At Talladega Superspeedway, the field stands divided between two mindsets. On one side, Christopher Bell has learned the hard way that trying to run with the pack is often a fool’s errand. Having seen chaos strike from the front, Bell plans to hang back, bide his time, and make his move once the chaos settles. On the other hand, Kyle Larson isn’t one to sit on his hands. For him, fortune favors the brave, and the 2.6-mile-long oval is no place to play it safe.
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Larson enters Sunday’s Round of 8’s second race with a 35-point cushion, yet he’s under no illusion that comfort points can save anyone. To him, conservative racing has no place in the Cup Series.
“I don’t think ever playing it safe is ever the right call in the Cup Series. At least for me here, you’ve got to assume a guy below the cutline or even below you is going to win, so then it’s going to bring you closer to the cutline. So no, I think you need to go and try to score as many points as you can. And obviously get a win would lock you in.”
He added, “So yeah, I would say we’re not approaching this race any differently than we would in the spring race here. We’re trying to score as many points we can and get a win, if possible.”
While reigning champion Joey Logano recently admitted that running up front at Talladega often forces split-second decisions that can either make or break a race, Larson keeps his cards close to the vest and chest. He doesn’t know where he’ll be running during the race, or even how it will shake out by the closing laps. In his eyes, that’s the nature of the sport.
Every driver, he said, is forced to think on their feet. Cup drivers are making decisions in the moment, Larson explained, knowing well that the line between hero and heartbreak is very thin, especially on superspeedways. As per Larson, the challenge of pack racing lies in the guessing game; no one ever knows whether the choice they make is the right one until the checkered flag falls.
Whether this approach works out for the Hendrick Motorsports star or not remains to be seen as the green flag waves for 500 miles of racing at ‘Dega.
