Kyle Larson entered the Nashville race hoping to recover from a difficult Memorial Day Weekend that saw him crash in both the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500. His struggles continued during practice, where he managed only 24th place, setting a concerning tone ahead of qualifying.
Larson Records His Lowest Qualifying Position of the Year
In qualifying, Larson’s difficulties mounted as he qualified 28th on the 39-car grid, marking his worst qualifying performance of the 2025 season. This placed him last among the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Prior to this, his poorest starting spot had been 25th at Talladega, where he impressively climbed to a second-place finish, albeit on a superspeedway. At non-drafting tracks, his worst start was 19th at Darlington, a race where he crashed early while trying to advance.
Larson Explains Lack of Confidence and Rhythm on the Track
Before Sunday’s race, the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion addressed the reasons behind his qualifying struggles.
“Yesterday, I don’t know … I was just kind of loose in and then it was just getting my timing off where the center of the corner was, so it just took all of practice to kind of find a rhythm that fit me and then it was just too late for qualifying,”
Larson said during an interview with NASCAR on Prime.
He added,
“I just didn’t really have the confidence (on) where to drive into and what angle and all that. Unfortunately, didn’t qualify where we wanted to. I know our car is much better than 28th. We got time to get to the front. I think you need to be patiently aggressive. I think you need to take advantage of holes and opportunities but you also can’t create your own holes too much and risk getting in a crash or something that will set you back.”
Larson concluded,
“We’ll see. It should be a long, hard-fought day.”
Previous Comebacks Suggest Hope Despite the Poor Starting Position
Despite the setback, Larson’s starting spot does not eliminate the possibility of a strong finish. A win from deep in the field is not unprecedented at Nashville; last year, Joey Logano won after starting in 26th position. This example provides some optimism as Larson looks to make up ground in the race.
