So, yeah, I guess you could look back and Pevely was probably the weekend when it all kind of started to turn around for me positively.
SC&M: One thing I‘d like to get your opinion on — because it‘s bugged me personally — is that, since the announcement that you‘ll be racing with NASCAR again in 2021, there have been a lot of people making the comment that, ‘It‘ll be good to see Kyle back on the track.‘ You‘ve been on ‘tracks‘ all over the country this year, racing against some of the toughest racers in the world, and you‘ve won over 40 races. So, you haven‘t raced with NASCAR, but you‘ve never left the race tracks and you‘ve had one hell of a year.
KL: Yeah, I haven‘t really paid attention to any of that. I‘ve stayed off social media now for a long time, so I don‘t really know what everybody‘s saying. Honestly, I think the majority of race fans know what I‘ve done this year and, I don‘t know, I think some of the race fans, I guess, probably think I‘ve just been sitting on the sidelines all year, just ‘cause they don‘t know dirt track racing. They didn‘t grow up around it, it‘s not what they follow. So, I don‘t really know how to answer that question. I know the season I‘ve had, and I think the race fans that I‘ve been around, and I think every one of these NASCAR organizations — the people that work there — know the season that I had. So, I guess that‘s really all that matters to me.
SC&M: Well, going into your NASCAR program this coming season, it would seem like you‘re carrying a lot of momentum. Does the success you‘ve had this season potentially elevate your coming NASCAR season?
KL: It‘s tough to say.
SC&M: But, a racer is usually stronger mentally when he‘s been having success winning.
KL: Yeah, but NASCAR‘s different. Your race car and your team‘s gotta be good. And, obviously, Chase (Elliott) winning the championship, really, I think, that‘s what does the most for my confidence (laughs) is seeing that I‘m going into the championship organization. I think I could have won zero dirt races this year and him winning the championship helps my confidence out more than anything.
I think there‘s gonna be…I hope not, but I would assume there‘s probably gonna be some growing pains throughout the beginning of next year, just because I‘m a new driver coming to the team and I haven‘t worked with any of these people here. So, you have to learn each other, and I think that takes time, and takes time to learn what I need as a driver and need out of my race car. So, yeah, I think winning all the races I have this year helps, but then, at the same time, you look at it and you have an off-season. So, it‘s easy to kind of forget about what you did this past season. I think by the time the Cup season starts next year you‘ve started fresh.
SC&M: Well, now that you‘ve won the Chili Bowl, what other bucket list short track races do you want to win?
KL: I don‘t know. Every race, really. Obviously, your big ones. I thought this year I was going to be able to compete in all of them, but the way the things worked out with the pandemic I didn‘t get to run Kings Royal, I didn‘t get to run Knoxville Nationals.
I guess you can even look at the late model stuff. I didn‘t get to run the Dream or the World (100), those were a couple I could have probably done this year. So, all of those would be…I mean, your big events. Everybody wants to win the big events.
I got to win at Knoxville this year, and I thought it was gonna feel as good as winning the Knoxville Nationals, but it didn‘t. It felt like just winning another race. And I‘m actually glad it didn‘t feel special to me, because I don‘t want it to take anything away from me if I someday win the Knoxville Nationals. So, Knoxville would probably be the top of my list for short track races, dirt races that I wanna win. But, I wanna win all of them. I think everybody wants to win every race.
SC&M: You won in several cars, but the majority of your wins came with Paul Silva, and you guys really work well together. What is it that clicks between you and Paul that makes you work as such a good team?
KL: I don‘t know. I think he‘s just a really, really smart person, and I think I run the car really hard. And I just think that kind of combination of however he sets the car up and my aggressiveness works out. And I think, for me as a driver, he is so smart and he can visualize — by watching me on the race track — what he needs to adjust. He‘s not reliant on me giving him feedback. Honestly, we do best when I don‘t give him feedback and just let him set it up. The times where we‘re off it a little bit and I try and really break down what I‘m feeling, we just get worse. So, me racing with him a lot this year, I think I‘ve realized that. And I give him very, very little information because I don‘t want to mess him up.
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