Kyle Larson is a favorite by margin among the drivers to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship this season.
What a season Larson has had this year. Just last season, his NASCAR career was in tatters and now he is the best driver the series has had. Nobody comes close to his total of nine wins this season. It is already a very successful season by everyone’s standard but Larson will surely be eyeing the cream of the crop in the Championship title. And right now, it seems like the title is his to lose.
The talent was always there but the way he has translated his talent into results is a big surprise for many but not for Rick Hendrick who knows from close how good his driver is.
“I think the word was, before this year, that Kyle was fast but he couldn’t close, he couldn’t run a 500-mile race and be there at the end,” said team owner Rick Hendrick. “He’s proven everybody wrong in that area.
“You know when a guy’s fast, he’s capable. But then I’ve witnessed him being so good at managing his tires and giving up a little bit in one part of the race to be better at the end, give up a little bit early in the run to be good at the end of the run.
“That takes a lot of patience. When you couple patience and understanding of what the tire and car can do, then you put that talent with it, you see the results this year. I’ve been amazed at how he can control a race.”
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With wins comes confidence and Larson has a lot of both of them. And if we go by Hedrick’s word, motivation is at its peak in the No. 5 driver.
“He believes that he can drive anything, and he believes he can win in anything,” Hendrick said. “That confidence builds a lot of – he just gets in a car ready to go.”
This seems like just the beginning of Kyle Larson’s era and a championship will be a perfect opportunity to signal its beginning.
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