CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Larson said there is no secret sauce to his hot streak on the track – simply dedication and execution.
The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE now has won three NASCAR Cup Series points-paying races in a row, not including last week’s All-Star Race. Larson’s win at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday marked his first career three-peat win streak, which he credited to his entire team.
“The pit crew hasn’t been making mistakes, I haven’t made too many mistakes on the track, (crew chief) Cliff (Daniels) and everybody on the box has been doing a great job, and our cars are just really fast right now,” Larson said. “They allow us to take a deep breath through the race and focus and not make mistakes. I think that’s been the biggest thing.”
In Larson’s three consecutive wins, he has led 648 of 792 total laps, or 82%. He’s already passed his career Cup Series high in laps led this season with 1,426 laps and has four wins, 10 top-five results and 12 top-10 finishes through just 17 races this season. In the last five races, Larson has finished no worse than second in the last six races
The feat is especially impressive given that two of those tracks were brand new to the Cup Series circuit, including Nashville.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of preparation, I feel like, leading into it,” Larson said. “Thankfully, we had practice and that helped a lot, I think for me, and trying to figure out what I was doing wrong in practice. This place looks like a mile-and-a-half, but it doesn’t really race like one. You got a lot of brake once you’re in the corners; the corners are really tight. I was really over-driving the corners during Saturday practice and I got to look at data (afterward). We talked about it and I became better for (Sunday’s) race.”
The win of Sunday was especially momentous for Larson – he took the checkered flag on Father’s Day. A father of two, Larson also won the last race on Father’s Day in 2017. However, Owen and Audrey’s dad won’t be taking time to do relaxing Father’s Day things this week – he has another dirt race Monday night with World of Outlaws.
“My dad was here; it’s his birthday (Monday), so it’s definitely a special day to win with him here,” Larson said. “I’ll get to travel with him to South Dakota on Monday and celebrate his birthday with, hopefully, another win. It’s cool to win on Father’s Day – I’m excited to go home for a couple of hours and see my kids. It’s always cool to win on special events like this.”