Kyle Larson 2014 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: A-
After a season like Kyle Larson just had you would forget he was just a 22 year old rookie in 2014. The season started and he didn't even get his own spotlight, instead he was included in the underdogs preview.
Well, welcome Larson, you get your own review after that rookie season debut.
I am a fan of Larson, but even coming into his rookie year I was skeptical because of his limited amount of seat time in a NASCAR level car. He spent just 43 races between Nationwide (33 races), Truck (6 races), and Cup (4 races) before the 2014 season. That's not a whole lot of grooming before getting a ride with the "big boys."
I thought he could have an alright season, but he far exceeded my expectations. I knew it would be between him and Austin Dillon for the 2014 Rookie of the Year, but in my mind Kyle won by a land slide. I'm not talking about in the case of points (which he won pretty easily), but just on the eye test. Don't get me wrong, Austin had a pretty good rookie season himself, but some races Kyle just jumped off the track with his performance.
He took pushing the Cup guys to the edge in Nationwide races in 2013 (think Kyle Busch v Kyle Larson) and brought it on a whole new level in 2014. Still, after how well his 2014 rookie season went he has room to grow. He pushed his car into the top 5 a bunch of times in 2014 but couldn't come up with a win.
Kyle finished 2014 with 8 top 5's and 17 top 10's but in the end missed out on the Chase. The promising thing is Kyle was close to notching his first win in his first season at the Cup level. At 22 years old he almost made the Chase based on points (finished 17th). Yet, he still has much to learn, which is exciting as a fan of NASCAR. Kyle Larson proved in 2014 that he is here to stay and is ready to front line a new wave of young NASCAR talent.
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