NASCAR CUP SERIES: GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN

August 21, 2022

Kyle Larson

Frontstretch Quotes

An Interview with:

Q. Tell me about the move to pass your teammate, Chase Elliott. We did see the right front locked up going into turn one.

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, and I knew that was kind of my only opportunity. I'm not proud of it. But being in the inside lane, the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets to late in the race, it's definitely risky.

Like I said, I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him. I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green flag cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit.

The restarts kept me in it, kept our team in it. Proud of our guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen, get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, which we haven't had many of those this year.

Hopefully this will build on some momentum and we can keep racking up some more points.

Q. If the shoe was on the other foot, would you want to have a conversation with your teammate?

KYLE LARSON: I'm sure, yeah, we would ultimately have a conversation. We have a competition meeting tomorrow.

Yeah, I mean, I think if I was in his shoes, I would understand the risk that I'm taking choosing left lane also. Again, like I said, I'm not proud of it, but it's what I felt like I had to do to get the win.

Q. Did you learn something on the restart before that you said you're going to try to take advantage of it on the final one?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, all the restarts I was in the right lane yesterday with William. Always got myself in a bad spot where my angle was pinched off. We'd always make contact, I'd end up sideways and get passed by people.

I knew everybody's aggression was going to be higher as each restart went on. I didn't want to put myself in that position again to get passed by AJ or Joey, who were really aggressive behind me.

Yeah, it's just part of racing at road courses, especially this year it seems like. Again, not proud of it, but we did what we had to do.