Why Kyle Larson is not concerned about his NASCAR 2022 season despite having just a single win

Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has been out of victory lane for six months now. The Chevy driver won his last race in February this year at Fontana. Comparing his performances this season and last year's season, it's easy to notice a huge margin in terms of wins.

Last year, the Hendrick Motorsports driver sealed the season with 10 victories and earned his first championship. With this, he became the first driver to earn 10 wins in a single season since 2007, when Jimmie Johnson set the same record.

One of Larson's 10 victories from 2021 was at Watkins Glen. This weekend, he’ll be up for the difficult task of defending last year's victory at The Glen.

Things have been pretty tough for him this season, and he hasn’t managed to keep up with the 2021 pace. At the moment, the Elk Grove, California native has only scored one win and 12 top 10 finishes in the last 25 races.

Despite having a single win with only two races remaining in the playoffs, Kyle Larson doesn’t seem to be that concerned because he’s confident there are still a lot of good tracks in the playoffs.

Heading into the playoffs, the defending champion was asked about his current confidence level compared to last year’s. While responding to the question, Larson said:

“We haven’t won as much, so I would say maybe not quite as confident. But still really confident knowing that we have been able to compete at a very high level in the playoffs and there’s a lot of good tracks for us as a team in the playoffs. I feel like we’re getting some momentum to the tail end of our regular season here.”

Larson also hinted at what has contributed to the prolonged winless period, where he admitted that he has made many mistakes behind the wheels that have eliminated them from winning positions. The 30-year-old also noted that some bad pit stops have contributed to not racking up wins.

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Kyle Larson feels they are gaining momentum as regular season comes to a close

Kyle Larson feels he and his team are getting some momentum with the regular season ending. According to the driver, they have performed with some consistency over the past few weeks, and if they keep up with the same pace, they’ll be able to make a run into the playoffs.

DNFs are some of the incidents that have messed up Kyle Larson’s 2022 season. Most of these DNFs were recorded at the beginning of the season, starting with the season's inaugural race at Daytona, where he crashed into the final stage and settled into P32.

He seemed to have gained momentum after winning the Fontana race and finishing second in Las Vegas, but things went sideways after arriving in Phoenix.

After scoring a disappointing 34th place in Phoenix, he recorded another DNF in Atlanta and COTA, securing 30th and 29th finishes, respectively. His last worst race was at Indianapolis, where he slammed Ty Dillon to finish a lowly 35th.