Kyle Larson didn’t arrive at Fontana; he was already there

FONTANA, CA - MARCH 21: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 21, 2014 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)
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FONTANA, CA - MARCH 21:  Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 21, 2014 in Fontana, California.  (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)
FONTANA, CA – MARCH 21: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 21, 2014 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

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.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.