NASCAR Fontana preview: Kyle Larson confident, enjoying early season success

Depending on one’s perspective, the record for consecutive runner-up finishes can be good or bad. If you’re an optimist, you look at it as a mark of consistency; the ability to do well weekly across a variety of tracks. The other stance is that while you repeatedly come close, winning continues to slip through your fingers, bringing the perception that for whatever reason, you’re unable to get the job done when it matters.

For Kyle Larson, there’s no question which viewpoint he prefers. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has finished second in three of four Monster Energy Cup Series races this season. Another runner-up in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox) will tie him with Darrell Waltrip (1983), Harry Gant (1985), and Mark Martin (1998) for the most consecutive second-place finishes in NASCAR’s modern era (1972 to present).

“Seconds are not wins, but they are not thirds either,” Larson said Friday at Auto Club Speedway. “It’s not too bad.”

Losing any race, let alone three near-misses in a row, can be a deflating sting. And yet, Larson instead is buoyed with how consistently fast his cars have been this season. Every week he’s been a contender, with his only non-second-place finish coming in the season-opening Daytona 500 where he was leading on the final lap before running out of fuel.

This current run of consistency has Larson atop the standings, the first time a CGR driver has been in this position at this juncture in the season since Sterling Marlin in 2002. It’s a testament to an organization that’s worked to shed its reputation as team that should be better, though too frequently fell short of the expected results and is now providing its driver with equipment matching his ability that’s long drawn comparisons to Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

“To be consistently up front is something that is hard to do — or it’s been hard for us and our race team,” Larson said. “We have never had this speed before, at least since I’ve been in the Cup Series.

“It’s something that is a little bit new and different to me and makes it a whole lot of fun to come to the racetrack.”

The combination of Larson’s continually maturing skill set and the speed within CGR’s Chevrolets was on full display during qualifying on Friday.

Like many a driver with a sprint car background, Larson possesses a strong affinity for running the high groove — even if that’s not always the fastest way around a particular track. But this season has brought a concentrated effort to move outside his preferred lane, as he did during the Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Larson, implored by his team, stayed on the bottom, which carried over to the following day’s Cup main event where he started his current streak.

On Friday, Larson again rode the lower lane in the first two qualifying rounds, easily advancing to the final session. But noticing that ACS’s top lane was proving to be the quicker, he decided to switch his approach. Riding the high groove around the two-mile track, Larson’s average lap speed of 187.047 mph was enough to win him his first pole since he was a rookie in 2014.

“I hadn’t run up high in (Turns) 3 and 4 at all in practice or qualifying here,” Larson said. “Didn’t really know what I would have when I got there, but ran a good ways and it stuck.”

Winning the pole and winning the race itself are, of course, two entirely different things. And with Larson off to a hot start and with CGR much improved, the inevitable question is when will driver and team fulfill their early promise and get that initial victory of the season.

“When you have fast race cars because it makes it a little easier to run up front and get wins,” Larson said. “We will see how it goes.

“It would be nice to get a win here and end the second-place streak I have going.”