Cool-Down Lap
Kyle Larson didn't arrive at Fontana; he was already there
Mar. 24, 2014
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
FONTANA, Calif.—Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick both realized how special the moment was.
Busch, who typically is disgusted when he runs second, seemed happy with third.
Harvick, another hard-nosed racer with a first-or-bust mentality, took his runner-up finish in stride.
Busch
and Harvick, whose uneasy relationship on and off the track has been
riddled with rancor, seemed downright comfortable as they sat
side-by-side at the dais in the media
center at Auto Club Speedway, deferring to each other with unfeigned
politeness.
To their credit, neither driver wanted to sully a moment that was indeed ... special.
Minutes
earlier, Busch and Harvick had climbed from their cars after a NASCAR
Nationwide Series race that featured breathtaking, unrelenting action
during the closing laps,
as Busch, Harvick and race winner Kyle Larson battled in close quarters
for the victory.
That's
right—race winner Kyle Larson, who scored his first NNS win in
Saturday's TreatMyClot.com 300. All three drivers had given their
utmost, and Larson had earned the victory,
fairly, cleanly and with the exercise of extraordinary talent.
Accordingly, Busch and Harvick gave Larson his due after the race, in what amounted to a fitting welcome to the fraternity.
A day
later, in Sunday's Auto Club 400, Larson came within .214 seconds of
doing in his ninth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start what his predecessor
in the No. 42 Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet, Juan Pablo Montoya, hadn't accomplished in seven full
seasons—a Sprint Cup victory on an oval track.
It took
all of Busch's guile and consummate skill to keep Larson behind him, to
prevent a 21-year-old Cup rookie from sweeping the NASCAR weekend in
his native California.
Larson's
head-turning performance, however, should have surprised exactly no
one. If you didn't see this coming, or if you thought Larson was
promoted to the Sprint Cup Series
too quickly, you just haven't been paying attention.
Tony
Stewart, who has a keen eye for talent at every level and form of
motorsports, has been answering the same question for three years, some
variation of "Who's the best
young talent with the brightest future in NASCAR racing?"
The first name out of Stewart's mouth has always been "Kyle Larson."
There was no second name.
For
those whose familiarity with the speed sports begins and ends with
NASCAR stock car racing, terms like "Chili Bowl," "Knoxville Nationals,"
and "Kings Royal," are steeped
in mystery. Casual fans don't know what these races are, much less
where they are.
But
these, and races like them, are the subterranean showcases where Larson
honed his skills in the open-wheel ranks, and where veteran drivers like
Stewart were quick to identify
his exceptional talent.
Legend
has it that Larson attended his first race when he was a week old. It's
no legend, though, that in 2011 Larson became the second driver in
history to win all three USAC
races (Midgets, Silver Crown and Sprint Cars) in the 4-Crown Nationals
at Stewart's Eldora Speedway--on the same night. That's fact.
And
that underlines the determination Larson brings to the Sprint Cup
Series, where he expects to win a race and qualify for the Chase this
year. A graduate of NASCAR's Drive
for Diversity program, Larson's quiet confidence is neither egocentric
nor over-inflated. It's simply that his own expectations mirror those of
others.
Joey
Logano, whose arrival at the Cup level as a teenager was accompanied by
the same sort of fanfare that has greeted Larson, had to grow into the
expectations that preceded
him, much as child eventually fills out a shirt too big in the
shoulders.
To his credit, Logano has parlayed some hard knocks and a change of scene into a solid career as a Sprint Cup contender.
Larson
is already there. Whether they realized it or not, fans who watched the
kid with the Eddie Munster haircut flash across the finish line on
Saturday or Sunday got a vivid
glimpse of the future from a driver who seems destined to make an
indelible impression on the sport.
The next time Larson beats them—and he will—Harvick and Busch likely won't be so charitable.
But by then, as a full-fledged member of the fraternity, Larson likely won't care.
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