5 With 5: Kyle Larson Reflects On Clinching Title, Trophy Mishap And Offseason

New York — Kyle Larson was between media stops in a rainy New York City on Thursday as he approached the end of his NASCAR Cup Series champion media tour.

Typically, he would be itching to get going, as he had planned to be racing in California this weekend. 

But a rainy forecast had already forced the cancelation. Dirt tracks often cancel early if the forecast is dire enough that they don’t think they can get the track prepared in order to save teams travel costs.

He had a variety of television shows and other media stops and had a couple of more left on his schedule when I caught up with him outside The New York Times building on Thursday afternoon.

I had five main questions for the driver of the No. 5, who is less than five days removed from winning his third Cup title.

Bob Pockrass: Did you originally have something you wanted to say when you knew you won the championship before you ended up saying that it was anticlimactic after your team informed you that you’d clinched after the first stage?

KYLE LARSON: No, I didn’t. I didn’t want to plan anything because I didn’t want to jinx myself or anything like that. I was just kind of caught off guard because I guess I didn’t really think about all the scenarios of points. I was just like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to finish third in the first stage and that locks it up.” I wasn’t really thinking of if (Christopher) Bell didn’t win the stage, so my head was just all wrapped up in “All right, it’s the second stage, and I’ve got to gain one point,” and all this and that. I thought if it happened, Cliff (Daniels my crew chief) would come across the radio, and as Cliff, you would assume, would have this grand sort of speech or congratulations. And then when the first stage ended, I didn’t know that I had clinched at that point. I was just more focused on “All right, I got to finish top 10 in this next stage.” And then when he came across, he’s like, “Oh, I guess it’s official,” I was just like, “Oh, that’s I guess not what I thought I expected him to say,” in my mind. Then I had a pretty subdued reaction. But I also was just kind of just trying to stay focused on the rest of the race. But when Rick (Hendrick) came on the radio, that was really special because I haven’t ever had a moment like that where he came on mid-race and especially to congratulate us as a team. So that was cool.

When you almost dropped the championship trophy, were your hands wet? Was the trophy wet? Or maybe you just had so much adrenaline.

I actually didn’t almost drop it. My hands slid up where you would kind of grab on to. I was a little sweaty, but I was confident I was never going to drop it. It’s … awkward. One end’s heavier than the other, too. It looked a little bit embarrassing, but I felt I was in control of it.

What do you do on a weekend that you were planning on racing but now aren’t since Placerville is rained out?

It rained out already, so bummer. But I’m actually kind of happy in a way, too, because that’s a long flight all the way to California, and I was just going to race and then fly all the way back. So it’ll be nice to get to spend a weekend at home — and especially when I had no plans. It kind of just feels like the weekend’s even longer. I don’t know what we’ll do.

And you’re going on vacation in the Bahamas the following week, and I’m curious about Kyle Larson on vacation. Do you like everything planned out? You have kids, so maybe you can’t plan and you just wake up in the morning and decide?

We’re going with my parents, my sister, and then (my wife) Katelyn and the kids. It’s a resort so there’s really no reason to leave it. So this one is easy to have no plans. There’s the water park, so we’re going to spend probably every day at the water park with the kids, and probably venture obviously out to the beach. And I don’t know what you do on the beach, but just you play around. And then it’s got the casinos and stuff, so probably you do that, and then really the only planning that needs to be done is dinner reservations — which we haven’t done that. So we’re probably going to get screwed. But it’ll be pretty laid back, I imagine. But typically on a vacation, Katelyn has me as the planner and the bookings and all that, and it’s stressful. It also just stresses me out trying to plan and making sure everybody wants to go or likes what we’re doing.

Last question. Your dad came up to me before the race and said something about hoping I didn’t pick you to win the race. Do I have jinx?

I don’t pay attention to your jinxes. What do you think? 

I picked you sometimes and you didn’t win over 51 races (until snapping your winless streak) so I don’t know if that is a jinx or not.

Maybe slightly. I think my dad is. We used to always joke growing up, he would jinx people. I remember sitting in the stands and he’d be like, “I’ll take Mark Kinser tonight.” You know, when the Outlaws are in town (and) Mark Kinsler would blow up or something. So, I always felt like he was the jinx. So it’s funny that he thinks you’re the jinx.