Larson feels like he’s back on track
LAS VEGAS — Kyle Larson was out of NASCAR long enough to wonder if he’d still feel comfortable in a Cup car. He raced in nearly 100 events last year, just not in 3,400-pound stock cars.
Would it feel the same as he remembered? Had his familiarity with the interior faded? His instincts slipped?
Larson, who won 42 of 83 open-wheel races during his NASCAR suspension for using a racial slur, has fallen right back into the old routine.
“I thought there would be cobwebs and rust. But maybe because I raced so much last year in sprint cars and open wheel cars ... I felt as fresh as ever,” Larson said. “When I got in the car and put my headand-neck restraint on and buckled up, everything just felt normal. It didn’t feel like I had been out of the car a long time.”
Larson, fired by Chip Ganassi Racing after using a racial slur during an iRacing event in April, was hired by Hendrick Motorsports when his ban was lifted at the end of last season. His official return was last month at Daytona International Speedway, where he opened his second chance in NASCAR with a 10th-place finish in the Daytona 500.
He was running in the top three with seven laps remaining a week later on the Daytona road course when Larson, in a moment of admitted over-aggressiveness, spun his Chevrolet and fell to a 30th-place finish. Last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Larson led five laps and finished fourth, marking back-to-back weeks he believed he had a shot to win.
Next up is Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It’s the fourth race of the season and falls one day short of his fourth and final Cup race a year ago. The season was paused for the pandemic, Larson was suspended during the shutdown and missed the final 32 races of the year.
Despite his layoff and the move to a new organization, he’s already fitting in well at Hendrick Motorsports. The team got its first win of the season last week from William Byron, a playoff driver who typically hovers around the cutoff mark but is now automatically qualified.
Alex Bowman had one of the fastest cars at the Daytona 500, and reigning series champion Chase Elliott could have won both the Daytona 500 and the road course race a week later. Chad Knaus, vice president of competition, believes Hendrick drivers could have swept the first three races of the season and Larson could get a victory soon.
Coming off the suspension, Larson has made a strong off-track impression on Hendrick, too. He has been a welcome addition to the driver debriefs, which no longer include seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson downloading information for the first time in nearly two decades.
“I’ve been really impressed with Kyle. Having him here, he’s been very open, very forthcoming with information from what he’s feeling,” Knaus said. “He’s an open book. He’s been great and we could not be more pleased with his performance.”
He’s also noticed a patience in Larson, particularly at Homestead last week when Larson could have been too aggressive with his preferred style of riding up against the wall.
“That’s a high level of maturity that I did not know he had.” Knaus said.
Mold and rot are dangers that can develop anywhere in your house. But the bathroom, which generally contains more moisture than any other room in the house, is a particularly ripe target. Mold and rot can cause health problems and do serious damage to your house, so it’s best to take steps to prevent them.
The first signs of mold are darkened wood, water stains on your ceilings and water marks around bath vents. When you detect mold in your bathroom, you should address it quickly, before it spreads. Pay attention to exhaust fans and vent ducts, where condensation will frequently collect.
Bathroom insulation is a common place for mold to take up residence. If you replace your insulation, pick something with a high R-value — higher numbers mean more effectiveness. Spray insulation is generally better than fiberglass. You also want some kind of vapor barrier around the insulation to protect it from condensation. Some building codes actually require it.
Your biggest solution to a moisture problem is a bathroom exhaust fan. If you have an exhaust fan already, inspect it and make sure it’s functioning properly. Make sure it vents to the outdoors, rather than the attic. An exhaust fan venting to the attic can cause problems to fester for months or years, and attract not only mold and rot but termites and pests.
Clean your exhaust fan regularly. It’s not a difficult job; simply turn off main power to your bathroom, locate the fan, remove the vent cover, then remove the fan blade if possible. (Take care of those screws — you won’t want to lose them!) Use mild soap and warm water to clean both the cover and both sides of the fan blade. Let them fully dry before reinstalling them. While they’re drying, inspect the vent and clean whatever you can reach. If you need a quick fix and don’t want to take the assembly apart, blow the fan and vent with canned air. It won’t get rid of all debris, but it’s a quick refresher.
If you want to replace your exhaust fan, or install a new one, make sure you hire the right person for the job. Some localities and states allow anyone to do this job, but some require a licensed electrician. You’ll pay between $165 and
$350 for this work.
When hiring, ask them about the right size fan you’ll need. All ventilation fans have an airflow rate measured in cubic feet per minute. The Home Ventilating Institute recommends one CFM per square foot of bathroom area. Add 50 CFM for each toilet, shower and tub. You might need a higher-rated fan for a bathroom with a particularly high ceiling.
Some fans are louder than others; be sure to buy one with a noise level you can live with.