NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
FOOD CITY 500
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 18, 2015
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS, joined his good friend Rico Abreu to meet with members of the media at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson discussed his transition from sprint cars to stock cars, his relationship with Rico and many other topics. Full Transcript:
YOU MADE THAT TRANSITION FROM SPRINT CARS TO STOCK CARS. DID YOU TALK RICO INTO GIVING NASCAR A TRY?
“I don’t know. He can kind of do whatever he wants to do. I think he has a lot of friends in the Cup Series. I think he really wanted to come here and try making it to the top. He has been doing good so far. Like you said, it’s a really big transition being different racecars and different track surfaces. The cars are just so big it’s hard to get used to how far out your nose is, how far out your right-rear is. In Sprint cars you sit right in the middle of the car and you kind of know where your nose is already and like you said you can’t really man handle these like you can a sprint car. You’ve kind of got what you’ve got and have to deal with it. He’s been getting better. I think the first time he has ever shifted a car was at New Smyrna (Fla.) and he struggled there shifting. He is good now. So I didn’t give him any tips about shifting because I’m not the best at that. He is good. He just has to figure out the little things that make you a better stock car races and makes passing easier. Once he figures that out he will be good. Bristol really suits my driving style and we have similar driving styles. We love being up on the top and he should be good.”
HE HAD A TOP 10 AT GREENVILLE-PICKENS (SC) HIS FIRST TIME OUT I THINK THAT WAS PRETTY GOOD:
“I was two laps down my first time at Greenville so he is already ahead of me.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU GET FROM DIRT RACING THAT YOU CAN TRANSLATE OVER TO WHEN YOU RACE STOCK CARS? IF SO WHAT?
“It just depends on the race track you are at. Here I think you can because you run up top. Bristol is a place where you kind of can man handle it, especially when you get to the top. I told him (Rico) running here, especially when he gets up by the wall is kind of like running a cushion in a sprint car. But a really easy cushion to run. It’s not hard to hit your marks every lap. But then you go to a track like Greenville and you can’t really take anything there that you have learned in sprint cars because it is so different. You have to roll and take care of your tires. I think there are things that you learn in stock cars that help when you go back to racing sprint cars. When you go to slick, slow race tracks you get better at having more patience and stuff like that. It helps all around to be a better overall racecar driver.”
DO YOU NEED TO HAVE A LOT OF SEAT TIME TO TRY TO MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM SPRINT CARS TO STOCK CARS?
“When I started out in stock cars I did the same thing as him (Rico). I did the New Smyrna (Fla.) speedweeks and all I did was K&N (Pro Series) and I did some (NASCAR) Truck (Series) races at the end of the year. I don’t know. I think running late models can help you, but you don’t race on any tracks that are like that when you move up to the Truck Series. You don’t race on any Hickory’s (Motor Speedway) or any tracks like that. I think you learn enough in the (K&N) East Series and then maybe you could go do some (K&N) West Series races, but I don’t really think he needs to do a whole lot of late model stuff, just because it’s not what he is going to be doing in his future.”
WHAT IS THE GREATEST THING YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM RICO?
“Never give up probably. He has had to work through a lot of things being different. It’s cool to see how hard he drives, how well he treats people. Just a lot of stuff, more off the track I’ve learned from Rico being a good friend and all of that. He is a great guy and it’s going to be fun to see the world get to learn his personality.”
WHEN YOU ARE HERE HELPING RICO, I’VE SEEN YOU IN A HEADSET BEFORE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THAT INFORMATION?
“I feel like I can help him here better than I have been able to. I don’t feel like I helped him really at all at New Smyrna or Greenville. But I feel like Bristol is a track I’m good at and I enjoy running. I think I know the little things that it takes to go fast here. I came up here Thursday for his practicing. He looked fine; I really didn’t have to tell him a whole lot. He also has Shane Hmiel that helps him probably more than I do as far as at the tracks that Shane has raced at more than I have. I think it is nice to see that the groove has gotten up by the wall. I think those K&N cars will go really fast up there. Rico is never afraid of the top, so he will be good.”