12 Questions with Sprint Cup rookie Kyle Larson

Our series of NASCAR driver interviews continues this week with rookie Kyle Larson, who has five top-10 finishes in 10 races for Chip Ganassi Racing this season.

Q: When you're on a long green-flag run and not racing around anyone, what do you think about?

A: Well for me, I like to move around the racetrack a lot, so I'm always trying to find different grip. Then if your car isn't handling right, you point out the things you don't like about it and try to fix that for your crew chief.

If it gets really long, your mind might wander a little bit and you start thinking about other things, but nothing I can point out off the top of my head.

Q: Fans often come up to you and bring up moments from your career or times they've seen you race. What moment do fans bring up the most?

A: Over the last year, it's definitely been the Daytona wreck (in the 2013 Nationwide Series race). Everybody brings that up.

MAKING AN IMPRESSION: Crashes, praise nothing new for Larson

Even more than your victories?

Yeah. Well, just because a lot of the NASCAR fans don't know what I did before I got to NASCAR. That was the first time they got to watch me. They'll say, "Oh, glad you're alright" or "I was at that race."

But sprint car people, they'll talk about races I ran a few years ago out on the West Coast or something. Probably Trophy Cup (in Tulare, California) from last season, because that was really exciting.

WATCH: Kyle Larson flies into the fence at Daytona

Q: Let's say someone paid you $5 million and gave you an unlimited budget to design a new racetrack. What kind of track would you build?

A: I would probably build a track in similar shape to Homestead — maybe just a little bit smaller — with a worn-out surface. I think Homestead is about a perfectly built track anyway, so I wouldn't build it a whole lot different. Just make sure it had some age on it — maybe a little rougher than Homestead might be now.

I just like how it's a true oval; it doesn't have a dogleg. And the racing is really good.

Q: If you had a day off to do anything in the world you wanted — but you weren't allowed to race — what would you do?

A: I don't know. (Laughs) I'd like to go on a cruise someday. I've never gotten to do that, because I'm always so busy. I don't know where I would go on the cruise, I just think it would be fun to just hang out on a boat for a little five- or seven-day cruise.

Q: You guys get to do a lot of cool things because you're drivers. What's an experience you've had through NASCAR that stands out to you?

A: One that stands out a little bit was last year in Kansas, Blake Shelton had a concert and they hooked us up with some tickets. We got to go backstage after the concert along with a lot of other drivers. Clint (Bowyer) was back there, Elliott Sadler and his brother Hermie, Dale Jarrett. It was cool to see the normal side of everybody, have a few drinks and watch Clint and Blake make fools of themselves.

Are you a country music fan?

I like country music the best. I'm a fan of pretty much every type of music, but I'd say country is my favorite.

MORE: View the full 12 Questions archive

Q: When you have a bad day on the track and you go home at the end of the day, do you vent to anyone about it or do you just keep it to yourself?

A: I don't vent a whole lot. I'm pretty easygoing. But if I'm really upset, I'll vent a little bit to my girlfriend, Katelyn (Sweet) or my manager, Joey (Dennewitz).

Does it help that Katelyn grew up in racing when you have those discussions? (Katelyn is the sister of driver Brad Sweet.)

Yeah, for sure. We can talk about racing, pit stops or anything and she knows and understands it — and doesn't sound too dumb when she talks about it. (Laughs) She's been around racing just as much as I have throughout our lives. We grew up on the West Coast together. We didn't really hang out until a few years ago, but we always knew each other. But yeah, it's nice to have somebody who grew up in racing to talk to about racing stuff.

Q: Someday when you have kids running around the garage, what driver would you point to as a good example of how to conduct yourself the right way?

A: A lot of people say Jimmie (Johnson), so I'll avoid saying Jimmie just because everybody says it every week in these interviews.

I'll go back to sprint car racing a little bit. The World of Outlaws schedule is insanely long and you're always on the road, and one driver who takes really good care of his family is Joey Saldana. He still stays involved with his children as much as he can and you can tell he loves them to death. Whenever he goes back home to Indiana, you always see pictures of him hanging out with his kids. They're playing football and things like that. It's pretty cool to see how he stays involved even though he's on the road three-quarters of the year.

Q: When you guys stand around and tell racing stories, what's one of your favorites to tell either about yourself or someone else?

A: I like getting together with friends and just making fun of ourselves and stupid things I've done or I've seen them do — and good races we've had together.

When I go home to California, I always talk to my go-kart friends about when we were racing at Red Bluff or Cycleland. Just fun races and also stupid things we did when we were really young.

So you don't mind making fun of yourself a little bit?

I love making fun of myself. There's a handful of racing things I've done where it was like, "Man, that was really stupid and embarrassing." But I don't mind talking about them.

Q: What's a TV show you're really into right now?

A: I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but since the time I was 10 or 11, I've watched MTV's The Challenge. I've watched that every year. I need to catch up this season; I've only seen one episode and they're about five episodes in. But that's probably my favorite show.

Q: What's the last movie you saw — either in the theater or at home — and was it any good?

A: Me and Katelyn went to watch The Other Woman with Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton. The reviews weren't very good, so I wasn't too excited to go watch it, but she really wanted to go. It turned out to be a pretty funny movie.

We were sitting next to four or five married women who were probably in their 40s or 50s and it was funny just to listen to them, because they might have gone through the same stuff that was going on in that movie. (Laughs)

Q: If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self — something you know now that you didn't know then — what would it be?

A: I'd like to understand the race cars a little more on the mechanical side. I think that'd be good. I feel like I understand the racing part of it just fine, but when I try to explain the way the car is feeling or handling, it's hard for me to get that across when I don't know the mechanical terms of a lot of things. So that's probably one thing I wish I could learn, but I still have a lot of time to learn it. Someday down the road, I'm sure I'll be better at that.

Q: I've been asking each person to give a question for the next interview. Last week was Kasey Kahne, and his question was: "If you could live anywhere and not have it affect your racing in any way, where would you live?"

A: I like North Carolina a lot, but it would be nice to be back home in California. Just to stay close to the friends you grew up with and get to see family and stuff like that. If it couldn't be California, I've gotten to go to New Zealand the past couple years and that area is really nice.

If you moved back to California, would you live at home or would your parents be tired of you?

I'd probably get my own place if I moved back there. (Laughs) It's fun to stay at home for a few days a week when I do get to go back there, but then we all end up getting in arguments and stuff anyway. That's probably why I'd get my own place.

Q: And do you have a question for the next interview? It's with Carl Edwards.

A: I'd like to know if he'd ever run some (USAC) Silver Crown races again, because he was good in those cars.