Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Larson claims that Bristol Cup race was 'real life arcade game'

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Justin P Joy | Last updated 3/21/24

The NASCAR Cup Series race last week at Bristol Motor Speedway was eventful to say the least. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin secured the race win using his experience to his advantage. Tire management was the king at Food City 500. The combination track temperature, Goodyear tire compound and the resin that was put on the track caused extreme tire fall off.

This produced a massive difference in the pace of each car depending on the tires. Drivers with fresh tires were able to run significantly faster that cars with old tires. This caused situation in which drivers were able to just simply overtake cars if they have the fresh tire advantage. It was a wild situation which many drivers saw as hilarious.

Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series Champion, had multiple similar runs as well. While sharing video of one such move where he was able to easily overtake his rivals, Larson admitted via X (previously Twitter) that he felt like racing in arcade game. Larson was spot on as having Fresh tires was like using a booster in the video game.

Couldn’t believe what I was seeing out of my windshield. Real life arcade game
Larson wrote on X.

Kyle Larson on new tires during the 2024 Food City 500 @ Bristol.

Larson: "This is crazy" pic.twitter.com/CLtqBmT9oY
— Andrew (@Basso488) March 20, 2024

Chase Briscoe also gave a similar verdict as Kyle Larson

Stewart Haas Racing lead driver Chase Briscoe also had a similar verdict to give about the race and the fresh tire advantage. Briscoe who previously called this race the craziest he ever been part of, via X highlighted how he felt like being in a video game while racing with new tires and added that he had a lot of fun.

This is by far the most fun thing ever as a racecar driver, literally feels like a video game on easy mode when you have new tires and the rest of the field is on old tires.
Briscoe wrote on X.

This is by far the most fun thing ever as a racecar driver, literally feels like a video game on easy mode when you have new tires and the rest of the field is on old tires. pic.twitter.com/wgtNziQ8eJ
— Chase Briscoe (@ChaseBriscoe_14) March 19, 2024

The views from the drivers shows that the tier wear at Bristol was extreme and the NASCAR should’ve to find a balance in this. Tier fall of is the way to fix short track racing issue, but such extreme levels of fall off will do more harm than good. With the right decisions NASCAR can make their short-track racing better again.