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MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES: BOJANGLES' SOUTHERN 500

September 2, 2018

Kyle Larson

Darlington, South Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by No.42, Kyle Larson, driver of the DC Solar Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Q. Kyle, I know it's not a win, but looking back at this weekend as a whole with Ross leading all the laps he did yesterday, your team leading all the laps that you did tonight, Chip Ganassi Racing has never really been statistically that good here at Darlington. Was it something you found, something that you guys have been working on here?
KYLE LARSON: I don't know, but it was cool to see both cars like that, leading a bunch of laps. Both kind of had disappointing results, but Jeff Carpoff and Paulette Carpoff with DC Solar, they love, love racing. To put on some good runs for them this year is really cool, and to‑‑ but at the same time, coming up short like we have a lot of times with their brand on our car is disappointing.
But really happy with the car that we brought to the racetrack this weekend. I felt like from the first run on the track on Friday, I knew we were going to have a pretty good weekend. Didn't know it was going to be that good. But happy about it. Just wish we could have got the win.

Q. It seemed like early in the race when you were out in front in clean air you had the car to beat tonight. Was it just a matter of not being able to get back in that clean air in that final run that really made a difference?
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, clean air is important. You know, that was the first time the 2 car was out front all race long. He showed that he was really fast in clean air. But yeah, I think if I could have been the control car for that restart‑‑ he beat me by just a nose off of pit road and kind of won the race. I was really loose in traffic behind those guys trying to run hard. But I was loose. Even when I'd catch lap traffic, I'd get extremely loose. Something about the dirty air here this weekend affected the balance I felt like a little bit more than normal.
But yeah, you just needed to be the control there for that final restart.

Q. Kyle, this is your fourth race where you led over 200 laps and you haven't won any of those. Was there a point tonight where you started wondering what was going to happen, if there was going to be a late caution or anything like that?
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, the whole time I was just praying for long runs. I didn't want to see those last couple cautions I was out front, because I knew it would ‑‑ coming down pit road, that's always nerve‑racking if you don't really know what's going to happen. We had some good pit stops throughout the night, but yeah, I mean, our car was so good on long runs, I just wanted it to stay green. I don't know, our car was so good, so I mean, I'm happy, really happy about that.

Q. I know the win means the most to you, but can you kind of put into perspective, you seem a little bit surprised by how much speed you had tonight and how that might bode well as we get ready to start the playoffs?
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, so I mean, I feel like the last, I don't know, two months or so, the other Chevy teams have really found some speed, RCR and Hendrick especially, with Chase winning, Bowman has been running good. And I feel like we've kind of been stale up until this weekend. We had a good test at Richmond. We learned some things with some different components, and I felt like it really helped our car there. Chad called back to the shop to get the primary for here swapped over to kind of how we had it for Richmond, and was hoping that it was going to show some speed here, which it did. I was happy about that.
And this is a good time of year to get some speed going before the playoffs where we haven't had speed the last few months.

Q. Has there been any frustration to all this? You've come so close in so many of these races this year.
KYLE LARSON: I mean, this is my fifth Cup season, and I've run second or third a lot. I guess you get used to the disappointment or whatever you want to call it. I can handle it, I guess, better than most people. But yeah, I mean, I've said it a few times, but obviously would like to have got the win today, but I'm just really proud of our race shop and our team for building a car like we had this weekend. Like I said, it's a good time of year to show some speed.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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