{"id":21475,"date":"2018-08-31T16:45:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T21:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=21475"},"modified":"2018-09-02T11:12:42","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T16:12:42","slug":"nascar-friday-darlington-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/31\/nascar-friday-darlington-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Darlington Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

More than just winning, Kyle Larson wants to dominate<\/b><\/p>\n

DARLINGTON, S.C. \u2013 Don\u2019t expect Kyle Larson\u2019s mind-set to change just because he\u2019s locked into a spot in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 DC Solar Chevrolet, and Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Genuine Draft Ford, talk in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 2018 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After winning the pole for Aug. 18 Night race at Bristol, Larson guaranteed his place in the final 16 with a second-place finish. But his attitude remains the same, as far aw the final two races of the regular season are concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last three or four months, I felt like our team has been solidly in the Playoffs, even though mathematically you are not set until whatever we were last race,\u201d Larson said on Friday at Darlington Raceway, venue for Sunday\u2019s Bojangles\u2019 Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201c(The way) our team has been performing and outperforming some other guys that are already outside the top 16, I knew we would make the Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo our mind-set, I wouldn\u2019t think it\u2019s any different the last couple of races and especially these next two. We try and go out and win every race, every stage, every week. We just haven\u2019t been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winner of four races in last year\u2019s breakout season with Chip Ganassi Racing, Larson is still seeking his first victory of 2018. That\u2019s not to say he doesn\u2019t see progress with the No. 42 team, even though he didn\u2019t have the performance he expected at Bristol, despite the runner-up finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my expectations are just really high whenever I go to Bristol,\u201d said Larson, who was second fastest behind Denny Hamlin in opening Cup practice at Darlington. \u201cI was in a bad mood for a lot of that race, I think, just because my expectations are high. I was kind of a negative person throughout the first half of the race, but once I gave myself some realistic expectations for the rest of the race, I was in a better mood\u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cLike I told (crew chief) Chad (Johnston), \u2018I\u2019m sorry I was a (jerk) on the radio.\u2019 I just expect to go there and lap the field. We didn\u2019t have that there, but we work hard to get better at every race track, because we want to dominate every race. We\u2019ve just got to keep digging, keep working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

MATT KENSETH\u2019S 2019 PLANS ARE STILL UP IN THE AIR<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite persistent questioning, Matt Kenseth refused to budge.<\/p>\n

The driver who returned to Roush Fenway Racing in a part-time role this season isn\u2019t ready to talk about next year. In fact, Kenseth says his sole focus is on finishing out the current season in the No. 6 Ford he shares with Trevor Bayne.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DR_MENCS_Kenseth_083118.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just kind of honestly trying to concentrate on the rest of this season and trying to get this done,\u201d Kenseth said on Friday at Darlington Raceway. \u201cThose are probably things to talk about at a later date, but the season has been up-and-down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish our results were better than what they were, but yet, on the other hand, I feel like we\u2019ve made a lot of progress. It doesn\u2019t really show necessarily on the stat sheets or the box score all the time, but I feel like we\u2019ve made a lot of progress, and (we\u2019re) really just trying to keep that going and keep moving forward and keep trying to get more competitive by the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

In eight starts after returning to the team in May, Kenseth has an average starting position of 22.8 and an average finish of 22.5, with a season-best of 13th<\/sup> coming at Pocono in June. In opening practice at Darlington, Kenseth was 22nd<\/sup> fastest.<\/p>\n

Asked specifically whether he would consider driving the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, should Kurt Busch not return to the ride next year (as has been rumored), Kenseth side-stepped the question adroitly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certainly not talking about next year, and I haven\u2019t really put as much thought into it as you all have, honestly,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I still have seven races left this season. Trevor has a few races. I have not made the impact at Roush Fenway Racing, at least in the finishes and the performance, necessarily as I had hoped, or as big of a one as I hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s really all I\u2019m thinking about right now is getting the performance better and trying to do a better job for those guys and get cars faster and get better finishes and get the team operating better and get me operating better \u2013 all that kind of stuff. I\u2019m not really looking forward right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

JUSTIN ALLGAIER WANTS REDEMPTION IN CUP SERIES\u2014UNDER RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES<\/b><\/p>\n

JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier has worked for a decade to become an overnight sensation.<\/p>\n

With four victories in his last 14 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, including wins in two of his last three starts, Allgaier has to be considered a favorite to win his first series championship.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 2018 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

In fact, Allgaier has been so successful in the No. 1 JRM Chevrolet that his boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., recently took to Twitter to tout his driver as deserving of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride.<\/p>\n

Not that Allgaier is a stranger to NASCAR\u2019s top series. After five full years in the Xfinity Series starting tion 2009, he ran two full Cup seasons with HScott Motorsports in 2014-2015, scoring one top 10 (an eighth at Bristol) in 71 starts.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Allgaier took a step back and signed on with JRM. Over the last two seasons, he has collected six of his nine career NXS victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing I\u2019ll say is that I\u2019m having a great time right now on the Xfinity side,\u201d Allgaier said on Friday at Darlington Raceway, site of Saturday\u2019s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 (3:30 p.m. on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201cJR Motorsports has been a great home for me. To put myself back into contention to win races and championships, that\u2019s huge.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DR_NXS_Allgaier_Bell_083118.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

\u201cDo I want redemption on the Cup side? Absolutely. I personally don\u2019t feel like I ever really got a fair shake on the Cup side, based on the circumstances that were dealt. That wasn\u2019t the fault of anyone. It was a lot of moving pieces that had to come together to make the Cup program work the way we wanted it to, and that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I want redemption? Yeah. I want to go back to Cup at some point in my career\u2026 I think I could have success in the Cup series, but on the flip side of it, I\u2019m not going to jeopardize what I\u2019m doing right now just to take a seat and explore that option. It would have to be that perfect scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service More than just winning, Kyle Larson wants to dominate DARLINGTON, S.C. \u2013 Don\u2019t expect Kyle Larson\u2019s mind-set to change just because he\u2019s locked into a spot in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. After winning the pole for Aug. 18 Night race at Bristol, Larson guaranteed his place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":21480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[651,16],"class_list":["post-21475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-darlington-raceway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/357568.jpg?fit=4033%2C2684","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5An","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21475"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21482,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21475\/revisions\/21482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}