MARTINSVILLE, Va. – By finishing third on Sunday at Martinsvile Speedway, Kyle Larson had an epiphany.
“I'm not as bad as I thought I was here,” Larson said with a laugh. “And I learned that I can have a lot fun here, too.”
Larson hasn't always enjoyed racing at Martinsville during his brief tenure in the Sprint Cup Series. Before Sunday, his best finish was 19th and he just wasn't comfortable on the flat, tight corners of the Virginia half-mile.
His formative years were spent on dirt in the Midwest and he just didn't have the seat time on asphalt needed to excel at the discipline. But he turned the corner on Sunday, spending much of the race inside the top-10. He believes he should be a contender when he returns in October.
“Normally, I’m very bad here and to finish top-three, this feels like a win for me,” Larson said of his fifth career Cup start here. “I never would have thought that I’d ever get a top-three here and now I can kind of see a grandfather clock in my future. I just had a lot of fun. We were running in the top-five and top-seven the whole race and I just learned a lot.”
Larson was quick to credit Jimmie Johnson for an unintended assist as the 23-year-old followed the six-time champion around in the early stages of the event. He said it taught him a lot about how to navigate Martinsvile and it prepared him for the final 100 laps. Johnson is an eight-time winner here.
“I spent a lot of time behind Jimmie and I felt like I just followed his tracks and just got a lot better throughout the race,” Larson said. “Chad (Johnson, crew chief) did a good job of taking two tires there at the end and we got lined up on the inside row and were pretty good.
“So, hats off to everybody on this Target Chevy and it was cool to finally get a good finish here.”
Follow Weaver on Twitter @MattWeaverSBN
PHOTOS: Kyle Larson through the years
