Kyle Larson doesn’t hold back his criticism of NextGen’s crucial limitation

Hendrick Motorsports ace Kyle Larson was recently featured in a post-race interview after the Jack Link's 500 held at Talladega Superspeedway. During the interview, Larson criticized the NextGen Era cars for making it difficult to overtake drivers and gain spots in the race.

The NextGen or Gen7 cars debuted in the Cup Series three years ago at the Daytona 500 in 2022. NASCAR aimed to increase the competitiveness on the track with new cars while reducing horsepower. However, Larson had a different opinion after competing in Sunday's race.

Kyle Larson qualified 25th for the Jack Link's 500 with a best time of 53.21 seconds and a top speed of 179.96 mph. He was 0.65 seconds behind the pack leader, Zane Smith, who had a best time of 52.56 seconds. Despite a slow start, Larson landed a top-five finish, ending the race in second place.

Reflecting upon the challenges to gain spots with the new cars, the Hendrick Motorsports ace told Frontstretch media (via YouTube):

"I started the race in the back and couldn't go anywhere. Some things got jumbled up — I don't know if there was almost an accident maybe — and you need moments like that for the field to get kind of choked up and fanned out, and then you can get lucky and pick your way through for, like, a straightaway and then kind of settle back in. It kind of happened again, maybe in the third stage." [00:52 onwards]

"I was a bit surprised at the end of the first stage that you were able to get the top lane going and get clear past the two inside lanes. It's just confusing sometimes when runs happen. I think we would all wish it was a little bit easier to kind of maneuver — not necessarily to maneuver, but like there at the end when you pick the pace up, it’s just two-wide racing, and really only the two guys on the front row have a shot to win," he added.

Kyle Larson initially secured third place in the 188-lap race, but was bumped up to second after Ryan Preece was disqualified. Team Penske driver Austin Cindric won the race by a margin of 0.022 seconds.

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NASCAR champion Kyle Larson ties Martin Truex Jr.'s record in the Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson laid down a dominating performance at last week's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. During the event, Larson won both stages of the race and took home the win after leading the final stage of the race.

Larson controlled the 266.5-mile race and led the most laps (411). Additionally, he led every lap of stage two of the Food City 500 held on April 13, 2025, and claimed his 66th stage win. With his win, he tied the record of former NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. for having the most stage wins.

Truex Jr. achieved the feat in 694 starts during his 22-year stint in the Cup Series. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson tied the record in 374 starts in his 13-year career in the Series. Larson currently ranks second on the Cup Series points table with 358 points and two wins this season.