Kyle Larson responds to questions about his lack of a top-5 finish at Daytona

Kyle Larson has accomplished a lot in his NASCAR Cup Series career, but the one thing he hasn’t done is finish in the top five of a race at Daytona International Speedway. While speaking to reporters on Saturday, Larson opened up about his lack of success at Daytona.

“I feel like I’m way better at it. I feel like more times than not, we’re one of the front cars there at the end of the race and still get caught up in a crash,” Larson said to Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “I’m not blaming back luck at all, I still have a lot of room to get better and making all the right decisions to keep good track position. But I do feel I’ve gotten better at it. Our team obviously studies it a lot. I feel like we do a really good job getting stage points and all that and still positioning ourselves at the end of the race.

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“I feel like I’ve just been like one lazy decision or one too quick of a decision away from having really good days. Hopefully, this weekend will be a little different.”

More on Kyle Larson’s lack of success at Daytona

Earlier this year, Larson participated in the Daytona 500 and finished seventh. As mentioned, Larson never finished in the top five but has earned four top-10 finishes in the Daytona 500 in his career. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 has been a little more challenging for Larson. A perfect example is in 2022 when his day ended after 20 laps due to engine failure.

“I guess it was the timing belt maybe or something like that,” Larson said at the time, per The Daytona Beach News-Journal. “I didn’t really have much of an indication. I’m sure they’ll dig through the data and see if it was happening earlier than when it really let go there.

“Bummer. I’m sure we’ll drop a few spots in the points, so that will hurt for the playoffs. But I guess there’s one positive — that I didn’t get caught up in a crash. We’re safe, good to go race next weekend, and get our playoffs started.”

Despite the lack of success at Daytona, Larson has put together a strong 2024 season. He is the only driver to win four Cup Series races and is just 32 points behind Tyler Reddick for the top spot in the regular season standings.