MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Owen Larson, a 17-month-old who spends most of his time either smiling or imitating engine noises, was perched atop his father’s shoulders Tuesday demonstrating a mixture of both.
Go karts were zipping around the track at GoPro Motorplex, and Owen’s dad, third-year NASCAR driver Kyle Larson, awaited his turn to race in an event called the Eneos Little 600. As Larson pondered a reporter’s question, Owen snatched an Eneos-branded hat off Larson’s head and dropped it to the ground with glee.
As Larson bent down and reached for the hat, the father’s smile matched his son’s.
“I’m in a really good place right now,” Larson told USA TODAY Sports.
If you’re expecting Larson to be moping and miserable after three straight weeks of on-track heartbreak – each one more painful than the last -- you’d be wrong. The 23-year-old is in the midst of what he called a happy time in his life.
He’s got a young son who seems to learn something new every day, a longtime girlfriend in Katelyn Sweet and a sweet gig racing at the highest level of American motor sports.
"I'm having a lot of fun," Larson said.
The only thing missing? His first career win. But heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, Larson feels closer than ever to his long-awaited breakthrough in the Sprint Cup Series – and there’s reason to believe it could happen sooner than later.
At Charlotte Motor Speedway last week, Larson edged Chase Elliott in a spectacular finish during a last-chance qualifying race and then nearly beat out Joey Logano for the $1 million prize in the NASCAR All-Star Race.
The previous week, he led 85 laps at Dover International Speedway and came up just short in a classic duel against veteran Matt Kenseth.
And the week before at Kansas Speedway, Larson was going for the race lead on a late restart when Denny Hamlin made an overly aggressive move and wrecked them both.
Three races, three chances to win, zero trophies. But just being in contention is quite a turnaround from how Larson and his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team started the season.
Half of Larson’s finishes this year have been worse than 25th, which has him stuck in 21st in the Sprint Cup Series standings. As the halfway point of the regular season approaches on Sunday, it’s looking like he might need a win to secure his first Chase berth.
But unlike a month ago, at least now it doesn't feel like a longshot.
“I get excited and feel like it’s going to happen, and it still hasn’t,” Larson said. “I’ve been telling all of our guys: ‘Three weeks ago we couldn’t even finish in the top 20 and now we’re fighting for wins.’ It’s easy to be bummed when you don’t win, but three weeks ago, we couldn’t even visualize a win.”
During his rookie season, which continued a rapid rise from the sprint car ranks, Larson seemed on the verge of immediate stardom. He had 17 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 14th, winning Rookie of the Year and showing every sign of living up to his pre-NASCAR hype.
But a sophomore slump left Larson and his team searching for answers in 2015. His development stalled, and Larson’s statistics slipped in almost every major category. His average finish dropped five spots to 19th.
“He was struggling,” Jeff Gordon told reporters this week. “I don’t put as much on Kyle as I do the team. I just don’t feel like the team really has given him what he needs to go win with.”
The start of this season didn’t seem much better until the recent flash of speed. Suddenly, it seems Larson can run up front and be considered a consistent threat.
So what’s he doing differently? Not a thing, he said. It’s not like Larson decided to start driving harder or discovered some magical missing ingredient he didn’t have during his first two-plus seasons.
The secret, he said, is the cars. New crew chief Chad Johnston arrived from Stewart-Haas Racing with fresh ideas, and the input Johnston provided in the cars’ construction started to show itself at the Kansas race.
Since then, the No. 42 has picked up the pace.
“Nothing has changed in me other than our cars are a lot faster right now,” Larson said.
But Justin Marks, who co-owns the Larson Marks sprint car team and drives a part-time Xfinity Series schedule for Ganassi, said there has been a gradual change in his friend. When Larson first arrived on the scene, Marks said, “he was just running on talent alone.”
“What has changed is just his approach,” Marks said. “There’s a little more swagger, a little bit more measured approach. It’s how he carries himself. He knows what to expect on his weekends.
“Those guys who are established and successful, they have sort of that swagger and that air of confidence. I see him starting to find that.”
Gordon has long been one of Larson’s biggest advocates. And though it’s easy to point the finger at a driver when the car isn’t getting good finishes, Gordon said the team was more to blame than Larson.
Though Ganassi put a driver in the Chase last year – Jamie McMurray made the playoff for the first time in his career – the organization only has one points race win in the past five-plus seasons.
“Not trying to take away anything from Ganassi, but when you take a talent like Kyle Larson’s, I think he would have won by now at some other organizations,” Gordon said. “Those guys have let him down, but I’ve been seeing something that’s good lately. So I’m hoping that continues, because he is very capable of winning.”
But in NASCAR, where fickle fans tend to turn against frequent winners while embracing drivers who don’t hog all the trophies, Larson’s disappointment has had an unexpected side effect: He’s become a sentimental favorite.
With four career second-place finishes and a handful of other near-misses, fans are increasingly on Larson’s side – and eager to celebrate when he finally wins. Gordon said no driver in the last month has had a bigger gain in fan appeal and popularity than Larson.
Even other drivers seem anxious for Larson to be rewarded after his close calls.
“I think they should give out MVP's to the driver that puts on the best performance at the All Star race,” Tony Stewart tweeted. “@KyleLarsonRacin gets my vote!”
Larson grinned when asked about the prospect of pulling off a win that would be popular in both the garage and the grandstands. He's had to wait long enough.
“I think being so close a lot of times the last few years, I guess in a way I’m maybe considered an underdog,” he said. “That’s a fun role to play. I always root for the underdog.”
