Kyle Larson has done his Daytona 500 homework, but the test won’t be until late Sunday afternoon.
Larson admitted earlier this week he’s “watched a lot of video,” hoping to figure out what his rivals are doing to make it to the finish. It’s something the Hendrick Motorsports driver has struggled with despite having fast cars and being in position for a victory or at least a decent result.
“I feel like we do do a good job,” Larson said. “Looking at the results on paper, we suck, but I really feel like I’m just a small decision away from making the right move and putting myself in the right spot there at the very end. I feel like I do a good job getting us to that point where so many times on the final restart we’re lined up on the first, second, third row and then I finish 28th. DNF’d and crashed in the care center.
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“And every circumstance is different, right? I feel like we’re not far off from being really successful here. (We’ve) just got to keep getting after it.”
Larson was third at the white flag in last year’s Daytona 500 and running behind eventual winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. But a move to the outside of Stenhouse, which put Larson in the middle of Stenhouse and Joey Logano, didn’t materialize.
Without help, Larson got stuck in the middle and was falling backward when hooked by Travis Pastrana, whom Aric Almirola had hit in Turn 1. He was credited with an 18th-place finish. Larson and the No. 5 team have failed to finish two of their three Daytona 500 races together.
Larson mentioned the 2023 race as a recent one that stood out in his film review. It was a race that got away because of one small decision.
“I had that big run on Ricky [Stenhouse] from the 20 [Christopher Bell], who was pushing behind me,” Larson said. “I just felt like that run I had was way too big to stay behind Ricky because I would have just slammed him and probably caused a crash. I thought (the) safe bet was to go to the middle, and nobody was able to go with me. Then somebody from outside me got hooked and I got crashed.”
In 10 career starts in the Daytona 500, the best Larson has finished is seventh (2016; 2019). He has four top-10 finishes in 10 starts.
“If I can just – I don’t know – at times be more patient, but at times, I think you need to be more aggressive as well,” Larson said. “I think there are times where I’m, like, half a step behind. So, I think last year definitely got away from at least a better finish. Then (in) 2017, I was leading at the white flag and ran out of fuel. That was a big bummer.”
Although Larson hasn’t finished first at Daytona, he has started there. Larson won the pole for the race in 2022.