"I'm done with these crazy events": When Kyle Larson battled early days chaos to prove himself in NASCAR

During his initial days in NASCAR (2013), Kyle Larson was infamous for wrecks and close calls. Tired of having such a reputation, Larson decided to work on improving his image with the hope of being known for his race craft rather than on-track incidents.

Larson made his NASCAR debut in 2012 with the Truck Series. He arrived directly from the ARCA Menards Series and then joined the Xfinity Series in 2013. A few days after his Xfinity Series, Larson finally debuted in the Cup Series.

However, Larson did not have a remarkable start to his stock car racing journey. The California-born driver received a lot of attention after his car flew off the track and hit the barrier at the Daytona International Speedway. This injured more than two dozen people when the debris, including a tire, hit the grandstands.

In addition to this, Larson's car was in flames in Las Vegas after a crash, followed by another incident that involved his tire blowing up at Texas. Such continuous on-track incidents put Kyle Larson in a bad light, something he wanted to change desperately.

"Hopefully, I'm getting all these weird races out of the way early in my career," Larson said. "I've been running well, maybe a little bit better than I expected. I'd like to get more exposure for that than for events like Daytona," he said (as per Augusta Chronicle).

He added:

"Hopefully, I'm done with these crazy events and get known for running well."

At the end of the 2024 season, Kyle Larson completed 12 years in the Cup Series, where he racked up a championship in 2021 and numerous wins. As of the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Larson has 29 wins, 21 pole positions and 184 Top 10s to his name.

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Kyle Larson let his feelings known after Phoenix Raceway outing

Kyle Larson came home in P3 at the Phoenix Raceway as he failed to topple the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, on Sunday, 9 March. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was in touching distance of Bell and Hamlin in the last lap but still too far to cross the finish line ahead of everyone else.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson (5) during the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

At the time when Bell and Hamlin were fighting each other and jockeying for positions, Larson believed taking the inside line could have been beneficial. However, he failed to make it work, but he was happy with his performance.

"Good to finish third,” Larson said in a post-race interview. “I felt like we were going to be lucky to finish top 10. Pit crew did a great job there that last stop. They made good adjustments compared to our first option tire round two.”

Christopher Bell claimed the Shriners Children's 500 victory at the Phoenix Raceway. With this, he secured three back-to-back Cup Series wins this season and became the only driver to do so in the Next Gen car era.