Kyle Larson opens up about summer slump, turning performance around in NASCAR playoffs

Kyle Larson is one of the best race car drivers in the world. But even the best of the best can go through an extended slump.

While it doesn’t happen often to Larson, there’s no denying that the summer portion of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season was a challenging time for him and the No. 5 team. From May 25 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to Aug. 10 at Watkins Glen International — a span of 12 races — Larson tallied just five top 10 finishes. Larson had as many finishes of 28th or worse.

Larson, just days before he races for his second championship, talked about that slump. He admitted that at times, it was hard to get past it.

“I think when you get into a slump, it’s sometimes hard to find your way out of it. Thankfully for me, I haven’t found myself in too many slumps,” Larson said on Inside the Race. “Like I felt like, ‘Oh, you know, it’s going to turn around next week. We’ll get back to normal. I’m not worried about it.’ And then you continue to have average finishes.

“You just got to stick with it, stick with the grind and understand that it is a long season. I think we, as a team, prove that it’s long enough to still get your stuff better and overcome an average car at times.”

Kyle Larson set to race for championship at Phoenix

Remarkably, Larson hasn’t won a race since May 11 at Kansas Speedway. However, he’s managed to lead 1,106 laps, second-most among drivers. After a Round of 16 that saw him fail to score a top 10 finish, Larson has finished inside the top 10 in five of the last six races, including runner-up finishes at the Charlotte ROVAL and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Larson did enough to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 alongside Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and William Byron. He was dominant in his 2021 championship-winning campaign, winning 10 races. This time around, he might be flying under the radar.

But nobody would be surprised to see Larson put together a championship-like performance this Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. Win No. 4 on the season would give him championship No. 2