Kyle Larson reflects on 'mistakes' made at Charlotte Roval after wrecking in practice

Kyle Larson is going to a backup car after wrecking in practice. That means he will start in the rear on Sunday for the Roval 400. Another Roval race and another bad break for Larson in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Coming out of Turn 8, Laron got loose, overcorrected coming onto the banking of the oval and put his right front into the wall. It was a hard hit, and although he got the car to pit road on its own power, the Hendrick driver went straight to the garage.

Talking to the media afterward, Kyle Larson seemed a little bummed. These Next Gen cars don’t move through the field very well on road courses.

“I don’t know, I mean I don’t really like the oval, so… I don’t know,” Larson said when Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports asked him if he hated the Roval. “It’s a tough place. It’s been, I don’t know, I’ve had some mistakes here I guess. Still, a fun place I enjoy coming to it.”

As far as Kyle Larson’s plan for Sunday? It’s simple. Try to finish the best he can and hope it’s enough.

“It makes it a little more straightforward,” Larson continued. “I think it’ll be really hard to pass so we’ll not be able to get stage points and at least we’ll hopefully try to move forward and be towards the front come Stage 3 to get a good points day that way. But you never know, there could be some cautions that happen in the middle of the stage that could shake things up and you may be able to still get stage points, but just don’t really know until the race plays out.”

Kyle Larson on how going to a backup car changes his strategy, whether he likes the Charlotte road course and what happened in his accident in practice. pic.twitter.com/AbcZau8yGq

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 7, 2023

The goal is clear for Kyle Larson. Move up, steal some stage points if you can, and keep your car off the wall.

Kyle Larson has a lot of work to do at the Roval

Going to a backup car, Larson will be mired in the back. It’s not ideal, but he’s done it before. I can almost assure you it will be one of his most difficult tasks yet, but it isn’t impossible.

There are going to be stage breaks, creating restarts, and that will provide opportunity. More restarts means more chaos, usually, and that could lead to even more opportunity.

As they say, cautions create cautions. The Charlotte Roval is a tough track to conquer. Some drivers are going to have cars that don’t handle well on this part of the track or another. I suspect that Larson can salvage a good day from this. Then again, what is to say he doesn’t find himself in the wall again?

Kyle Larson will have to be aggressive. Tyler Reddick won the pole, Bubba Wallace starts P4 with Kyle Busch P5. All three of them are under the cutline and making a run for Larson’s spot in the Round of 8. He will have to get aggressive and that will either result in success or another damaged Chevy Camaro.