Kyle Larson Reflects After Failing to Defend His Chili Bowl Title

Published 01/20/2022, 11:40 AM EST

The Chili Bowl Nationals concluded last weekend with Tanner Thorson being the newest winner. Of course, this also meant that poor old Kyle Larson could not get his hat-trick. Similarly, Thorson also denied Christopher Bell a chance to bag his fourth Chili Bowl crown. Now, the Asian-American driver will have to wait until next year to have another crack at the Chili Bowl title.

Looking back at the 36th edition of the race, Larson reflected on his performance. He said, “The style is way different, especially when you get in a midget, compared to really anything. The style of racing is way more aggressive. It’s pretty wild. The more I can race, the better I’m becoming as an overall race car driver is why I do it.”

Kyle Larson will now be focused on the 2022 NASCAR Cup season

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As gutted as he is about losing the Chili Bowl, Larson knows that there are bigger fish to fry. In fact, the Hendrick Motorsports driver will have to begin focusing on the 2022 Cup Series season. This will be the first time he will be in a position to try to defend his title. With so many competitive drivers gunning for the chip, Kyle Larson will have to truly watch his back.

So far, there have been two pre-season tests at Atlanta and Daytona. Unfortunately, he missed both of them, as Daytona clashed with the Chili Bowl, and he did not participate in Atlanta. There is still one final test at the Phoenix Raceway. This particular test will kick off at the end of the month and will be the last time the Next Gen cars test before the season starts. The first race of the year will be the Busch Clash at the LA Coliseum.

Kyle Larson will definitely want to start the season on a high note and win the first race. With this, he will try to stamp his authority over the other drivers. It will also be his first step towards defending the 2021 Cup Series title.

“What’s the Point?” – Kyle Larson Baffled at the Need for a Big Screen at the Chili Bowl

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.