Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kyle Larson Talks NASCAR Playoffs!

Transcript

Kyle Larson Talks NASCAR Playoffs! · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Kyle, you've got one for your legacy.
• 0:03
  What is more important, a Daytona 500 win or NASCAR
• 0:06
  championship? I don't know.
• 0:08
  I mean that's tough to tough to say, right.
• 0:11
  I mean, I would like both I would like a Daytona 500 and
• 0:14
  another championship, but so I I don't really know how to answer
• 0:19
  that. I think for me the next
• 0:21
  opportunity I have to add one of those on my resume would be a
• 0:24
  championship. So right now I would say a
• 0:26
  championship, but I for sure want a Daytona 500.
• 0:31
  I mean, I think I think that's the last crown jewel that's left
• 0:35
  for me to win on my resume, NASCAR.
• 0:37
  So would love to. Now you make the final four.
• 0:42
  Let's just assume this moving forward.
• 0:44
  Who are the three drivers you absolutely want to have with you
• 0:46
  in Phoenix? Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and
• 0:49
  William Byron I. Should have known that.
• 0:51
  Answer of course. Team race that's.
• 0:54
  Right now, do you feel NASCAR needs to change anything in the
• 0:56
  playoff point system right now? For future years, I mean, I
• 1:02
  don't know, I would, I don't. It's so easy.
• 1:05
  Like we could easily answer that question, but I just don't know
• 1:08
  that they would ever change it to like what we would feel is
• 1:13
  more fair for the final. You know, what decides the
• 1:15
  champion. So like, I don't think that it
• 1:18
  should and I don't think any of us think that you should just go
• 1:20
  to one track and decide the champion.
• 1:22
  I think it should be spread across you probably three
• 1:26
  different style disciplines of race tracks.
• 1:29
  But in November that's tough to do or late October, November
• 1:32
  that's that's tough to do. So it would have to they would
• 1:35
  drastically have to change their schedule.
• 1:37
  I think to, you know, guarantee that we're not going to run into
• 1:41
  any weather sort of stuff they've.
• 1:43
  Done that, though, they've made strides over the last.
• 1:46
  Ten years. Oh for sure.
• 1:46
  I mean the schedule is a lot nicer and way more compelling in
• 1:52
  the format too. Is is really compelling as well.
• 1:55
  It's just probably not the most fair, you know, when it comes
• 1:58
  down to the final race. Thanks.
• 2:12
  Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm like, I don't
• 2:15
  love seeing Atlanta in in the playoffs at all, and even
• 2:19
  Watkins Glen for that matter, just because, yes, they're I
• 2:22
  like those tracks. They're just, you know, sketchy
• 2:24
  places. But if they're going to be in
• 2:26
  the playoffs, I would rather than be in the first round than,
• 2:28
  you know, the second or third round.
• 2:29
  So, yeah, I mean, I think you having the bonus points and the
• 2:33
  playoff points that we've earned throughout the regular season is
• 2:36
  nice, but it still doesn't guarantee anything.
• 2:39
  So still got to, you know, not run into any trouble, especially
• 2:45
  in back-to-back weeks. And, you know, hopefully you can
• 2:47
  just make it through. I was just.
• 2:49
  Going to say winning a championship in this one, How
• 2:51
  did that in any way impact how you entered the next how does
• 2:59
  going? Through that game.
• 3:04
  The next time you have. That opportunity, I don't really
• 3:07
  remember. I don't really think it impacted
• 3:09
  my thought process on the playoffs much at all.
• 3:12
  I think I've always had a good approach to the playoffs and
• 3:14
  just taking it week by week and and, you know, trying not to you
• 3:20
  put yourself in too big of a hole.
• 3:23
  But in 2022, I, you know, I crashed at the roble and, you
• 3:28
  know, towards the tail end of the race and you missed out on
• 3:30
  advancing in the next round and the driver's points.
• 3:33
  But we made in the owner points and and then you'll win on the
• 3:36
  final four that year with the owners.
• 3:38
  But see, I mean, I don't, I don't really think it's changed
• 3:42
  much even after winning championship.
• 3:43
  Do you want to go into this thinking it's going to be?
• 3:45
  A certain couple of guys that you're going to have to be.
• 3:50
  I mean, are you looking at the? Championship as.
• 3:53
  It's me against Red or it's me against Val.
• 3:55
  Are those guys or do you really just kind of?
