Kyle Larson sends dire NASCAR Cup Series warning

Kyle Larson has warned NASCAR fans and his rivals that the Cup Series could be dominated by a newly established driver soon.

The No. 5 driver has won three races this year and sits just 19 points off the regular season lead, but warned this weekend that he and the rest of the field could be wiped out of contention if Shane van Gisbergen's improvement at ovals continues.

Van Gisbergen's form at ovals has been notably below par in his debut season, but he has been improving as the year has gone on, taking three top-20 finishes in his last six oval races after just one in the first nine of the year.

Larson admitted that the Kiwi's background gives him skills on road courses that no other Cup Series driver can match, or even learn, saying there would be 'zero chance' that he'd be able to pick up SVG's clutch control techniques.

Larson: Van Gisbergen way, way, way better

“You know, he's so good, and it's rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is," said Larson at Sonoma.

"He's way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff. And he's got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own because the rest of the world does it – right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff.

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Like, there's zero chance I can learn how to do that. And even if I did, like there's zero chance that I can have it be better than what I'm probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he's just so good."

Firing out a further warning to the field, he said: "He's still new to the oval stuff, so he's going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he can figure out the ovals, he’s going to be dominant.”

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