Kyle Larson hopes Ganassi can come out of the box strong in 2017

As Larson sat behind the wheel of his midget at Tulsa Expo Raceway, any thought of stock cars could not have been further from his mind.

Still, his performance in 2016--winning his first race on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup and qualifying for the Chase--invites the question: Will 2017 be Larson’s breakout season?

“I don’t worry about it,” Larson told Motorsport.com. “I just want to do the best job that I can. So we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. We ended the year good. Hopefully, we can start the year good and get rolling a little bit earlier in the season than we have in the past.”

In his third season on NASCAR’s top tour, Larson, 24, finished a career-best ninth in the standings behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. But wrecks at Auto Club Speedway in March and Kansas Speedway in May slowed Larson’s progress in the first half of the season.

It wasn’t until the end of June at Sonoma Raceway that Larson cracked the top 20. Once the second half of the season started at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Larson posted one win (Michigan International Speedway) four top fives and five top 10s in the eight races prior to the Chase.

Not wanting to be overconfident

“I 100-percent think we did throughout the season last year,” Larson said of CGR’s ability to improve performance. “I’m trying not to be super optimistic going into this year, because every Cup season I’ve ran, I’ve been excited for the new year because we’ve run well at the end of the season, then we start off and we’re slow."

“So, I don’t want to be too confident and too optimistic, 'cause in years past, it hasn’t worked out. Fingers are crossed that we can start off the year good. And I think that will really benefit our season and allow us to make the Chase a little bit easier than we have in the past and hope to get a couple of wins.”

Last season was his first with Chad Johnston. The veteran crew chief worked with another open wheel driver, Tony Stewart, prior to partnering with Larson. After a year of acclimating to the systems at Chip Ganassi Racing, Johnston will be ready to hit the ground running with Larson starting at Daytona International Speedway next month.

“In general, Ganassi has always started out slow,” Johnston said. “We made a big effort to keep pushing development through the winter to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“I can’t speak for what they’ve done before, but I feel we have all the people and pieces in place to come out of the gate stronger than we have in the past.”

Larson plans to be around for a long time

And that’s a good thing for Larson, who wants to make the most of his opportunity in stock cars before turning his attention in other racing directions. Like other young racers in the Monster Energy Cup Series, Carl Edwards’ startling sabbatical wasn’t lost on Larson.

“I don’t really foresee myself racing into my 40s in NASCAR,” Larson said. “I foresee myself racing well into my 60s. Everybody is different. But I hope I’m on the Outlaw tour in my 50s.”