After his mistake in Texas that took him out of contention to win the race, Kyle Larson began attracting the notion that many-a-times he gives away races. This has been the case on a few occasions this year and it was the case last year too, most crucially at the ROVAL, when he exited from the playoffs in a failed bid to defend his Cup championship.
However, Kyle Petty has a different opinion on this notion of Larson giving away races. The former NASCAR driver recently explained his thoughts on the subject while also pointing to the area where Larson can improve to maximize his potential.
Kyle Petty doesn’t think Kyle Larson is giving away races
During a recent interview, Petty simply shrugged off the notion that Larson gives away races. Instead, he had a different perspective on the subject. “I think he misses opportunities to win,” Petty said, as he made a note of the said opportunities Larson missed this year alone, “Phoenix with William Byron, Darlington with (Ross) Chastain, Pocono with Denny (Hamlin), and then Texas with Bubba (Wallace).”
“(Larson) puts himself in a position to not win the race. He doesn’t put himself in a position to win the race. And there’s a difference in that when you drive a racecar. So I look at it and I think, that’s not a giveaway. That’s just bad decision-making. That’s just poor decision-making in those cases,” Petty explained.
The former driver claimed that he would like to see Larson “up his game” just that little bit more in order to get what he can truly get. “I would like to see him mature enough to know and recognize when the situation comes,” he added.
Larson laments on his Texas mess-up
Despite having a strong racecar and a growing sense of confidence that Texas would be the Kyle Larson day, the #5 driver made a costly error and spun while he was racing Bubba Wallace hard for the lead. Looking back on his mistake, Larson claimed it was “just a bummer.”
“I wasn’t expecting to get loose in like that underneath the #23. I was trying to get my shape into [Turn] 1 and should’ve gave a little more space. If I could just replay it again, I would just give me more space into [Turn] 1 and race it out off of 2, and eventually, the bottom would’ve won out so I was just trying to get it all too quickly and should’ve just worked for another corner,” he added.
Either way, Larson is now currently sitting just above the cut-off line with a two-point cushion, and with Talladega and the ROVAL up next, there’s no doubt that Yung Money is in a tricky spot.
