DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Kyle Larson had a novel approach to preparing for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup — pretend you’re in it even if you’re not.
In a stellar 2014 season in which he won Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, Larson wasn’t quite consistent enough to qualify for the Chase, but his team made decisions in the final 10 races as if the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet were racing for the championship.
The same was true for teammate Jamie McMurray.
“Even though we weren’t in the Chase, we kind of played like we were in the Chase and made race calls and things like that to try to gain experience in the Chase, even though we weren’t in the Chase,” Larson told the NASCAR Wire Service during NASCAR Media Day interviews at Daytona International Speedway.
“The experience we got last year will help… Even though you’re not in the Chase, you act like you are. It’s a good way to gain experience as a team in making race calls.”
That experience may well come in handy this season, given that team co-owner Felix Sabates guaranteed during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour in Charlotte, North Carolina, in late January that both Larson and McMurray would qualify for the Chase this year.
“That’s our expectation, for sure,” Larson said of Sabates’ guarantee. “I think that’s Chip Ganassi’s expectation every year. I think me and Jamie both expect that our cars are going to be really fast this year.”
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.
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