“Sensitive people in our sport”: Kyle Larson once clarified why there’s a “need to apologize” to NASCAR rivals

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson, was featured in stock car analyst Jeff Gluck's famous 12-question interview. During the interaction, Larson opened up about the "need to apologize" to his on-track rivals after any incident.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver claimed that if he had done anything wrong, he would have apologized to his rival. Larson highlighted that he would text or meet them in person just after the race to neutralize the situation. He also suggested that some people are sensitive, and drivers need to take responsibility and apologize for their mistakes after an incident.

Kyle Larson further told Jeff Gluck (via JeffGluck.com):

"Yeah, if I feel like I’ve done something wrong, I feel like I’m good about making sure I at least text them or come up to them right after and apologize. At times too, when it’s not my fault, I seem to apologize for something that I may feel like I did to put both of us in that situation or whatever. But yeah, for sure you need to apologize, because there’s some sensitive people in our sport."

Larson has been competing in the Cup Series since 2013. He completed his rookie season under Phoenix Racing. He then landed his maiden full-time seat with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014 and stayed with the team till the 2020 season.

Kyle Larson then joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 and won the Cup Series championship title in his rookie season. Since then, he has been with the team and won the championship title once again in the 2025 season.

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"I don't think there's ever a clear one hundred percent": Kyle Larson expressed his views on NASCAR's one-race championship format

In November 2025, two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Larson appeared on the Rubbin is Racing podcast on YouTube. During the episode, Larson discussed the current one-race championship format that the stock car racing association has been following for the past couple of years.

The current format features three elimination rounds ahead of the Championship 4 race. Every round eliminates four drivers with the lowest points in three races. Only four remain on the grid to compete in the final race. However, fans have been criticizing this format for the past two seasons, and NASCAR aims to change it in the upcoming 2026 season.

Kyle Larson also wants the governing body to change the structure and shared his ideal championship format during the podcast. He suggested the sanctioning body should add more races to crown the champion rather than following a one-race format. He further explained:

"I don't think there's ever a clear one hundred percent, you know, perfect format that everybody in the world is gonna agree on. But I think what we can all agree on, I think what you know, Sunday maybe proved that we need more than one race, yes, whether that is 36 or 10 or four or whatever the number is, it should be more than one because of moments like that."

Kyle Larson clinched three victories at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Kansas Speedway. Followed by 22 top ten finishes, 15 top five finishes, and one pole position at Kansas in 36 starts this season.