• 3:57
  Focus. On.
• 3:59
  Yourself, yeah. I mean, it's you definitely have
• 4:01
  like your favorites and guys who are really fast every week.
• 4:04
  But it's NASCAR and Next Gen. racing, so, you know, it's
• 4:09
  always crazy and, you know, there's always there's always a
• 4:14
  couple heavy guys that get knocked out somewhat early you
• 4:19
  that could very well be deserving champions.
• 4:22
  So, yeah, it's hard to predict who's going to be in the Final
• 4:25
  four. But yeah, I mean, there's
• 4:27
  definitely some good teams that have the best shot currently.
• 4:30
  But like I said, you a lot of stuff can happen and there's
• 4:33
  usually always a team or two that, you know, turns things up
• 4:37
  a lot in the playoffs and executes really well and and
• 4:40
  makes it pretty far. Maybe not to the Final four
• 4:42
  every year, but can make it really far.
• 4:44
  You mentioned. Lip Watkins playing could be
• 4:47
  sketchy, but you've won twice. Ender was dominated there within
• 4:51
  the last five races. Why do you not have more
• 4:54
  confidence going in there as as good as?
• 4:58
  You run because it's a road course and yeah, you can totally
• 5:01
  blow a corner and you'll fall back into the 20s or worse and
• 5:05
  never recover from it. But yeah, I mean, we have been
• 5:09
  good there. From what I've heard.
• 5:12
  Going back, I think our tires are going to be way softer.
• 5:15
  So the fall off supposed to be a lot more.
• 5:17
  So I don't think that you can totally rely on results from the
• 5:22
  past either. So I don't know, we might not be
• 5:24
  as dominant as we've been there either.
• 5:26
  So yeah, it's just a little bit of unknowns going into walk and
• 5:30
  swim. No, no, I I don't care about
• 5:43
  odds really. Yeah, I don't.
• 5:47
  I think just like I said it, NASCAR, especially in these the
• 5:51
  next genera is just crazy. So you know you can.
• 5:55
  There's so much inconsistency these days that you can easily
• 6:00
  find yourself in trouble. Doesn't matter if you have a 35
• 6:03
  or 40 point buffer to the cut line.
• 6:05
  Currently I remember. You and I, when you look at the
• 6:08
  points, you said he was the one that that surprised you, that
• 6:14
  said he could steal this thing. And then there it was, one
• 6:17
  point. Over you on.
• 6:17
  Sunday does that kind of has to kind of make a chuckle a little
• 6:21
  bit, but that. Yeah, no, I mean, it doesn't
• 6:24
  make me chuckle at all, but no, it's yeah, No, he just, they
• 6:31
  were like quietly really good. And then, you know, once he
• 6:35
  strung together like 3 whatever seconds it seemed like in a row
• 6:38
  or second and thirds. You're like, OK there, it's not
• 6:41
  that quiet anymore. And then, yeah, he's just done a
• 6:45
  really good job as well as that team.
• 6:46
  And it's been amazing to see a team that fresh and new you'll
• 6:51
  be at the top of the sport. So they've done a great job.
• 6:55
  So yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't surprised by any means.
• 7:00
  I mean, he just, like I said, he was just quietly doing really
• 7:02
  good there for a minute. And then, yeah, I mean, it's
• 7:06
  like, oh wow, he's he's right there.
• 7:07
  And then he, we all still continue to be inconsistent
• 7:12
  after that. You know, Denny and myself and
• 7:16
  you even Chase had a couple rough finishes.
• 7:20
  I wasn't, I just saw him earlier and I was like, dude, I had no
• 7:23
  idea you were sick at all during the race.
• 7:26
  I went to congratulate him and he wasn't around.
• 7:31
  And they're like, oh, he got really sick.
• 7:33
  Like he had to go. He's in the motorhome right now.
• 7:34
  I'm like, oh, I didn't know that.
• 7:37
  And then yeah, then I was, you know, catching up on Twitter
• 7:39
  afterwards. I don't know.
• 7:55
  I mean, like I always feel like the Penske guys, at least the
• 8:00
  next genera, you turn it up and they've obviously you won the
• 8:03
  last two championships. So I guess the only two
• 8:06
  championships in the Next Gen. area and, and they've been, they
• 8:09
  were really quiet I feel like before the playoffs, which
• 8:12
  Blaney's been a lot better this year.
• 8:14
  Like like kind of how he ended the year last year.
