Kyle Larson shuts down fans complaining about Bristol tire situation in lengthy message

Kyle Larson asked fans to temper their expectations when it comes to NASCAR short track racing in the Next Gen car in a lengthy X post on Tuesday.

Larson dominated Saturday’s Bristol Night Race, leading 462-of-500 laps to win his fifth race of the season. Whereas tire wear was excessive in the spring race in March, it was non-existent in the Round of 16 finale. That made for an uneventful race in the eyes of fans, but Larson isn’t convinced it’s a tire problem. From where he sits, the problem lies with the “spec racecars” they’re driving.

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“All this tire wear talk about Bristol got me wondering… Have we ever had a lot tire wear at Bristol besides the spring of 24? Eh, not much of any,” Larson wrote. “Have we seen great races there? Absolutely. Have we seen duds where Kyle Busch leads 300+ laps? Sure. From what I remember in my career before the Next Gen car was we had cars with some disparity that could run closer to one another in traffic and a wheel/tire combo that got hotter which in essence gave us less grip on the long run. I’ve ran with 900hp all the way down to 650hp or less potentially, high downforce, low downforce and everything in between. Bristol’s ALWAYS been tough to pass.

“Speed on pit road and most likely there’s a good chance you’re going a lap down on the next run. That’s the way it is and has been for a very long time. We had more natural cautions from wrecks because cars could run closer and we never quite made it a full fuel run because eventually someone’s RF tire would explode from overheating. I’m not saying I want tires to explode again but we’re trying to crutch this race car on short tracks with the tire and then blame Goodyear every week cause cars can’t pass.

“I don’t have the answer to fix what we currently have and neither do you but please stop blaming Goodyear. It’s not a tire problem. And also, have any of you ran around Bristol with or without PJ1? Or resin for that matter. Yeah that’s right… so. Temper your expectations. We’re driving spec race cars.”

Kyle Larson fires back at NASCAR fanbase claiming Bristol was a ‘bad race’

Larson recorded a 7.1-second margin of victory and put together the third most dominant Bristol win of all-time. With only four leaders, the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race joined the 2023 Bristol Dirt and 2022 spring Martinsville as races with the fewest number of cars pacing the field in the Next Gen car era. There were just eight lead changes throughout the race. Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag by just one second in March in a race featuring 54 lead changes. 

With tires not wearing as much as they did in the spring, drivers were posting similar lap times making it hard to pass. Everybody but Larson, that is, who clearly had the car to beat all night. But Larson wiping the field with ease wasn’t what the fans wanted to see. Just 27.2%. of fans said they enjoyed Saturday’s race in Jeff Gluck of The Athletic‘s good race poll.

Larson thinks the NASCAR fanbase is the problem.

“Lead 450 laps but have 2 overtime restarts and lose and I guarantee the percentage is flip flopped,” Larson wrote Monday. “That’s our fan base.”