“It Feels Faster and Scarier”: Kyle Larson Explains Why Driving on the Road Can Feel “More Dangerous” Than a NASCAR Track

Kyle Larson sets the tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule ablaze with the speed he generates in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. He’s usually a favorite to outperform the field on any given weekend. But surprisingly, his confidence fades the moment he steps out of a stock car and takes the wheel of a street car.

In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Larson was asked how it felt to drive in the infamous traffic of Los Angeles. He responded by stating that it was a pleasure to drive around L.A. after the visit to Mexico City. Traffic is a lot worse there, and he is just grateful to be back on familiar roads. He continued to explain why driving on the regular roads evokes a different sensation in him.

“You’re all kind of going within 65 to 75 miles an hour,” Larson said. “Some might go ripping by you at 80-85 miles an hour. To me, that sensation sometimes feels faster than the racetrack. Because, on the racetrack, you’re racing at 190 to 195 miles an hour. It’s not like cars are zipping past you or you’re zipping by somebody. So, that’s where the sensation comes from, to me.”

He continued, “It’s not hard at all to get back into a street car and go drive home after the race. If anything, sometimes it feels faster, scarier, and more dangerous because you don’t know who you’re on the road with.” The race track is a far more controlled environment than the outside world. Larson’s fear that the action of a fellow driver cannot be anticipated on regular roads is valid.

Denny Hamlin on driving on public roads

Many NASCAR drivers don’t feel the need to speed on public roads since they have that thirst quenched regularly on the race track. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran, Denny Hamlin, is one of them. While he does get frustrated when people don’t drive according to the rules on the roads and pull risky maneuvers on him, he doesn’t mind them as much as he would on the track.

Hamlin told Jeff Gluck in a 2019 interview, when asked if questionable driving moves are as bad on the road as on the race track, “Yes and no. I’d say a little more on the track, because they know how to drive. But some are inexperienced and don’t know that it is a jerk move. So I don’t know. I think they’re equally as frustrating.”

It is apparent from the words of these two icons that driving on the track and on public roads are two very different experiences for professional race car drivers.