Kyle Larson insists road-course racing has not “raised the level of competitiveness” in NASCAR as he makes his preference for oval circuits known

NASCAR Cup Series driver and future Indy 500 aspirant Kyle Larson, despite his prowess on the twisty stuff, thinks stock car racing as a sport should predominantly side with oval tracks. The highest echelon of stock car racing, along with the nationwide series, has seen an influx of more and more road-course racing over the past few years as NASCAR tries to reinvent itself in the modern day and age.

While a variety of different tracks - such as a road course race, a street race, and a dirt oval race - bring excitement for the fans watching, NASCAR's roots are rooted deeply in oval racing. Larson seems to agree to the fact and has made his allegiance clear.

When asked if road course racing has brought a higher level of competitiveness in the Cup Series, Kyle Larson seemed to disagree. He spoke about the same in a press conference at Watkins Glen International last weekend and elaborated:

“I don’t know if it’s raised the level of competitiveness or anything like that. I feel like I would like for there to be a couple less on our schedule. But I also think it’s been good for our sport to have as many as we do because it’s allowed that crossover with international drivers and drivers of different backgrounds to come and run our races.” - via thesportsrush.com

While Kyle Larson might not be totally on board with the idea of more road courses being added to the NASCAR calendar in the future, he did acknowledge the variety they bring to the sport as a whole.

Kyle Larson recaps his collision with Austin Dillon at Watkins Glen last weekend

Kyle Larson's outing last Sunday during Go Bowling at The Glen did not stem the best results for the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver. Seen battling back from pit road penalties and spinning on the final corner of the final lap after making contact with Austin Dillon, Larson finished in P26 at Watkins Glen International.

Recapping what went down between him and the Richard Childress Racing driver on the final lap of the race, Larson spoke in an interview:

"He was upset. I kind of dive-bombed him into the bus stop as I was coming through the pack and thankfully he left me room because we would have crashed then. A handful of laps later, I just nudged him a little bit off the bottom. I guess that really ticked him off so he got into me in turn 10. I really honestly wasn't trying to crash him in the last corner, I was trying to maintain leverage." - via frontstretch.com

Watch Kyle Larson race this weekend during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Sunday.