Dale Earnhardt Jr. pressed on Kyle Larson, Indy-double commentary as source of struggles

Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes Kyle Larson is ready to turn things around after a challenging summer in the NASCAR Cup Series. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt talked about Larson starting to find his groove, which began by recently having “some success in the dirt car.”

“When he starts doing good in that, it’s like everything starts getting better,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “His Cup stuff starts getting better as well. He needs to be behind the wheel of a race car, and he needs to be winning for him to get up on plane and be where he wants to be mentally.

“He’s no different than anybody else, in terms of when you don’t have the results and the results are harder to come by. He’s just as human as the rest of us, and he’s going to have some self-doubt, or what am I doing differently? What should I maybe do differently or new? They are going to have those internal conversations as a team. I feel like that’s all in the review mirror now. “

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says the Indy-Charlotte double attempt ‘knocked him off his perch’

The reason Earnhardt said that is Kyle Larson is coming off a P4 finish at Dover. It was his first top-10 finish since Pocono in June and his first top-five finish since Michigan two weeks before Pocono. Since attempting the Indy 500-Coca-Cola 600 double in late May, Larson has earned four top-10 finishes in eight races. Before the double attempt, Larson finished in the top five in the last four races.

Earnhardt believes the double attempt slowed Larson down this summer. “All of those things didn’t go as well, or as easy or as smooth as he had hoped,” Earnhardt said about Larson’s preparations for the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 double. “I think that kind of knocked him off his perch.

“The schedule wouldn’t allow him to find some consistency to be able to gain confidence and get the team back to where it needs to be, everybody feeling good about everything. Over the last handful of weeks, I’m sure that they’ve all been questioning,are we doing everything we need to do? …They’ve decided not to panic, get back to the basics, get in the part of the schedule where they might can find some peace of mind.”

Larson will look to keep the momentum going when he returns to Indy this weekend for the Brickyard 400. The 32-year-old has had success at the track when driving a Cup car, as he won the race last year.