September 3, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Larson wants to add the Southern 500 to his list of Crown Jewel wins

DARLINGTON, S.C.—Kyle Larson has won a NASCAR Cup, the Knoxville Nationals, the King’s Royal and two Golden Drillers for consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals victories.

What race is next atop his bucket list? The Southern 500.

Of course, when you ask drivers what race they want to win the most, many will answer the next one. For Larson, not only is the Southern 500 ‘the next one,’ but the Darlington Raceway event kicks off the first race in the first round of the 2022 Playoffs.

“That one is the next one on my list that I haven’t won,” Larson said. “I really want to win and have been close so many times. I have been third at least once, second a couple of times. I’ve had the dominant car in that race a couple of times. I remember we had a great shot to win one year and (Brad) Keselowski beat me off pit road by like two inches and that was it.. that was the race. Lost control of the restart and lost the race.

“I know our car should be fast there this weekend. Hopefully, we can just put it all together and get that win we have been fighting for.”

Larson’s qualifying lap of 167.550 mph (29.350-seconds) was seventh quick on Saturday. Joey Logano, who won from the pole in May at Darlington, topped the speed chart again with a lap of 168.521 mph (29.181-seconds). Logano became the first driver to sweep the pole positions at the Lady in Black since Sterling Marlin pulled off the feat in 1992 while driving for Junior Johnson.

Three drivers broke the 168-mile-per-hour barrier. Along with Logano, second-place Christopher Bell and third-place William Byron, posted laps of 168.469 mph and 168.186, respectively.

With four podium finishes in his last five Darlington starts, Larson feels good about his chances on Sunday. Unfortunately, Larson didn’t have a lot of seat time in the new car in the spring. His engine expired after 112 laps. The engine failure was his second of three this season. Larson has also been involved in three wrecks throughout the season for a total of six DNFs—four more than in all 36 races last year when he won the championship.

Larson knows that cleaning up the team’s mistakes will be the key to advancing deep into the Playoffs.

“Our team has been trending in a better direction and our race cars have been fast all year,” Larson said. “I think they are even faster now than they were, and now we just have to execute to match the speed in our car. That has been the area where really all teams have struggled this year is the execution.

“I feel like we have been getting better at that here lately and have been able to contend a little bit more. In the playoffs, I feel like there are a lot of my best tracks. So, definitely confident and look forward to the challenge.”

Larson has won at two of the tracks in the first round of the Playoffs--Kansas Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. His average finish at Darlington is 8.9 with seven finishes of 10th or better in nine starts.

Larson was encouraged by the speed of the No. 5 Chevrolet in the Goodyear 400. He qualified second and led 30 laps. After retiring early from the contest, he didn’t have sufficient time to figure out how aggressive he could be behind the wheel of the new car.

“Everybody looks at me as a guy that runs the wall, which in most cases is true,” Larson said. “But at Darlington, at least in (turns) three and four, I tend to stay away from it…slightly. I still run the top, but I give myself some room.”

Can the new car take more of a beating at a track like Darlington?

“It depends on how you hit the wall I think," Larson added. "You could graze the wall a lot better with the other car I think; but when you hit the wall, the car with the toe links and all are a little flimsy. 

"Honestly, just try and stay out of the wall. That is the best case.”