In addition to his success in racing outside of NASCAR, in a relatively short career, Larson has already accumulated an impressive resume inside with a series championship and 23 wins, including victories in the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500.
What he lacks is a superspeedway win at either Talladega or Daytona and in particular, the Daytona 500.
Larson is one of five former champions entered in Sunday’s 500 who had never won the race. The others – Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch.
The crown jewel race is one of the most difficult to win because of the unique drafting element at the track and the influence other competitors can have both on winning and losing the event.
Larson, 31, has come painstakingly close to victory on occasion and continues to believe he is close to putting together the complete race that will result in victory.
“I think I feel like we do a good job, for one. I think looking at the results on paper, we suck,” Larson said. “Yeah, I really feel like I’m just like a small decision away from making the right move and putting myself in the right spot there at the very end.
“I feel like I do a good job of getting us to that point where so many times on the final restart we’re lined up on the first, second row, then I finish 28th. DNF, crashed (and) end up in the care center.
“Every circumstance is different, right? I feel like we’re not far off from being really successful here. Just got to keep getting after it.”
Navigating the chaos of superspeedway racing
Larson has discovered it requires a delicate balance to navigate the final laps of the race – a challenge that can change in a split-second.
“It’s like if I can just – I don’t know – just kind of at times be more patient but at times I think you need to be more aggressive as well,” he said. “I think there’s times where I’m, like, half a step behind.
“I think last year maybe it definitely got away from me. At least a better finish. Then, in 2017 I was leading at the white flag and ran out of fuel. That was a big bummer.”
Even his qualifying race Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway illustrated the highs and lows of Larson’s superspeedway racing experience.
Larson, in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, led a race-high 20 laps in the first qualifying race and led coming to the white flag.
However, he got passed for the lead on the final lap by Tyler Reddick, got a little sideways, drifted up the track and fell back to ninth.
“I got sideways in the corner and thankfully was able to save it. Just bummed that I wasn’t able to finish up front,” Larson said. “That sucks, but our Chevy was fast, and I think we learned a lot.
“Honestly every move we made was good, it just didn’t work out again.”
Larson said if at the end of his career he hasn’t earned a Daytona 500 win, he likely “lose sleep at night” but that doesn’t diminish his desire to win it.
“Obviously I want to win this race really bad, just as bad as everybody does here on the property. I’ve always accomplished a lot of good things in my career. I’m not anywhere close to being done,” he said.
“I mean, I love coming here. I love trying to win it. You want to win the big ones. It doesn’t get any bigger than this one for the NASCAR schedule. We’ll keep trying.”
