NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 7, 2026

Kyle Larson

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We have been joined by our championship contender who qualified fourth in today's qualifying session.

Kyle, thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Obviously a very busy week for your team. Tell us a little bit about your lap here today.

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I haven't had time to look at it or anything. I was surprised to end up fourth. I felt like I got a really, really bad run to the green. Felt like I was slow at the line. Just tried to make up for it into one.

Thought one and two went good. Then, yeah, three and four was just not a pleasant balance. Just into the stops, kind of sketchy into three. When that settles down, then I'm just really tight, feeling like I'm going to hit the wall, then it changes directions. I feel like I have a decent angle, but start losing grip off.

Just too much of a disconnect in balance in three and four. But overall, yeah, happy to end up there in fourth, so...

Yeah, we'll just go race now.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take a few questions.

Q. Kyle, coming into the season, we all had questions about the updated Chevy body. Now that it's 37 races in, how did that line up with the expectations you had entering the season?

KYLE LARSON: Well, I would say before I ever hit the racetrack, I had high expectations because of just the confidence that everybody at GM had in the car, the smart people at Hendrick. On paper it looked like it was going to be a lot better in all categories. I was like, Man, this should go win every race (smiling).

I also had kind of the thought that it will take some time. I just never thought we would be that far off. I feel like it's taken all year to get back to the point where we're almost as good as we were in the old car. I still don't think any of us Chevy guys are as good as we were with the other car. That's a bummer.

Yeah, I think it took time. It just took longer than we all expected.

Q. After yesterday, do you feel a little bit more I don't want to say relief, after how the car felt in qualifying?

KYLE LARSON: Well, it's hard to get a good read in your balance in one lap in qualifying trim. Like I said, I still didn't feel the balance is all that great in three and four. One and two, you have a lot of room to work w so you can get your balance to feel somewhat comfortable.

I don't know. We'll see once we get into the race if we have improved it. I would say short answer, no, I didn't feel massively better or different there than practice.

Yeah, I feel like I can manage runs okay here against the wall. Hopefully our car is in a decent place where we can, yeah, do what we need to do.

Q. Do you feel like you have a car that can earn eight stage points?

KYLE LARSON: Throughout two stages, probably. I didn't feel that confident if you're looking to run third or whatever it is in stage one. Starting fourth, I mean, that helps.

There's still a lot of good cars behind me. I thought the 12 was really, really good. Cindric is going to be good. Yeah, if it plays out green, I think we can stay within that kind of window of where we're at.

Q. What exactly did you feel like you were struggling with in practice yesterday? I talked to Cliff this morning. He said he felt like it was a bumpy session, but there was one or two runs where you felt like you got a decent performance. What did you feel like you were battling? Where do you feel like you made progress?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, for me, just low air pressure stuff. I just felt really just scared into the stops, the rear stops. That's an uncomfortable feeling because it's hard to predict what your car is going to do. It takes three to five laps to get out of that.

I felt slow on the short run because of that, then okay for the next handful of laps. I really didn't get to run much because I kept hitting the wall.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I just hit the wall more than I normally do in practice here. I just had too much of a difference in balance, I felt like, being next to the wall versus off of the wall. So was hoping to, yeah, have just a closer balance to be more versatile in the lanes that you can run and stuff, where I just didn't feel that way.

But then I also don't really necessarily feel like I was running the right part of the racetrack throughout practice. Did some studying. Hopefully it will translate to tomorrow.

Q. Cliff also said there was some conversation about going into the week about the aggression, not going into practice too soft, knowing where the limits were. Do you feel like even though you did hit the wall, that was in some sense a good thing to figure out, what the limit is, how much work needs to be done before Sunday?

KYLE LARSON: I don't know. I mean, I think, yeah, like he jokes around, like he wants me to hit the wall (smiling). I really try not to hit the wall here. Especially didn't want to give those guys any extra work yesterday.

I don't know. I just couldn't keep myself off of the wall. That was telling me something was off in my balance where I was just having to try harder. I was just making more mistakes 'cause of it.

Yeah, still not completely I think happy with my car. We qualified well. It's a long race. We have time to stay up there and give ourselves a fighting chance. We haven't had the best handle or fastest car at any of these races and we've been able to do a good job with it.

Q. Listening to what you have to say about how the car felt in practice and qualifying, maybe get kind of a sense of anxiety? Would you say that's accurate? How do you feel?

KYLE LARSON: No, I don't have any anxiety. I don't know. I just want to be fastest every time I hit the track. I haven't felt like I've been that fast when I'm on the track yet.

Yeah, I just have high expectations when I come here and want to do a really good job. No, no anxiety for sure.

Q. With that in mind, how you approach the race, how does the start of the race go for you?

KYLE LARSON: Well, I'm happy to end up in the front two rows. Yeah, I don't know what to expect. The 19's really good here. The 45 I thought was really, really good. The times that I've been around him here at Homestead, we run such a similar line that it's easy for the both -- like if he's behind me, he gets stuck; if I'm behind him, I get stuck.

It's always been important for me at Homestead to get in front of him because then I can get past more people. But we'll see.

I'm not sure. Like I said, there's going to be fast guys coming from behind, too. I'm just hoping we can stay in the top 10 all day.

Q. Since yesterday, what is the mood around the 5 team, Cliff? Are you loose? Do you feel pressure? Is it just business as usual?

KYLE LARSON: I would say it's extremely loose. They were debating on if a hot dog is a sandwich and if cereal is a soup. I would say they're pretty relaxed (smiling). I was surprised by all that.

Q. That's different than normal?

KYLE LARSON: No, I mean, that's not different. Yeah, I mean, we haven't had that debate before, but...

No, I mean, Cliff is one of the two extremes I feel like normally. He's very, very light, or he can walk in the hauler, I can be like, okay, I can tell he's intense today and I'm not going to talk.

Yeah, he seems light. He's been that way for a few months since we were running good.

Q. What did you weigh in on the --

KYLE LARSON: Hot dog is not a sandwich. Absolutely cereal is not a soup.

Q. You were talking yesterday about how you don't get stressed out and everything. I'm trying to think back to when we had a different Chase format. Seems like the attention is so much on you right now, not spread out amongst four. Do you feel that intensity of attention on you? A lot of people, that would maybe throw them off a little. You're pretty used to it. Are you feeling that, a lot of attention?

KYLE LARSON: I don't know. I haven't really felt any different about it. When I've been in the Final Four in Phoenix before, there's always as many or more cameras, as many or more interviews.

Yeah, there's been a little bit more or equal, I guess, this week. I don't know what Denny and Bell have to say. Maybe they feel less of it.

I'm not sure. It hasn't felt too different. No, it's good to have everybody around.

THE MODERATOR: Kyle, thank you so much for coming in.

KYLE LARSON: Thank you.