• 8:16
  So I mean, yeah, I mean, you can never count out Logano.
• 8:20
  I think William too. They've been getting quietly
• 8:23
  better here the last year, 3 or 4 weeks.
• 8:26
  And yeah, I think he could be another one to to, you know,
• 8:28
  really light it up. Is that still possible with this
• 8:40
  car? I hadn't really thought about
• 8:41
  that, but yeah, I mean, it's been done before twice.
• 8:43
  So yeah, I think it could totally be done again.
• 8:47
  But yeah, it'd be, it's really tough. 55 half.
• 8:53
  That'd be half of 10. That's half of 10, Jenna.
• 9:00
  See, I mean, I think it could be done.
• 9:03
  Do you've seen guys win back-to-back races or you know,
• 9:08
  three out of five or something like that?
• 9:10
  So I mean, I could for sure be done.
• 9:11
  It's just tougher it seems like these days.
• 9:13
  Is there a particular? Strength title for this team in
• 9:15
  the playoffs or you're confident you guys could be good and get
• 9:18
  the job? Done.
• 9:20
  Yeah, I mean, I think, I think our strengths is our our speed,
• 9:24
  we're really fast it I feel like every racetrack Rd. courses, you
• 9:30
  know, super speedways, all that your execution is, is I know it
• 9:36
  might not seem like that at times, but I think our execution
• 9:38
  is is great. And I think we've also overcome
• 9:42
  a lot of, you know, adversity at times.
• 9:46
  So I think I think we're well-rounded as a team and you
• 9:51
  know, we've gone to the final four the last three years.
• 9:55
  So I think that gives a lot of confidence as well Does.
• 9:58
  Your team have any sort of a lack of a better way to put it,
• 10:01
  like a raw thing heading into the playoffs, I mean.
• 10:07
  Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, we had like a team get
• 10:18
  together like a dinner last week, but that wasn't really
• 10:23
  like a rah rah thing. It's more like a just a, it's
• 10:25
  been a long year, you know, saying thanks to the wives and
• 10:28
  girlfriends and families and stuff and, you know, looking
• 10:33
  forward to the, you know, at that time, next 11 races.
• 10:38
  But yeah, I mean, it's like, I won't say that the intensity
• 10:42
  within our race team or intensity in the shop doesn't
• 10:45
  ramp up a little bit because I'm sure it does.
• 10:47
  But I do think Hendrick Motorsports and especially the
• 10:50
  five team operates at such a high level every single day that
• 10:54
  it doesn't change that much. You don't once we get to the
• 10:57
  playoffs. So yeah, I, I don't know.
• 11:01
  I'm not in the shop either every day, but I don't feel like it
• 11:04
  changes a whole lot. I do think it's a little bit
• 11:06
  more intense, but not not much. I don't know.
• 11:13
  Especially with the regular season championship.
• 11:17
  Yeah, yeah, that would be that would be tough.
• 11:19
  I don't know. I've never been like sick in
• 11:23
  that way. So I'm not sure.
• 11:25
  I'm not sure. He was close to vomiting and he
• 11:28
  wanted to vomit. Like how dangerous is that to
• 11:31
  vomit inside? Your helmet, I don't know.
• 11:35
  I've never vomited inside my helmet.
• 11:38
  I don't know. I don't think it would.
• 11:39
  I mean it depends on like how projectile it might get, you
• 11:43
  know, so and you have a head sock, so at least I do.
• 11:47
  So I would probably keep it over my mouth and maybe wood forest
• 11:49
  it down, then up. But I don't know, I think, I
• 11:56
  think it'd be harder. I think it'd be easier to let it
• 11:58
  go out the other end and then yeah, then then out your mouth.
• 12:03
  So yeah, hopefully don't run into that.
• 12:32
  Honestly, I feel like I do have a lot of confidence every time I
• 12:37
  go to a superspeedway these days because although it might be
• 12:41
  easy to forget in Daytona's most recent, you know, race.
• 12:44
  So it's easy to remember like how strong were.
• 12:47
  We're that strong at every superspeedway race.
• 12:49
  We're up front at the ends of the races almost every time and
• 12:56
  just get caught up in something. So yeah, I just, it's got to
• 13:01
  work out eventually. As you know, I think it was
• 13:07
  Denny's said on his podcast or something this week, like the
• 13:09
  law of averages have to change eventually.
