Usually when you think Kyle Larson and driving, you picture stock cars, fire suits, and sprawling race tracks.
But on Wednesday, not so much. Instead of driving on the track, something the NASCAR star has become so well known for doing, Larson tried driving on the golf course at Quail Hollow. With a golf club, that is _ and with some help from the professionals.
"(Russell Henley) gave me a couple of tips on driving the ball," Larson told the Observer during lunch Wednesday. "I'm not a good golfer though, so he helped me out a decent amount."
Larson, who is 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, is headed to Dover, Del., on Thursday afternoon to prepare for this weekend's race, but before he left, he made a stop by the Wells Fargo Championship for Wednesday's pro-am alongside Henley, ranked No. 50 in the world, and later Wednesday watched fellow driver Denny Hamlin play his round.
For Larson, who says he began playing golf about two years ago, it's a chance to unwind and experience something different from the grueling NASCAR circuit. A change of pace, even if just for an afternoon, can serve as a real recharge.
"A spot opened up in the pro am and I was like, 'Count me in,' " Larson said. "I knew it'd be pretty cool, but it was way cooler than I thought it would be.
"I just thought I'd be stressed out the whole time, but once I got through the first hole, I wasn't stressed at all."
Larson said he plays golf once or twice a week, sometimes with Hamlin and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., both avid golfers in their own right. But at a tournament of this magnitude? With 14-time major champion Tiger Woods, reigning Masters winner Patrick Reed, and a bounty of other notable names? That's a different feeling.
Not that Larson was starstruck or anything. Just ...
"It was cool being on the range next to Patrick Reed _ I didn't introduce myself or anything, but there's that feeling," Larson said. "I'm sure there's people who get that same feeling around us, but I don't think we're big deals and they probably don't think they're big deals."
What's more of a big deal to Larson is this weekend, specifically if he can notch his first win of the season at one of his favorite tracks. Larson has a career average finish of 7.88 at Dover, including two second-place finishes, but no wins. This weekend he's hoping to change that.
"I'd like to get some more consistency," Larson said of his results so far this season. "We've just had some bad luck. Our speed has been OK, we've had a little bit of bad luck with crashes and blown tires and things like that."
Bad luck, in NASCAR as in golf, is a part of the sport. Larson knows that better than most, given bad luck has spoiled his past two playoff runs. All he can do is his best _ and that lesson holds up whether he's driving on the track or back on the golf course.
"I definitely think we're improving every week, but so is everybody else," Larson said. "Just gotta keep working hard and we'll be all right."
