we’re in – not in, but compared to those guys.”

Larson’s victory in Sunday’s Drydene 400 marks the sixth victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, coming in his 213^th start. His win was the first that he has captured in the 2019 season, and it marked his 15th top-10 finish of the season.

As the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway, Larson is the first driver locked into the Round of 8, but he sits fifth in the points standings, 32 points behind Truex in the lead position.

The 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will broadcast live on NBC and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 13.

Photo Credit: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images