Q. What a thriller in Kansas, officially the closest finish in NASCAR history. Take us through that last lap.
KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. That was wild. I was obviously thankful for that caution. We were dying pretty bad. Was happy to come out third, and figured my best shot was me choose bottom and try and split three wide to the inside.
Worked out my car turned well and was able to get some runs. Got through 1 and 2 really good down the backstretch and had a big tow on Chris, and got him to kind of enter shallow, and I just committed really hard up top. Wasn’t quite sure if we were going to make it out the other side. I got super loose in the center, and then we’re just trying to — I’m trying not to get too far ahead of him to where he can side draft and then I was just trying to kill his run. It was crazy.
That race from start to finish was amazing. That first stage was incredible. The second stage at the end was fun, and then that whole last stage with the wrecks and cautions and then fuel strategy and tires running long and all that was wild.
You guys got your money’s worth today, and I’m just proud to be a part of the show.
Q. Chris Buescher thought he won. He was out here. At what point did you hear, “we won”?
KYLE LARSON: Same thing. I didn’t know if we won or not. I was pumped for the finish. I can’t remember if it was Cliff or Tyler, my spotter, said that the 17 got it, and I was like, hey, good job today, team, because that was a great race. Then I got to about Turn 3 and Tyler was going crazy up on the roof. Just incredible, incredible finish there.
I wish we had more mile-and-a-halfs. We all bitch about the package and all that, but these mile-and-a-halfs, these cars just race so amazing.
Hats off to this whole 5 team, Hendrickcars.com, Chevy, JINYA Ramen Bar, Valvoline, everybody who’s a part of this. This is so cool. Month of May is going to be great for us, so hopefully this just starts some momentum.
NASCAR PR
