Jeff Gordon addresses Kyle Larson’s struggles on superspeedway tracks

Kyle Larson is arguably the best driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, but superspeedway racing is his Achilles heel. In nine races at Daytona with Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has a best finish of 10th place in the 2021 Daytona 500. As for Talladega, the driver of the No. 5 car has two top-10 finishes in eight races.

Larson’s struggles on superspeedway races were present again on Sunday night. He was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver not to lead a lap and struggled to be upfront. After the Great American Race, Jeff Gordon addressed Larson’s struggles on superspeedways during William Byron’s post-race press conference.

“Gosh, the guy is not perfect,” Gordon said. “I think now I’m starting to see it’s getting in his head. I’ve had a few conversations with him, and like, man, just go for it, just forget about it, don’t try to even overthink it. But you can’t win that many races in a row, doesn’t go your way. I don’t know what advice to give him other than — all I told him today is just be Kyle Larson. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Don’t look at what somebody else is doing that’s having success. Just go out there and execute, and the other things will turn around and come your way eventually. I think.”

Larson hasn’t won at any of NASCAR’s superspeedway tracks in the Cup Series, as it doesn’t fit his style of racing. Yet, the current version of superspeedway racing with the NextGen car usually ends up in mass chaos at the end of these events. Larson may not have a win on his resume, but it’s hard to say how much it truly matters with thew ay NASCAR’s superspeedway races end nowadays.