Ahead of the race in Martinsville, Kyle Larson candidly admitted that he feels he has a lot of room to improve on the short track despite his win last season. Of course, Larson ended up winning the pole on Saturday and that could very well be the advantage he needs to earn his second Martinsville win.
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This is because, according to veteran crew chief Todd Gordon, the key to winning on Sunday for Martinsville would be made of a win on Saturday. “You gotta win on Saturday. I think you’ve gotta qualify in the top 5 to really put yourself in the position,” Gordon said.
“It’s gonna be hard to pass at this racetrack. Unless its tires lays way more rubber than I ever thought could be laid on a cold racetrack, I think this racetrack is very difficult to pass and make up track position. You gotta earn the track position in qualifying, and you’re gonna have to work on executing your way and maintaining that all day long.”
Gordon’s opinion was taken forward by another veteran crew chief, Steve Letarte, who claimed that the Martinsville would play more like “a running game” from the NFL.
“Not real flashy, not a lot of moving the ball down the field,” Letarte said as he added that the drivers would have to be willing to inch their way forward across the duration of the race without losing patience. “Stay on the lead lap for the first 200, get on the top 10 in the middle 200, get in the top 5 in the last 100,” he explained.
“You need to be in the top 5 in the last 100 laps. Maybe there’s a restart that goes your way, but in the end, you can’t make mistakes.”
Kyle Larson doesn’t feel comfortable at Martinsville
Before he won his pole on Saturday, Kyle Larson candidly revealed how he viewed himself as a contender to win at Martinsville. “I still have a lot of room for improvement there to be a consistent contender. It’s still not a comfortable track for me. I still don’t really feel I can run consistent, comfortable laps with a rhythm,” Larson said.
Larson added that unlike other racetracks where he tends to dominate, it is at Martinsville where he simply can’t crack the formula even though he won there in 2023.
But as things stand right now, Kyle Larson is in the pole position to win at Martinsville. He has already won once this year, and there’s little that suggests that a second win isn’t on the cards later on Sunday.
