“NASCAR Is an Oval Sport”: Kyle Larson Makes His Stand Clear on Oval vs Road Course Debate

From an outsider’s perspective, NASCAR has always been perceived to be about racing in the ovals. But it’s not all ovals, especially in the modern age. There are, in addition to the ovals, racetracks such as road courses and even a street course earlier this year, or in other words, the schedule is full of a variety of racetracks. But at its core, the sport is rooted in oval racing, an idea Kyle Larson is a subscriber to.

Recently, while speaking at the press conference held at Watkins Glen, Kyle Larson was asked by a journalist about the impact of having more road-course opportunities on the competitiveness of racing at tracks like Watkins Glen, considering that in the past there were only two road courses on the schedule – Watkins Glen and Sonoma.

Larson responded by sharing his preference for oval racing over road course races. Although, he did mention why having so many road courses could be a good thing for the sport in general.

Kyle Larson states his preference for Oval racing over road courses

Larson replied, “I don’t know if it’s raised the level of competitiveness or anything like that. I feel like I would like for there to be a couple less on our schedule. But I also think it’s been good for our sport to have as many as we do because it’s allowed that crossover with international drivers and drivers of different backgrounds to come and run our races.”

Furthermore, the Hendrick Motorsports driver stated that if there were three or four Cup races on a road course, it might not be as enticing for drivers like Jenson Button or Shane Van Gisbergen to participate willingly. He believes that the current number of road course races is beneficial for the sport.

Although he personally would prefer to have one or two fewer races. However, he also acknowledges that reducing the number of road course races could potentially impact the participation of international competitors in the sport.

“I do think it’s really awesome to be able to share a racetrack with everybody that we did last week. I think that’s awesome, but NASCAR is an oval sport in my opinion, so I would love to see us a little bit more ovals,” he concluded.

Road Course racing has expanded the horizon for NASCAR

Just in the last couple of years, we saw drivers outside of NASCAR come in and race in NASCAR. Drivers such as Formula 1 World Champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button, along with the recent V8 Supercars Australian driver Shane Van Gisbergen, have flocked to the sport. Showcasing a keen interest in trying to compete amongst some of the best in NASCAR.

In one way or another, having these cross-discipline drivers come into the sport has greatly impacted the sports’ marketing considering how at one point, it seemed like the sport had been diminishing in popularity.

Today, while the sport still predominantly remains an oval sport, the introduction of several road courses might come in as a blessing in disguise for its expansion. However, the subject of encouraging more or less road courses in the future remains purely subjective.

But at the end of the day, Larson’s argument seems sound enough, to lean more towards the ovals, considering the sports heritage.