| Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Ruby Camaro ZL1 – Pole Win Quotes
Obviously a big weekend, but how important – given all of the different variables going into Sunday – is track position early in the race at Martinsville?
“Yeah, we’ve all seen passing on short-tracks have been really difficult in the Next Gen cars. So, I think qualifying has been more important than it has ever been here these last few years. So yeah, I mean getting track position on Saturday, qualifying well, usually pays dividends as long as your team can execute on Sunday. It’s great to get another pole on a short-track, back-to-back weekends. I felt like it really helped our race out last week, and as long as we execute tomorrow, it should help our race out, as well.”
Big weekend for the team, but also a cool little stat – 50th career national series pole, combined, for drivers that have come out of the Drive for Diversity Program. Talk a little bit about just what the program meant for you coming up in your career and what you’ve seen as it’s evolved the last few years.
“Yeah, that’s great stat to hear. I was in the program 12 years ago or so, and it did a lot for my career then to gain experience. That was really my introduction to pavement racing, especially in stock cars. To kind of see how it has evolved over the years and the equipment that they have now, it seems really good. Drivers are able to go out there and compete at a high level now. Hats off to everybody that’s part of the Drive for Diversity Program. It’s always growing and getting better.”
A thousandth of a second difference between you and Bubba (Wallace). Obviously, you guys had a good conversation after the end of last weekend’s race. It seems like there’s good respect between the two of you. What was the conversation, if there was any, on pit road when you were driving by after winning the pole?
“Yeah, it’s cool to get a pole, but to edge Bubba (Wallace) out – because he’s got a big personality, I knew he would come up and say something on pit road. No, I think we do – although we’ve had our couple run ins along the way – I do think we have a lot of respect for each other and all of that. I respect him in and out of the race car and what he puts into everything. Yeah, he’s a passionate person – good and bad sometimes.
But no, it’s always fun to compete with him and have good battles.”
Did you know you have Linda Hendrick’s name on your car, and just what do you think will be the emotions will be tomorrow with that car leading the field?
“Yeah, I didn’t know I was going to have their names on the car until I was driving up to Martinsville today. I thought that was a really nice touch. And yeah, it’s just special. Anytime you can do anything good at Hendrick Motorsports, they’re very proud of us. They are just two of the greatest people I’ve ever got to meet. I’ve really enjoyed this year with the offseason stuff, the get togethers we’ve had as a company and a team, because we’ve really gotten to see Linda open up a lot; get up and give speeches and things. She’s always been really quiet whenever I’ve been around and all that, but this year, I’ve noticed that Rick has put a lot of – I don’t know if pressure is the right word, but he just hands the mic over to her and she always says the right thing. Her speeches are amazing. Yeah, that’s been neat. Having her name on the side of our car here this weekend is definitely special.”
When you entered Hendrick Motorsports and you think back to when you knew of this team just as a perspective driver, how cool is it now to really look at the full circle that you know how important this team is in this sport; how important it is for you and now tomorrow you’ll be going out there and racing in that red car?
“Yeah, I think this season with it being their 40th season as an organization, I think a lot of history gets brought up. Good history and you see more stats, I feel like, this year because it’s such a milestone year for the organization. Yeah, just hearing stories and all of that is really neat – to see where they’ve come from their beginnings. Rick and Linda kind of talking about before they were ever into motorsports – like getting to that point is a neat story, a great story.
Yeah, for them to go from this potentially being their last race ever 40 years ago, to winning it, and seeing what it’s been built to now – it’s just amazing. They are the greatest team in this sport, and I don’t think you could argue that. Just what Rick and Linda have built together is pretty amazing.” |
