Kyle Larson breaks down ‘uncomfortable’ moment in IndyCar test at Phoenix

What was going to be a Tuesday test turned into a Monday test for Kyle Larson in Phoenix, and he got his ‘uncomfortable’ moment. The NASCAR champion was testing with Arrow McLaren for his upcoming attempt at the Indianapolis 500.

The test was interesting for Larson. Outside of his rookie orientation program last October, he has no other experience in this car. So, every lap and every minute is important leading up to the sessions at Indy and then the race itself.

After testing at the Phoenix track, Kyle Larson commented that this was more of an “old school” session. They were going more by feel versus heavy data and analytics.

Larson was able to get the car up to roughly 190 MPH. It is slower than what he will experience at 220 MPH on the Indy oval. It allowed him to make mistakes and learn in real-time, though.

At one point, Larson expected his car to have more understeer. In NASCAR talk that is called being tight. However, the car oversteered a bit, got loose, and Larson had to do something or risk spinning himself out.

Quickly, he was able to make a real-time adjustment on the car to counteract the oversteer and keep the car going straight.

“I had a few moments where I was uncomfortable,” Larson said to the media, via NBC Sports. “I thought that was good to feel at 190 (mph) or whatever we’re going — 180 maybe in the corner — compared to going 220 at Indy and having a moment and being surprised by something.”

Think of how many times Kyle Larson has corrected himself out of a wreck in NASCAR. Las Vegas in the playoffs last year comes to mind. Elite car control no matter what car he’s in.

Kyle Larson felt like he was driving a Cup car

One more interesting thing that Larson mentioned to the media on Tuesday, he felt as though the IndyCar was similar to his Cup Series car. Huh?

Well, to hear it from the driver himself, it makes a little more sense. Of course, the IndyCar is much faster than the Cup Series car. Outside of that, at least at Phoenix, Larson felt it was more or less the same.

“Nothing about (Monday) really felt way different than what a Cup car, a Next Gen car feels like,” Larson said. “That was good for me. I think the characteristics of the IndyCar versus the Cup car — at least at Phoenix — felt very similar.

“You’re just going a lot faster in an IndyCar, so the moments happened a little bit quicker. The edge of good versus not good feels a little sharper.”

So, should we expect Kyle Larson to take to the IndyCar quickly? We know how great he can be in a Cup Series car. If he feels just as comfortable in his new Arrow McLaren ride, then this could be very interesting race in May.