MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kyle Larson didn’t shy away from the fact that he has struggled at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in the past.
But, if you would have looked at his finishes from this past weekend at the 0.526-mile speedway you would find that stat hard to believe.
On Saturday, Larson made his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start of the season driving a fourth GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado. Taking advantage of three practice sessions on Friday, the Elk Cove, California took that track time not only to get re-accustomed with the track but a new team too. It didn’t take long to see that the partnership would prove to be beneficial.
With sponsorship from McDonalds, Larson qualified his No. 24 Chevrolet fifth, raced to the lead, led 79 laps before finishing fourth. On Sunday, where finishes were everything, Larson proved why running the truck race paid off even more.
Starting mid-pack, Larson was able to keep his No. 42 Target Chevrolet’s nose clean but make his presence knowns in the top-10 around Lap 100. From there, Larson made his moves like in a strategic game of Monopoly, but utilized a late race caution and pit stop to put himself in contention.
The green flag waved with 11 laps remaining with Larson ninth. Using both the bottom line and fresher tires, the 23-year-old made took advantage of the opportunities made possible and found himself third when the checkered flag waved. It was the second top-10 for Larson and the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates organization and first since the season-opening Daytona 500.
“We had a really good Target Chevy,” said Larson. “It was really fun this whole weekend to be competitive every time I was on the race track. Normally, I’m very bad here and to finish top 3 feels like a win for me. Never would I have thought that I’d get a top 3 here and now I can kind of see a (Grandfather) clock maybe in my future. I had a lot of fun today. We were running in the top 5 and top 7 the whole race.
“I learned a lot. I spent a lot of time behind Jimmie Johnson and I felt like I just followed his track there and got a lot better throughout the race. Chad (Johnson, crew chief) did a good job taking two tires there at the end we got lined-up on the inside row and we were pretty good there. So, hat’s off to everybody on this Target Chevy and it was cool to get a good finish.”
Considering how much he learned from making his 11th career truck start Saturday, Larson said he is hopeful to run the double-header again when both series return to Martinsville for their annual fall tradition in October.
“I think with the success we had this weekend here, for sure at least we’ll try and work it out to do it again,” offered Larson. “I had there at GMS’s XFINITY team, working on the trucks, so I don’t think XFINITY runs again that weekend. Later in the year, so hopefully, we can do it again. I had a lot of fun racing with them. That’s a great group of people over there. Like I said a lot, I feel like it’s helped me quite a bit. I’ll definitely be trying to talk whoever I need to talk into letting me run it run it.”
Larson bounced back considerably from a horrific accident at Auto Club (Calf.) Speedway two weekends ago where a flat tire sent the No. 42 Chevrolet careening into the inside wall – lifting all four tires off the ground and abruptly ending his day. Larson climbed from the car uninjured but elected to skip running in the Short Track Outlaw Showdown sprint-car race at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway.
Exiting Martinsville, Larson gained four spots in the championship to 20th heading to Texas Motor Speedway next Saturday night where he has five starts and a best finish of fifth in April 2014.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
