"Be clean and let the other teams make the mistakes" - Kyle Larson has his goals set for NASCAR Texas race this weekend

Elk Grove, California-native Kyle Larson is one of the frontrunners gunning for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship. The Hendrick Motorsports driver, who came off an incredible run of victories in 2021, has had success this year as well, but not at the level he performed last year. Larson drove his #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a top-5 finish last weekend, and aims to keep the momentum going this Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is scheduled to go live this Sunday from the city of Fort Worth, Texas. The event will have playoff contenders battle it out in the Round of 12. Larson looked back on the previous year's playoffs and is aiming to adjust his racing style accordingly ahead of the race. He said:

“Be clean and let the other teams make the mistakes. Honestly, if you can just finish you don’t have to do anything crazy in the first couple rounds. Don’t take yourself out of stage points or a good finish and you can advance."

Kyle Larson also elaborated on when he thought it would be the right time to switch to an aggressive driving style in the playoffs.

"Once you get to the Round of 8, that’s obviously when you need to get some top-five finishes or a win. You just don’t want to take yourself out of any race or get any DNF or anything like that where you put yourself in a must-win situation because winning is really difficult to do. You just want to keep yourself in contention every race.”

Kyle Larson won the All-Star event as well as the points-paying race at Texas Motor Speedway last year, indicating he has a stronghold over the 1.5-mile-long oval. It remains to be seen how the race will pan out for the Hendrick Motorsports driver on Sunday.

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Kyle Larson's thoughts on NASCAR 2022: Round of 12 track selection

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson recently spoke on the group of three tracks that will comprise the Round of 12 in the playoffs, which will then decide the next round. Speaking to notable journalist Bob Pockrass, Larson thought the three tracks were a 'weird' combination. He said:

"It's a weird bunch of tracks, so I don't know. Hopefully Texas will go good, and Talladega we can get some breaks. Hopefully it goes as well as it did earlier this year."

Watch the complete interview below:

Catch the 30-year-old taking on Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday.