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Just a few hours are left to flag off the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season opener, the Daytona 500. Defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has been locked in pole position for Sunday’s main event.
The 29-year-old is one of the favorite drivers to win the Daytona 500, his first in his ninth season. Kyle Larson is currently at odds of 9-1, surpassed only by Denny Hamlin, the #11 Toyota Camry driver, at 8-1, after the Daytona Duels. Larson was previously tied for the second-shortest odds with Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney at 12-1.
The odds have the nature to change quickly during the course of the race. Last year, highly placed Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were the two leaders on the final lap of the race before being involved in a crash. This allowed Michael McDowell to win the 2021 Daytona 500.
Meanwhile, Kyle Larson is in a great position to win the race, considering his position on the front row. Not only is he the defending champion, but Larson took the Cup Series by storm, winning 10 races and cracking the top 10 a total of 26 times in 36 races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has potential but it’s going to be interesting to see how he starts with the new NextGen Chevy Camaro ZL1 this season.
Kyle Larson hoping to win his first Daytona 500
The #5 Chevrolet Camaro driver is looking forward to winning the Cup Series again when he starts the 2022 season on Sunday. In describing the feeling of lifting the 2021 Cup Series trophy, Larson said:
“I never felt like I could win a championship until last year, and then the year goes by so fast, it almost just feels like a blur. So yeah, it was just a great feeling and one that I hope I can feel again and kind of soak in the moment a little bit more than I could with the first championship.”
Expressing his desire to win his first Daytona 500, Larson said:
“It’s a difficult race, really, to even get to the (front row) with the drafting and the bump drafting and the big crashes that they have. So just trying to position yourself in the right spot and make the right decisions is always tough. I haven’t done a great job any time I go to the superspeedway races and a lot of times end up in a crash. So hopefully, this year I’ll do a little bit better job and we can stay up front and get a good finish and hopefully our first win in the Daytona 500.”
