Kyle Larson in favor of bringing Cup race to Rockingham Speedway amid Bowman Gray's NASCAR return

Kyle Larson recently addressed the impact of rotating the pre-season exhibition race to different venues. This comes as NASCAR returns to historic Bowman Gray Stadium for 2025 The Cook Out Clash on February 2.

In a media interaction at the quarter-mile track, the Hendrick Motorsports driver shared his opinion on NASCAR moving the season's first non-points paying race from Los Angeles Coliseum to Bowman Gray at Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Moreover, the 32-year-old was asked if he'd like to see The Clash "rotate among the short tracks and go international."

He replied (via journalist Peter Stratta's YouTube channel):

"I think all that would be cool, you know. I think going to LA was great I think that was that huge for our sport. It was fun." [0:12 onwards]

The Clash at LA Coliseum in 2022 saw the debut of Next-Gen cars and it was the first time NASCAR ventured out of Florida for the pre-season event.

Furthermore, No. 5 Chevy driver Kyle Larson discussed tapping into NASCAR's roots with the stock-car racing series' return to Bowman Gray after 54 years. He emphasized the successful model of making the clash work at different venues. This led to the 2021 Cup Series champion saying:

"So I would like to see us, you know, tap into that a lot but also if there's other... Going to Rockingham or something that'd be cool. I think getting the Cup series back there for whether it be a points-paying race or a clash or something, I think that'd be neat too." [0:51]

Kyle Larson's desire to bring Rockingham Speedway into the NASCAR Cup Series schedule was seemingly ignited by the return of the historic North Carolina track to the 2025 Xfinity and Truck Series schedule.

With NASCAR's other return to the 1.017-mile track, former NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne will also mark his comeback with a one-off race in April for Richard Childress Racing.

---

"It doesn't suit me" - Kyle Larson makes feelings known on NASCAR return to Bowman Gray Stadium

Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium - Practice - Source: Getty

The 29-time Cup Series race winner Kyle Larson returned to the Bowman Gray Stadium after almost 13 years to kickstart his 2025 NASCAR season. He last competed on the short track in 2012 for an ARCA Series race.

Reflecting on his first appearance at Bowman Gray, Larson said (via Hendrick Motorsports):

"I don't remember a ton about the race. I remember qualifying just slipping and sliding and I just remember basically dirt tracking it for a couple of laps, just trying to build heat in the tires. So, just being sideways for a couple of laps."

He continued:

"But then in the race, I'd never raced on a track that small in a stock car, so it was difficult, similar to Martinsville it just does not suit me. So, I could never quite get into a rhythm. I still think I finished OK ... just kind of went backwards and probably tried to survive."

While on his previous visit, Kyle Larson secured a pole position and finished the race in the top five. However, as of writing, the Hendrick Motorsports' ace driver will compete to qualify in the Last Chance Qualifier race to make it to the 23-car field for The Clash's main event.