Throughout the season, Rob Tiongson interviews various drivers and personalities in the world of NASCAR. Today, he catches up with Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro fielded by Hendrick Motorsports.
By ROB TIONGSON
Well, I mean, personally, I just love racing, so that’s why I like to race a lot. And I like racing other types of cars than just sticking to one sort of series or type of vehicle. So I think for as much as I do get to race and all the cars that I run, I for sure believe that it makes me a better racecar driver too, being able to kind of have that versatility kind of built into me, because it’s what I’ve always done. So just love it. Love racing around different fans and different types of cultures, in a way, at the racetrack. So yeah, I just enjoy it, and like I said, it keeps me sharp and makes me love racing because of all the new challenges.
Well, mostly through golf, probably, but Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., he’s one of my best friends, and then I’ve become pretty close to Denny Hamlin. We all go out and golf a lot together when the weather’s a lot warmer, obviously. And then too I’ve had a little bit of a relationship with Alex Bowman over the last handful of years just because we work out together, and he’s got his dirt program and stuff, so I’m passionate about that and we talk to each other about it a lot.
So, those would be, I guess, the ones I’m closest to, maybe. But excited to get to work with my teammates now this year and build good relationships with them, both on and off the racetrack, and just get to know everybody and get working with everybody there at HMS.
Yeah, definitely. I’m really easygoing, so. Obviously, in that moment I was… in the very heat of the moment, right when it happened, I was upset, but I had a lot of the race left to go. I mean, I was like, “You know what? I know he wouldn’t crash me on purpose.” So I feel like I do a good job of separating that. And like I said, I knew it wasn’t on purpose. We still stayed in the same house together all that next week in Phoenix. So, yeah. I can separate that type of stuff, and I try not to ever let affect what happens on track make things awkward off the track.