Two-time NASCAR Cupchampion Kyle Larson's time was short in the Brickyard 400 on July 26. He only lasted 45 laps at the NASCAR Indianapolis race before his left-rear tire blew, causing him to spin, hit the wall, and end his day before the first stage was complete.
Larson, undoubtedly, would have liked to have spent more time on the track considering he was running second at the time of the accident, but maybe not as long as it took to complete the race at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Corey Heim won the 160-lap race on the 2.5-mile track, which took more than three hours to complete.
That length of time is too long for a NASCAR
Cup race, in Larson's opinion.
"A lot of our Cup races are too long," Larson said at a postrace news conference.
In the 2026 season, 13 of the 20 Cup races have lasted longer than three hours, with some going beyond three and a half hours.
That is too long, Larson said, to try to hold fans' attention either at a track or on television.
"I just think the way that the world has kind of gone and how people consume sports, I definitely think our races are too long; I think three hours is too long," Larson said.
Kevin Harvick has simple idea on shortening NASCAR race times
Former NASCAR Cup champion Kevin Harvick also expressed concern about the length of time it takes to run a race.
On the latest episode ofSPEED with Harvick and Buxton podcast, the now NASCAR analyst said he's not in favor of shortening the distance of races, but would rather see some of the procedures tightened up to save time.
"At Indy it took us 12 minutes for a debris caution and 30 minutes to run two laps as Ryan Blaney wrecked right after that, so we ran two laps in 30 minutes," Harvick said.
"Our caution flags take a long time for whatever reason. I think NASCAR may need to take a look at their procedures and the things they need to do to speed up those processes. How you open pit road, all those things. I think we could shorten the races by 30 to 45 minutes pretty easy just by cleaning things up."
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick say NASCAR Cup races last too long on TV
