NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C.: Joey Logano won the race, but from the roar of the All-Star crowd at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the most popular driver on the grid was Kyle Larson.
After the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion—and current points leader—posted an average speed of 232.846 mph to qualify fifth in the No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for the Indianapolis 500, he flew to North Wilkesboro then helicoptered to the speedway for the All-Star Race.
When the track posted Larson’s arrival at 7:15 p.m. via helicopter on the Jumbotron, the fans cheered their approval. They reinforced the revelry as IndyCar’s quickest rookie, who qualified into the Fast 6, made his entrance on stage during All-Star driver introductions.
“Oh, it’s awesome,” Larson said. “It just makes it all mean something more. To be lined up on the second row of the Indianapolis 500 is pretty crazy. Yeah, I just can’t believe it, really. I thought if we could make the Fast 12, that would be exceeding expectations. To qualify as well as we did yesterday and then get into the Fast Six today was unbelievable.
“Happy with how it’s gone so far there, and now I look forward to hopefully get better in race trim.”
Despite starting from the rear of the field after not qualifying his Cup car, the defending race winner battled from the back to a fourth-place finish.
“I thought we were in great position there,” Larson said. “Got to fourth pretty quickly; got to third pretty quickly. I thought I could just be patient. I built really loose for a little while, and then they started kind of inching away from me. I moved up and I was kind of hanging on from there.”
Kevin Harvick practiced and qualified the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet on Saturday while Larson fulfilled his duties at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Larson rolled off 17th and raced up to 11th at the halfway point of the race on Lap 102. Following pit stops, he restarted ninth on the option tires.
Twenty laps later, Larson had climbed to sixth when Kyle Busch dumped Ty Gibbs to trigger the third caution. Although Brad Keselowski contested Larson for sixth, the No. 5 held onto the position heading into the final 50 laps.
After the Lap 150 break, crew chief Cliff Daniels elected to pit Larson for fresh tires. Logano remained at the point with Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher in tow. Larson was the first car to pit and Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Daniel Suarez followed.
“I felt like I could take care of my tires better down low,” Larson said. “I was worried about building tight all race and whenever I would move up top, you’re just kind of tugging on the wheel more and you’re on the throttle.
“So I feel like that actually uses the tires more. I thought I was doing what I needed to maintain the balance of my car, but I think we just pumped the air up a lot and I just built really free, really quickly, on that run. And then I moved up and I just slowly got tight after that.”
Larson restarted 10th on Lap 159 and began picking off the cars in front of him. Hamlin applied his bumper to Logano but the No. 22 Ford was able to get away. Larson quickly advanced to fifth and then fourth one lap later. After three laps, he was running third with 37 laps to go.
“I was surprised that the guys that didn’t pit were as strong as they were,” Larson said. “I thought we were going to be in the best position there to win.”
Larson caught second-place Hamlin on Lap 165 then faded a bit. After one last battle with Buescher, who passed Larson with two laps remaining, the No. 5 Chevy wound up fourth.
“I just don’t think our car balance was there,” Larson said. “If Denny had pitted, I think his car was much better than ours. Had he pitted, he probably would have, or could have in my opinion, won. But we just didn’t have the speed that those guys did all race.”
Immediately following the All-Star Race, Larson was headed back to Indianapolis.
“Hats off to the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy team,” Larson added. “I know they had a lot of work this week; having Kevin practice, swap seats and everything back to where I could drive it. Proud to go back and forth and have a shot to win.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
