“I’m Really Appreciative of It…” – Kyle Larson Candidly Admits He Needed the Pep Talk From His Crew Chief While He Was “Really Pouty”

Who knew that even someone like Kyle Larson can have his morale down? But that happened during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte when the defending champion wasn’t feeling all that positive. Enter Cliff Daniels, his crew chief, who gave a ‘speech’ that immediately lifted Larson out of the self-loathing pit and brought him back into the race.

This was something that the #5 driver recently touched upon in an interview. Larson described how he didn’t think he was one of those people who need such talks, but the fact that he did, was something he really appreciated.

“I never would have thought that I like want or need somebody like that in my ear during a race but I’m really appreciative of it because I needed it,” he said.

“I needed a pep talk. (The) midway point of the race, I was just really pouty and I think when you’re like that, it’s easy to kind of give up and make mistakes and crash or something and make your day worse,” Larson continued.

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“But he was able to kind of reset me and reset our team and then the next 200 laps went way different. We almost won the race.”

Kyle Larson feels lucky to have Cliff Daniels by his side

The Hendrick Motorsports ace described how at this point, everybody has listened to the iconic speech by Cliff Daniels that brought Larson back in the game at the Coca-Cola 600.

He admitted that Daniels is “super good” at public speaking as well as “saying the right things at the right time.”

Kyle Larson added that it’s good he can trust somebody like that, and for that person to also trust him too, it’s good. “I know that Cliff trusts my abilities and that gives me a lot of confidence,” he added.

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“I’m fortunate to have Cliff as the leader of our team.”