"His experience level is way more than mine" - Kyle Larson on looking forward to racing Kimi Raikkonen at NASCAR Watkins Glen

Defending champion Kyle Larson has established his name as a passionate racer who loves exploring different racing series. If he’s not exploring it on the track, you’ll find him watching other drivers doing their things off-track. After dominating the last year’s season and winning the championship, Larson made a trip to Abu Dhabi to watch the 2021 Formula 1 season finale.

Being an F1 fan, the defending champion was privileged to race against retired F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen at Watkins Glens over the weekend. The 2007 F1 Champion made his Cup Series debut on Sunday night, piloting the #91 Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing courtesy of its special program, Project91.

As a retired F1 driver and the 2007 Formula 1 champion, Raikkonen has road-raced his entire career. With the Finn heading to the Cup Series road course event, the reigning champion felt Raikkonen's experience level is way more than his when it comes to road courses despite being in a different car than what he’s used to in F1.

In a statement, Larson said:

“I know it’s a totally different race car, but his experience level is way more than mine on road courses. So just to see how you stack up and look at his data and see the kinds of things that a guy like that with an open-wheel background does differently behind the wheel.”

Despite Raikkonen's experience in road events, Larson still managed to outshine him as he collected his 11th road course win.

Larson arrived at the Watkins Glen International on Sunday night as the Go Bowling defending winner. This was among the 10 wins he bagged in last year’s season. After failing to defend most of his 2021 wins, Larson eventually managed to defend the Go Bowling win after winning the race on Sunday night.

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Here's how Kyle Larson has performed previously at Watkins Glen International

This marked Kyle Larson's second consecutive win at Watkins Glen and second of the season. Before winning the race, Larson stayed off the victory lane for six months starting in February at Fontana, where he collected his fourth win.

Though he was not the favorite driver to win this race, most of his fans, saw it coming. Though he can’t match up with the 2021 magical season, this win was important to him. Additionally, his track record at Watkins Glen has been quite impressive.

Kyle Larson has visited Watkins Glen in the past three years, performing top-notch and scoring top 10 finishes in all three races. In 2018, he finished 6th while his teammate Chase Elliott, who won the event.

In 2019, he settled for a P8 finish while Elliott won the race for the second time. In 2021, he claimed the victory from Elliott but retained it at Hendricks Motorsports. Over the weekend at Watkins Glen, he had to battle Elliott once again.