There’s a reason Kyle Larson has consistently stood among the sport’s top performers over the past five seasons. It’s not only his raw ability behind the wheel but also his poise and racecraft — the instinct to pick his battles wisely, knowing when to go for broke and when to lift. Just as critical is his knack for letting go of setbacks.
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That mental reset, the ability to leave rough weekends in the rearview mirror, has often given him an edge over others — an approach his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman openly admires and hopes to adopt himself.
Ryan Blaney once shared that before meeting his wife, Gianna Tulio, a single bad race would eat away at him for days. He admitted to carrying that frustration throughout the week until her support helped him break free from that self-defeating pattern.
Larson, by contrast, seems to have built that resilience through the grind of his own journey — a trait Bowman finds worth emulating.
When asked recently about Larson’s IndyCar crash during a practice session last week and how the #5 NASCAR driver seems to bounce back with ease, Bowman first cracked a joke. “He’s like, I don’t care what you have to say about that. I’m just kidding,” he said with a laugh.
Then he got candid and admitted, “I think Kyle does a really good job of that. I’d say that’s something that is mentally more difficult for me than I wish it was, right? Like I wish I was better at it than I am. But Kyle is really good at that. So, I’m excited to watch him all week in Indie.”
“Obviously, cheering him on the best we can. And, yeah, but I’m to see him crash, but glad he’s okay. And I think I saw his already get more laps.”
Larson didn’t just have one setback last week — he was hit with a string of them. From a crash during IndyCar practice, to getting caught up in a wreck during the High Limit Racing Series on Friday, to giving up his Truck Series seat to William Byron — it was one blow after another. Yet, through it all, he remained mentally steady.
When asked how he copes with disappointment, Larson shrugged it off with a line that summed up his approach: “I don’t know. Maybe I’ve hit stuff enough, I have a short memory. My memory has faded.”
That ability to turn the page quickly — to shake off the past and zero in on the next race — continues to set Larson apart.
