“Just been tough to get out of the rut”: Kyle Larson gets real on his snowballing struggles amid a major slump in performance

Kyle Larson commented on his slip in form ahead of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series at Dover. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted his struggle that began after the Coca‑Cola 600 doubleheader weekend in May.

Larson, who collected three wins in his first 12 starts, has managed three top-10 finishes in the eight races. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion spoke about his optimism for a turnaround at Dover Motor Speedway.

"It's been a struggle, no doubt. We weren’t where we needed to be on speed. At the beginning of the struggles, I felt like when we didn’t have the speed, we were executing well. ... Then we had some races where we got caught up in some unfortunate things, too, and it all snowballed and led into the next week," Kyle Larson said via Racer.

"Just been tough to get out of the rut, but through it all, I do believe we’ll come out the other side even stronger, and that’s what every team hopes," he added.

Larson's slide started after his second Double attempt on Memorial Day, when he crashed at the Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca‑Cola 600. After that, Larson narrowly avoided multiple wrecks and salvaged an eighth‑place finish at Nashville. The following weekend at Michigan, Larson posted a fifth‑place finish. However, during NASCAR's debut race in Mexico City, Larson finished 36th after qualifying in sixth place and setting the fastest lap. Similarly, he started in 11th and crossed the finish line in 17th at Atlanta Motor Speedway amid a chaotic Quaker State 400.

Last weekend at Sonoma Raceway, the 32-year-old plummeted to 35th, which marked one of his worst road‑course results of the season.

"It'll come back around": Kyle Petty on Kyle Larson's performance slip

Kyle Larson, who took home the $100,000 Guinness with victory in the Kubota High Limit Racing Joker’s Jackpot at Eldora Speedway earlier this week, will start the NASCAR Cup race at Dover from 25th place.

Larson has led 938 laps, his third-most at any track at the 1-mile oval, and achieved a top‑three finish in four of his last six runs. His one win at Dover came in 2019 with Chip Ganassi Racing.

During the July 11 episode of Inside the Race, Kyle Petty talked about Larson's slump and attributed it to the demanding double-duty schedule. He also shared his confidence in him and said:

"It'll come back around… We all know it, Racing is a cyclical sport, man. You are king of the hill for three races, and then that streak goes cold," said Petty (15:50 onwards).

Kyle Larson currently sits just 44 points behind Hendrick Motorsports' teammate William Byron in the standings with six races left in the regular season.