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With his Indy 500 run nearing, Kyle Larson recently took part in another test in the single-seater. And while Larson, who is one of the most successful and prolific drivers in all of NASCAR today, found the single-seater to be faster than the Next Gen stock car, he didn't find the speed difference to be significant.
Larson explained the reason why the racecars in NASCAR, even though they aren't as fast as those in IndyCar on paper, don't feel as different from their counterparts in terms of the speed from the cockpit.
"I know I'm going faster than a stock car or sprint car, but when you match it with the level of grip that you have, it doesn't feel 30-mile-an-hour faster or whatever," Larson said, via Fox Sports.
"Just the level of grip ... and the level of downforce, not that it makes it feel slow because it's not — it's super fast — but it doesn't feel way faster than a stock car."
During the recent test, Larson found himself in second place on the speed sheets with a speed of 226.384 mph, behind only Josef Newgarden, who won the prestigious race last year. It's worth mentioning that the top speed ever for a stockcar in NASCAR is 212.8 mph, a record that was set way back in 1987.
But in IndyCar, the faster laps are in the vicinity of 230 mph. So clearly, it is IndyCar which is faster than NASCAR on paper, even though Larson believes the difference isn't felt as much.
Nevertheless, Larson is looking forward to the Indy500 run for a special reason.
Kyle Larson wants to run in the Indy 500 to make his father proud
After his recent test, Kyle Larson revealed the significance of running in the Indy 500 for him. He said that as a kid, he always thought his career trajectory would never go towards IndyCar. However, he has wanted to compete in the series because of his father, who liked Indycar more than NASCAR.
"For me as a kid, I always understood and figured my career trajectory was not going to go the IndyCar route," Larson told NBCSports.com.
"I’ve always known that my dad has liked IndyCar more than NASCAR. Because of that, that’s also made me want to compete in this event someday to make him proud and get to see his kid compete in the biggest race in the world and his most favorite race in the world," Larson added.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver added that having his family at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is going be special for him. Larson also said that he was texting his father the night before his recent test.
And he could tell that his father was pretty excited about the whole thing.
