KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Kyle Larson’s demeanor is as steady as his talent behind the wheel of a race car. He is perennially happy-go-lucky, but also driven and determined.
Because of his -- and his team’s -- hard work all season, a solid, not even spectacular showing in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway should move the fourth-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup driver into the sport’s Round of 8 -- the closest he or his Chip Ganassi Racing team has gotten to a Cup title since Sterling Marlin’s injury-interrupted run in 2002.
"We have a 29-point gap on the cut-off so as long as we can go out there and gain some stage points I feel like we’ll be OK," Larson said Friday before pole qualifying at Kansas.
"But you never know, anything can happen in our sport. We’ve got to get out there and perform and get some stage points or a win would certainly benefit us."
RELATED: Clinch scenarios for elimination race at KansasIt’s a been a career year for Larson and arguably the whole organization, which for the first time has both of its Chevrolets in the playoff run -- also including one driven by Jamie McMurray, who is ranked 12th heading into Kansas.
Larson has earned a career-high four wins in 2017 (at California, Richmond and both Michigan races) and three pole positions -- and he was awarded another two by virtue of rained out qualifying sessions. With five races still remaining in the season, he has already set a career best in wins (four), top-fives (14) and top-10s (19).
He'll start the No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevy 13th on Sunday -- a bit of a surprising result considering Larson was fastest in Friday’s opening practice session. (He also was fastest in Saturday's early practice.)
"I’m disappointed after being so much faster than everybody in practice, but we’re OK," Larson said. "We’ll race good and hopefully be there at the end to try and get a win.
"I think we’ve had a lot of opportunity to win on a mile-and-a-half (track). If we win Kansas and get five more bonus points and get some stage points, that’s the important part -- just give ourselves more of a points cushion on the cutoff. I definitely think I can."
And that’s been Larson’s consistent mindset -- his can-do, why-not philosophy. With each race in NASCAR’s big time, he has gained confidence and knows he has his first legitimate shot at the big trophy.
"I think mentally we’re in a good spot as a team because our race car has been really fast so we’ve got a lot of confidence and heading to the race track we know we have a good shot at being competitive," Larson said.
"That helps your confidence a lot, and confidence is so important especially in sports. We’ve definitely had a lot of that this year."