• 13:11
  So that's kind of how I feel. So I feel like we do an amazing
• 13:16
  job of executing a great super spewer race from start to
• 13:20
  finish. And and yeah, I would agree that
• 13:22
  Daytona was probably our our best one today.
• 13:26
  But like I said, we've been up front at almost all of the Super
• 13:29
  speed bays since I've been at Hendrick.
• 13:38
  Intensity. Do you know how the drivers
• 13:40
  will? React.
• 13:41
  Do you feel like they'll react any different than you all?
• 13:44
  Always know, I guess, You know, I don't know, I, I haven't
• 13:47
  really thought about it a whole lot.
• 13:48
  I think. I think you could see playoff
• 13:50
  guys maybe being less aggressive and less intense, but then the
• 13:53
  guys who didn't make the playoffs and have no shot at win
• 13:56
  the championship being like in, you know, effort mode and like
• 14:00
  don't even really care and being crazy.
• 14:03
  So I don't know. We'll see at the.
• 14:06
  Beginning of the year, we all sit around we ask if they hey,
• 14:08
  what's your expectations expectations make the playoffs
• 14:11
  now you're here. You're no stranger to this, but
• 14:14
  what do you put your odds at making the Final Four in
• 14:16
  Phoenix? And what are the trouble spots
• 14:17
  along the way to get to that that?
• 14:20
  Goal. I don't know what our odds would
• 14:21
  be, but no, I feel strong that we can have a great playoffs.
• 14:28
  I would hope that you can make the final four, but it just gets
• 14:30
  tougher and tougher each round. But you know, there's there's
• 14:34
  good tracks for us in each round too.
• 14:36
  There's obviously tracks in each round that are a little bit, you
• 14:39
  know, more worrisome than than others.
• 14:42
  But you know, I think, I think we're strong at every place.
• 14:45
  So as long as we can execute at a high level, I think we'll be
• 14:48
  OK. Are you?
• 14:50
  A better driver? On the track or off the track?
• 14:54
  Yeah, I'm probably better on the track, although that would be,
• 14:57
  you know, you could argue that as well.
• 14:59
  So I crash a lot. I haven't crashed on the road,
• 15:02
  but I'm not a great smooth driver, knock on wood.
• 15:06
  No, I haven't. I know.
• 15:08
  Well, I know it would. Make news, but it's whole life.
• 15:14
  You may not have known. Yeah.
• 15:15
  No, no, never. No.
• 15:17
  Caitlin's actually one that's, you know, damaged her vehicles,
• 15:20
  so doing stupid stuff. I think when she was younger,
• 15:22
  like, she thought she could, like, hydroplane through a
• 15:25
  little Creek to get on the other side of the Creek and didn't
• 15:28
  quite make it. I know.
• 15:31
  Yeah. So she, she's got no room to
• 15:33
  make fun of me because she's terrible as well.
• 15:35
  Can I? Write that is.
• 15:37
  It OK? I don't care.
• 15:39
  She'll laugh. No, no, she ain't going nowhere.
• 15:44
  Yeah. Nice.
• 15:45
  Trip. Yeah, thanks have.
• 15:48
  You. Made a decision on.
• 15:51
  India, have I made a decision? I've made a decision, but yeah,
• 15:55
  no, yeah, no, I would love to, I would love to.
• 16:00
  I think that we're still working on it, but it's it's
• 16:03
  progressing. So I like that.
• 16:05
  But obviously things can always change.
• 16:07
  So yeah, I would, I would love to I yeah, for sure.
• 16:11
  Because I mean, I didn't get to do the double this year.
• 16:13
  So that's, I mean, that's really why I wanted to do it.
• 16:17
  I mean, I obviously wanted to compete in the 500, but more
• 16:20
  than anything I wanted to do the double and have a chance of
• 16:22
  winning one of the two or both. So.
• 16:25
  And I felt like, yeah, I just didn't get that opportunity this
• 16:28
  year. I I mean, no, but because yeah,
• 16:40
  but I think, I think I don't know what their schedule looks
• 16:43
  like. Oh, otherwise could they run
• 16:46
  like Xfinity though if he. Gave.
• 16:52
  Up qualifying, yeah Dang, gotcha.
• 16:58
  Yeah Oh yeah. I mean, I guarantee Rick would
• 17:05
  put him in the Xfinity car if if you know, if you get because I
• 17:08
  doubt that Cup guys will be allowed to run it.
• 17:10
  You know, like we weren't allowed to Chicago the Xfinity
• 17:13
  car. So I guarantee.
• 17:16
  I mean, I don't I won't say guarantee, but I would I would
• 17:19
  think that he would allow Pato to run the 17.
• 17:22
  Have you heard? From.
• 17:26
  Pato I haven't, no. Yeah, I I'd seen.
• 17:29
  I would. I would be.
• 17:30
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 17:31
  That was great. I like that.
• 17:34
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 17:35
  Pato's. Yeah.
• 17:37
  I think he's more famous than a lot of people realize.
• 17:39
  Have you seen? Any like his personality and the
• 17:42
  way he engages with his fans? Do you see?
• 17:48
  That much anywhere else in any other series that you learn
• 17:51
  yeah, I mean I do, but they're not like I think there's guys
• 17:55
  like in the Cup series that do, but they're not, you know the
• 17:58
  top two or three guy in the Cup series doing that.
• 18:01
  You know where he. Yeah, where Pato's, you know one
• 18:05
  of the best in IndyCar and he's and he's got the personalities
• 18:08
  engaging and all that and I think that's that's a great
• 18:10
  thing for the sport. You know on a much smaller
• 18:13
  level, like Rico would be that guy in Sprint cars.
• 18:16
  Like he's a lot like Pato, you know, does a lot on social
• 18:21
  media, you know, does a lot at the racetrack, all that.
• 18:25
  So there's guys, you know, in every discipline that do it.
• 18:28
  But I think Pato makes an impact because he's you're one of the
• 18:32
  top guys. I don't know, I don't, I don't
• 18:50
  view it as pressure. I just view it as as
• 18:52
  opportunity. I think, you know, so right now
• 18:55
  we have 10 more opportunities to win a race and then also a
• 18:59
  championship, you know, which would be great in Bricks 40th
• 19:02
  season. So yeah, just got to try and
• 19:05
  execute and and hopefully we'll have ourselves an opportunity to
• 19:08
  do that. No, yeah, I think in the
• 19:17
  playoffs you just need to survive and, you know, take each
• 19:21
  week, week by week. Yeah, obviously if you're down
• 19:24
  to a must win situation at the end of the round and yeah, I
• 19:27
  mean checkers or wreckers if if that's in front of you.
• 19:30
  But yeah, it's just I think I think more times than not, if
• 19:35
  you can just grab some stage points, finish around the top
• 19:38
  ten, you can you can have a decent, decent playoffs with
• 19:41
  your. Regular season.
• 19:43
  Do you think if you. Are not in.
• 19:48
  The final four it's going to be, I don't know.
• 19:50
  I, I've not, I try not to think about missing the final four.
• 19:55
  So you're right now our plan is to do a good job and then give
• 20:00
  ourselves an opportunity at Phoenix.
• 20:01
  So you know, if we happen to miss the final four then I can
• 20:06
  try and judge if it's a bad season or not.
• 20:08
  But we've already got four wins at this point so I wouldn't call
• 20:11
  that a bad year. Do you think the wild card
• 20:15
  aspect of round one? Yeah, yeah.
• 20:24
  No, I mean, I think definitely the first round is the most wild
• 20:28
  card round just with Atlanta especially and then, you know,
• 20:32
  Watkins Glen in there as well, Bristol.
• 20:36
  So, yeah, I mean, I think for us, you know, we it's nice that
• 20:39
  we've earned the playoff points that we have to this point, but
• 20:43
  you can't rely on it, you know, fully either.
• 20:45
  So yeah, just try to hopefully have a a decent showing in
• 20:50
  Atlanta and and then take you take the next week as it comes.
• 21:06
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no doubt. I mean, it's not it's not just
• 21:12
  Phoenix Bell has been by far the best on flat short tracks this
• 21:17
  year. Like not even close.
• 21:18
  So yeah, I think, you know, if he happened to make it, I mean,
• 21:22
  he's the heavy, heavy favorite. Yeah.
• 21:37
  No, I mean, I I don't at all get confident in the points that we
• 21:40
  have. It's nice.
• 21:42
  But you know, I've been in rounds where I've I think I was
• 21:45
  like 20 something points. Good on the cut line and missed
• 21:49
  making it to the next round. So yeah, it's nice to have those
• 21:52
  points. You work hard to earn them.
• 21:54
  But yeah, they aren't. They don't mean everything.