Larson Confident in Championship Chances

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer

CONCORD, N.C. – Confidence is key as the Playoffs continue. One driver that is confident that his team is competitive enough to win the championship is Kyle Larson. Larson sits third in the Playoff Standings after reseeding for the Round of 12.

Larson has had a career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season in the No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS so far in 2017. Chip Ganassi Racing has been running up front much more consistent this year. In the Round of 16, Larson had an average finish of fourth.

Larson was confident that they have a chance at winning the championship,

“I felt good. Chicago, I thought we were probably a fourth-place car. I think we finished fifth. Loudon, I thought we were probably about a fourth-place car and finished second. And Dover actually last week I thought I had the best car, but I won the second stage and then under caution I couldn’t get my engine to re-fire, so I went from first to fifth just under yellow and that kind of killed my shot to win.”

“Where I felt like if I had restarted as the leader I could have held on to the lead and maybe won. You don’t know, but I felt like I would have run at least first to third, but instead we finished fifth. I thought we were competitive enough to win the championship, so we’ve just got to continue that.”

Entering the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Larson has scored four wins, 14 top-fives, 18 top-10s, four stage wins, and three pole positions. At Charlotte, he has an average finish of 19.75 in eight starts. In those eight starts, Larson has one top-five and two top-10 finishes.

Now Larson and his team will look to try to secure their spot in the Round of Eight with a victory at Charlotte.