“NASCAR should go back”: Fans long for Road America as Kyle Larson praises Ty Gibbs’ masterclass from 2022

Kyle Larson recently shared a throwback video praising Ty Gibbs' road course racing prowess. Incidentally, the event's location - the Road America course - has sent the fanbase down memory lane and they have expressed their desire for the track's resurrection on NASCAR's calendar

The 4.048-mile oval's relationship with NASCAR dates back to 1956 when it used to host the Cup Series races. Several decades later in 2010, Road America etched its name in the Association's history once again as one of the venues for Xfinity Series racing. The road course hosted its last Cup race in 2023 and the final NXS debacle the previous year.

In 2023, Road America was replaced by the Chicago Street Circuit, which marked NASCAR's first street race since its inception 75 years ago. After discovering success with the Chicago Race, the officials scrapped the 4.048-mile oval from this year's calendar.

Ahead of the 2024 Grant Park 165, Kyle Larson praised rival Ty Gibbs, sharing a video of his final lap battle with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Though Larson was leading the 2022 Henry 180, Gibbs was relentless in his pursuit, sneaking through the turn and snatching the position of domination from Larson.

Gibbs is renowned for being good at road course racing and his win during his debut Xfinity Series run at the Daytona Road Course is a testament to that. Moreover, after defeating Austin Cindric during his debut race, the JGR driver became the youngest to seal an NXS road course triumph.

However, upon seeing the throwback video, many fans just longed to see Road America return to the NASCAR scene rather than discuss the two drivers' final race.

"NASCAR should go back to Road America," one fan wrote.

"Kyle can you tell nascar to come back to road america we need it," another commented.

"I love @roadamerica such an awesome track," this fan added.

"@NASCAR should come back to Road America !" a fan concurred.

Here are a couple of fans who did opine on Ty Gibbs' overtake of Kyle Larson.

"Cleanest pass all season long 😭💀," a fan wrote.

"A rare instance where Ty Gibbs actually races clean and doesn’t wreck himself and someone else," one commented.

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Kyle Larson lost the battle despite dominating the majority of the Xfinity race at Road America

In 2022, the 14-turn road course returned for its second-last Xfinity race with 38 high-octane cars battling for the lead. Kyle Larson set the fastest qualifying speed while Ty Gibbs stood second.

During the first stage spanning 10 laps, Larson and Gibbs held their respective spots and finished 1-2. But in Stage 2, the HMS driver kept his #17 Chevy in the front but the #54 Toyota driver stooped and failed to finish among the top-10s. However, the final stage saw a bumper-to-bumper fight between the drivers with Larson in the lead.

Gibbs scrounged for room in Turn 1 but couldn't do so. On top of that, the moment both swerved through the first turn, the JGR driver's front collided with Kyle Larson's rear, slowing the former down while giving a push to the latter. Nonetheless, as the HMS driver went slightly off the race line, the #54 driver capitalized on the opportunity and swooped past him.

From that point, Ty Gibbs fended off the hard-charging Larson to come home with a win at Road America.