On the most recent edition of the Dale Jr. Download, Kyle Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels joined Dale Earnhardt Jr. to discuss the No. 5 team’s Brickyard 400 triumph.
While the No. 5 was the quickest vehicle on the track for much of the final stage, Larson took advantage of some late-race cautions to win. That was something Earnhardt Jr. wanted to discuss with Daniels during his appearance on the NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees’ presentation.
“As the race progressed, it appeared like, even though [Ryan] Blaney was very quick, you guys, you know we’re able to be more aggressive because of your fuel situation, some of the cars we’re trying to save to make it to the end, Blaney being one of them,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I don’t know, I mean, where was your confidence in driving up there without the yellows and taking the lead and winning the race?”
Evidently, Daniels feels the late warnings had a direct impact on their Brickyard 400 victory, and that without them, the No. 5 would have been in danger.
“One out of ten.” “Just being honest,” Daniels remarked of his confidence in winning the race sans the cautions. “I believe we, and maybe I’ll just speak for myself, I think I misjudged how much those guys were going to have to save gasoline, knowing that they were going to be more than a lap behind.
“One thing that I thought was really intriguing, and I’m sure you saw this play out, while they were all saving gasoline, they were maintaining their spacing to the vehicles around them quite close, which nearly enabled you just this small amount of accordion effect, which is what allows Kyle to create runs so well. Of course, we had new tires and gasoline at the moment, so we didn’t need to consider anything in terms of our aggression. And so, while folks who were saving gasoline were blocking us, as they should have been, they were really narrowing the gaps between the cars around them, creating more of an accordion, and it just kept providing us a window. Kyle characterised it as throwing some explosives on entrance and having spotters call out the place for us.
“So it was pretty intriguing to me, and we had to make a few of tweaks to our automobile to get it to turn well in traffic. The NextGen automobile, you know, often has aero effects, so someone gets pretty tight in traffic. So I’m delighted we had a decent enough tweak in the vehicle so Kyle could really arc out and turn to make a run, and it was fairly weird to watch how quickly he went through there.”
Unfortunately, everything worked out in Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels’ favour at Indianapolis, and the No. 5 team was allowed to kiss the bricks last weekend. That’s something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives and they can thank some timely yellow flags for helping them get the win.
Be the first to comment