MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
ISM RACEWAY
BLUEGREEN VACATIONS 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
NOVEMBER 8, 2019
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1, Media Breakout Session Highlights:
HAVE YOU TALKED TO BUBBA WALLACE AT ALL AFTER THAT CAUTION? ARE YOU STILL MAD A WEEK LATER?
“No, I haven’t talked to Bubba (Wallace). It’s not an issue with him personally. It is what it is. Like I said, afterwards you can be mad, but I’m still 23 points down. It doesn’t matter, we have to go out here and have a good weekend. We’ll try to get a lot of points and try to win also. I just look forward to the challenge.”
DID YOU TALK TO ANYONE AT NASCAR? WILL YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY IF YOU HAVE A FLAT NOW BECAUSE OF THE WAY THEY’VE CALLED THINGS THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS?
“My luck, I’ll probably get a flat on Sunday, cause a caution and I’ll get sent to the garage or something (laughs). I’ll get made an example of or something like that. But no, I haven’t talked to anyone from NASCAR. I understand it’s a judgement call, but there’s so much data out there now that I don’t think it’s as much of a judgement call as people think it might be.”
YOU WERE TALKING AFTER THE RACE ABOUT A POTENTIAL PENALTY. HAS YOUR OPINION CHANGED ON THAT OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE NASCAR SHOULD STILL STEP IN AND DETERMINE IF SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING INTENTIALLY?
“I’m just a driver, so I don’t really know exactly what the proper thing is, whether it’s a penalty or fine. They’re good at coming up with that stuff. But I don’t know, it affects the race. It saves them, but it can hurt guys. Sometimes you end up on the right side of it and whatnot. But last week, we didn’t so obviously that’s why I was upset. We all have done it; I’ve done it. I got penalized a lap and still was able to recover and win. We’ve all done it, but it can affect the race. I don’t really know, I guess I’ve said it all about it now.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE TOO MUCH WAS MADE OF IT LAST WEEK?
“Yeah, I didn’t expect walking in here we would still be talking about this. I thought we would all be over it by Tuesday, but it’s Friday.”
IT’S HARD TO GET OVER IT WITH THESE THREE RACE ROUNDS AND EVERY CALL IS SO PIVOTAL ISN’T IT?
“Yeah, I mean every lap of the race is pivotal when you get in the playoffs and you’re still in the playoffs. I don’t know, I’m over it.”
WHAT ABOUT HERE THIS WEEKEND? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO ACCOMPLISH?
“We had a decent practice there. I need to get a lot better on the long runs. I’ve raced well here the last few years, so I’d like to hope that I can challenge for the win. It seems like there are a handful of cars that are really fast, especially on the long runs. So, we have to get better at that.”
HOW DO YOU SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THE OTHER GUYS BELOW THE CUT LINE?
“When you’re below the cut line and more than 20 points back, you definitely figure that you have to win. But, at the same time, you look at Denny (Hamlin) having the week that he had last week and I think it was like a 44-point swing or something they said. If Kyle (Busch) or Joey (Logano) have issues, then it turns into it not being a must win situation. I just need to out perform Denny (Hamlin) and Ryan (Blaney), and then hope that Chase (Elliott) doesn’t win. You just have to wait to see how the race plays out.”
WHERE THE TRACTION COMPOUND IS LOCATED, IS IT GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
“Yeah, I think it’s too high. But the good thing about that is that they can continue to spray and bring it lower. We’ll see what they do. Hopefully, they bring it a little bit lower, especially in three and four it seems really high. One and two, it could be a few feet lower maybe; mostly entry I think into one. Three and four, I think, needs to be a full groove lower.”
“You usually don’t even get that high in the race. If you do, it’s towards the very end of the race. So, you would like use it earlier on in the race. I think if they can move it down, we would be able to use it sooner.”
SINCE KURT (BUSCH) HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS, HAS HE BEEN TRYING TO BE A SECOND SET OF EYES FOR YOU ON THE RACE TRACK?
“Typically in the regular season, you try and fight for your position pretty hard because every point matter. There have been a few times this year I’d catch him and he’d let me go. So, that helps me. It honestly doesn’t seem much different because we already work pretty well together. He’s a great teammate and with I’m being knocked out, he’s even better I guess.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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