Kyle Larson has been pulling double — and sometimes triple — duty all season. Whether it was Homestead-Miami Speedway or Bristol Motor Speedway, the Hendrick Motorsports star has been bouncing between NASCAR Craftsman Truck, Xfinity, and Cup Series rides. It’s a grind, but the extra track time seems to be paying off. He won both the Homestead and Bristol Cup races after similar weekend workloads.
Now, Larson’s hoping the same strategy pays off at Texas Motor Speedway. He already grabbed a win in the Xfinity Series race and had a plan heading into the May 4 Cup event.
But don’t let the early success fool you. According to Larson, the Cup race at Texas will be a different beast entirely — and he’s putting the blame squarely on the track itself.
Kyle Larson Warns the Field Ahead of Texas Motor Speedway
If you go back to 2016, Texas Motor Speedway caught plenty of heat over poor drainage issues, followed by a full reconfiguration during the offseason. The track, originally opened in 1997, was overdue for a repave, but the redesign didn’t land well with many drivers.
Instead of just repaving the surface, officials reshaped the entire layout. The biggest issue? A nasty bump above the tunnel in Turns 3 and 4. And that’s exactly where Larson says the Cup cars struggle most.
“I don’t think the Cup cars are able to run as high as Xfinity cars in three and four because, like the higher you run over there, there’s that one little bump, a bigger bump just past the center,” Larson said before the race. “And I feel like the Cup cars, it really, you know, bumps kind of upsets us a lot, and that’s why you see people crash over there so often.”
The trophy for winning yesterday's @AndysFrozenC 300 @NASCAR_Xfinity race @TXMotorSpeedway was unique (Custard Cone) and @KyleLarsonRacin loved it! Post race Larson (starts 4th in today's Cup race ) on if the track will come in more today if ever: pic.twitter.com/TYTmvKMXS2
— Claire B Lang (@ClaireBLang) May 4, 2025
Larson hasn’t had much luck at Texas since the Next-Gen car rolled out in 2022. Despite earning the pole last season, he finished 21st. The year before? A rough 31st. It’s a far cry from 2021, when he dominated and won both Texas Cup races.
This time, he’ll start fourth. But even with track position on his side, the California native doesn’t sound overly optimistic.
“And then [in turns] 1 and 2, we are gonna move up to that seam, whatever lane that is. And kind of be stuck there. So it’s the same Texas, it’s been for a while. I don’t foresee it ever changing. To what it used to be,” Larson added.