Larson: 'Even Newman said he wasn't proud of it'

‘”Dirty’ is a strong word,” Larson said. “I wouldn’t say it was necessarily clean. It definitely was aggressive. Even Newman said he wasn’t proud of it. …

“Look at the check they raise or the drivers hold up at the end of Homestead and see how much money a championship is worth, and not ever having a championship under his belt, you’re going to be aggressive. Like I said, I wouldn’t say it was 100 percent clean, but I wouldn’t say it was 100 percent dirty.”

Larson and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray are in the top two positions in the points standings outside the 16 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contenders, and they’ve raised their game in the final 10 races of the season for a combined 10 top-10 finishes.

“The racing’s been extremely good all season long,” Larson said. “It was great during the regular season and then it seems that as the Chase started, the racing just amped up that little bit.”

In his first full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Larson acknowledged that he didn’t run the full Chase last year, starting four races at the end of last season to prepare for his rookie campaign. But he believes the new format has led to more drama.

“It seems like the intensity level has been raised, and I think the format has a lot to do with that,” Larson said. “Usually you just have one cut-off race, and that’s Richmond. And now, you have three or four cut-off races that have a ton of intensity.

“You get those late-race restarts where people can gain a lot of positions and they go for it so I think it’s made the racing really good and it definitely made tempers flare and things like that as we’ve seen throughout the Chase so I think NASCAR’s done a great job with it.”

After being run into the wall last week by Newman, Larson says the fast way around at Homestead is the high line, but it’s also very easy to put your car into the fence on your own.

“Homestead’s definitely my favorite track,” Larson said. “You run right up by the wall. Inches off the wall is the fastest way around there.

“But it’s also really easy to get into the wall, and it’s a long race. You’ve got to take care of your equipment, try not to make any mistakes.”

In the 2013 season finale, Larson led a lap and finished 15th. He’ll go for his first career win and the first Sprint Cup victory by a Drive for Diversity driver. He’ll also attempt to lock down Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, leading Austin Dillon by 87 points.

MORE: