“I’m not sure I have a great answer”: Kyle Larson responds to eye-opening NASCAR stat about the NextGen package

Kyle Larson was caught off guard by a 'surprising' NASCAR stat about the NextGen era. During a pre-race press conference at Iowa Speedway, he was asked why no pole-sitter has won a short track race since 2019, and the HMS driver acknowledged that he had no idea about the trend.

Larson won pole during last year's race at the 0.875-mile short track, but ended up dead last on the running order after making contact with Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez. Denny Hamlin remains the last driver to secure a short track win from pole, achieving the feat during his 2019 outing at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Reflecting upon the same, Larson had this to say (via YouTube/Cup Scene, 55 onwards):

"I mean that's a surprising stat, so I'm not sure I have a great answer other than, you know, the field's just tighter now. So, there's more probably teams that have an opportunity to win if, you know, things go right and then, next gen races are a little bit more chaotic and stuff, but I would have thought that a pole sitter had won, you know, in that amount of time....So, I don't know. That's wild."

Kyle Larson came in third during Saturday's qualifying at Iowa Speedway. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe, who has previously won an Xfinity race at the track, clinched pole for Sunday's Iowa Corn 350.

Fans can catch the action on USA and HBO Max on Sunday, August 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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Kyle Larson expects close racing at Iowa

Kyle Larson weighed in on Iowa Speedway's track evolution since its partial repave last year. Barring Alex Bowman, every HMS driver has secured a top-10 start for Sunday's 350-lap event, along with surprise entries like Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger.

"We were fast last year. I think it was the first time here with the repave, and that presents challenges to everybody. So the field was pretty, you know, I felt like it was not as tight as a normal NextGen race. So it allowed for some good racing, and passing was easier. I would imagine this year everybody's narrowed in on their setups way better," he said via YouTube/Cup Scene [5:24 onwards].

The repavement reduced the track's racing lanes from three or more to around 2.5. Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, who'd previously won an Xfinity race at the track, had an interesting analogy for the new changes.

With three races left, Kyle Larson is up against his HMS teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron for the regular season championship. He's the team's most winningest driver with a three-win tally, but is currently 15 points behind season leader Chase Elliott.

Larson lost to Bubba Wallace during last weekend's Brickyard 400, a race he'd won last year, and looks to redeem himself with round 2 at Iowa Speedway.