Kyle Petty says Kyle Larson has shown 'bad decision making' in some late race moves

Kyle Petty recognizes Kyle Larson has immense talent, but his decisions at the end of races have left plenty of wins on the table for him.

Take last weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway as a prime example. Larson was the car to beat towards the end of the race, and ended up wrecking himself with only a handful of laps to go. Now, he’ll have a slight uphill climb to make it to the Round of 8 over the next two weeks.

Ahead of what’s to be an exciting weekend at Talladega, Petty explained how this year alone has been surprisingly tough for Larson as the laps have dwindled down.

“I don’t think Larson’s giving away races, but I think he misses opportunities to win,” started Petty. “I went back and looked, just this year. I’m going to look at my list. Phoenix with William Byron. Darlington with [Ross] Chastain. Pocono and Kansas with [Denny] Hamlin. Texas with Bubba [Wallace]. Puts himself in a position to not win the race. He doesn’t put himself in a position to win the race. There’s a difference in that, when you drive a race car.

“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.’ So I would like to see him up his game a little bit. Listen, this is Kyle Petty telling a champion to up his game. But I would like to see him mature enough, to know and recognize when that situation comes.”

Alas, that’s not to say Larson isn’t clutch. He’s a champion, after all. However, he certainly could’ve won many more races in 2023 than he has.

After Texas, Larson was simply bummed out regarding his finish, and recognized the challenge that Talladega and the Charlotte Roval to follow presents.

“Our race car was super fast,” Larson said last weekend, via Stephen Stumpf of Frontstretch. “We had an extremely fast car, was fun to drive and just a bummer, yeah. Wasn’t expecting to get loose like that underneath the 23 [Bubba Wallace]. With the Next Gen cars that doesn’t seem to be an issue. I was just trying to get my shape into [Turn] One and just should have gave a little more space.” 

“Just try to get through Talladega with some decent fortune and hopefully have a good Roval.”

If Kyle Larson doesn’t make it to the Round of 8 at least, it would be a huge disappointment for a driver of his caliber. Kyle Petty will be keeping a keen eye on him, and whether Larson can cash in on some of these opportunities moving forward.