NASCAR: Kyle Petty fumes over Kyle Larson’s ‘stupidity’ at Homestead-Miami

Kyle Larson’s performance at Homestead-Miami has drawn heavy criticism from NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty.

Homestead-Miami Speedway, with its fast cornering and complex track design, set the stage for a race that would be decisive for many drivers. As part of the NASCAR playoff series, the race at Homestead brings a lot of pressure for the drivers vying for a position in Championship 4.

Tyler Reddick emerged victorious after starting from pole position. His block early on, especially against Larson, and his decisive move to overtake Ryan Blaney on the final lap secured the victory and a spot in Championship 4 in Phoenix.

On the Dirty Mo Media podcast, Reddick reflected on his decisive move, noting:

“I’ve been in this situation a few times this year and I’ve screwed up every time… When he left the track open at the top, I had to go in as deep as I could… Just a big shock that I got in so deep could get to that corner and not smoke the fence.”

However, the final stages of the race proved costly for Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney. Both drivers made mistakes that their competitors capitalized on. Larson in particular was heavily criticized for retiring in the final laps of the race, a mistake that pushed him out of the top ten. Ryan Blaney also lost his lead in the climax of the race to Reddick.

Petty sharply criticized the racing decisions. On NBCPetty expressed his disappointment, saying:

“All week everyone was talking about aggression. This is what I want to talk about as we leave Miami: stupidity, people making bad decisions.” Tyler Reddick showed on Lap 7 what he was going to do to win when he took the fifth car van Kyle almost blocked Larson completely on the flat entering Turn 1…

“We also saw Kyle Larson chase her out of there earlier to trigger this alert. Three-wide, what is he thinking? Stupid move. You can call it bad decisions, you can call it aggression – stupidity was rampant in Miami. And I’m I’ll tell you something, Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano’s 45 were laughing at everyone down there because they were headed to Phoenix.

With Tyler Reddick having secured his place in the Championship Four, the pressure increases on Kyle Larson as the series heads to Martinsville Speedway, marking the final chance for the Playoff drivers to clinch a spot in the final round.