Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson spoke about the questionable results that Chevrolet has had in the previous years at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He blamed the car's balance for the same but felt the performance had improved.
Larson, who drives the #5 Chevy, was asked about the performance of the particular manufacturer in New Hampshire. Interestingly, he finished in third place in the 2023 Crayon 301.
He has witnessed multiple top-10 finishes at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but none of his 26 wins were on the track. The closest he has come is 2nd place at the 2014 18th Annual Sylvania 300 and 2017 New Hampshire 301. Both while driving a Chevy but for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Still, when Frontstretch asked him about the performance of the car on the 1.058-mile Speedway, he pointed out the balance issues, saying:
"It's just balance probably. I wouldn't say luck, just balance of your race car I think. You know Gibbs here lately, and then Penske a while back kind of had a string hold on this place."
Kyle Larson also feels that their short track program has improved over time, helping them to clinch on to better positions during the races.
"I feel like our short track program has gotten better though I think you know last year I kind of ran around fourth to sixth the whole race so um yeah I mean we're getting better just got to keep working."
Kyle Larson expects to compete at the front in New Hampshire
The weather conditions in New Hampshire were not favorable which saw the cancellation of the qualifying session. This largely affected the starting lineup for Sunday. Kyle Larson will be starting the race from the 19th position, however, he doesn't seem to be too worried about his pace.
Talking about the expected performance of HMS and his Chevy, Kyle Larson feels that the team will be able to compete at the front because of their performances earlier in the season.
"I would have loved to gotten some practice just because this is a place that we haven't had a ton of speed at but yeah we've unloaded well at every racetrack for the last couple season. So, I'm confident that we'll still have good speed and a good balance to start the race and hopefully be able to drive towards the front."
With three race wins and eight stage wins, the #5's entry into the Playoffs seems clear. Furthermore, he has also been in the lead of the standings for a long time but fell short to Chase Elliott after the earlier race at Iowa.