The physical toll of racing is quite underestimated in NASCAR. Fans, who usually focus more on factors like speed or the driver’s skill, don’t realize what their bodies go through behind the scenes. Recently, Kyle Larson’s biometric data revealed an unexpected aspect of the sport that may come as a surprise to many.
Kyle Larson monitors his heart rate all the time
As it happened, Larson uses an app called Strava to monitor his heart rate in races. Ahead of the NASCAR Cup race at Bristol, he was asked if he ever looked at the data after the race. If so, how does it help him race his own game to the next level and remain competitive?
Kyle Larson told PRN Live, “I just think it’s interesting to see what your heart rate is, in moments of calm or when things start to ramp up, and how quickly you can recover from that. The Sprint Car stuff, they think that you get text messages through your watch, they don’t allow it, so that’s kind of annoying. In NASCAR, I wear it all the time, and it’s cool to track.”
Following this, he mentioned how interesting it is to see everybody’s heart rates being different from each other, which directly correlates to which race they’re about to race next and what their car looks like for them. He was then asked to give an example of heart rate at the greatest race of the year, the Daytona 500. One would naturally feel that’s the race where the rate would be the highest, but no.
Larson said, “It would be way lower than you would probably think. I’m guessing average, probably going to be like 135. You got to Bristol or something, it’ll probably be an average of 165. There’s just more action and you’re physically working a little harder. In Sprint cars, it’s 197 or higher. If a race goes green, a seven-minute race, you’ll be more wore out than a 3 and half hour NASCAR race.”
This shows how the races are not just gruesome on paper, but the drivers’ bodies are pushed to their maximum limits. At such a heart rate, they go through an immense strain on the body, which is a big reality check about the challenges they face in their everyday life.
The HMS driver is currently sitting on a 31-race dry spell
Larson might be the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, but he did not win the final race. Instead, his last win came at Kansas Speedway nearly a full year ago. Since then, he has been incredibly consistent, to his credit. Ahead of the Bristol race, the Hendrick Motorsports star will be keen to end his winless streak.
The best part is that Bristol is supposed to be one of his favorite tracks, along with Kansas. Especially because it reminds him of his dirt racing, somewhere he grew up racing before he moved to stock cars.
“I just get really excited about this place because it kinda races like a dirt track.”
With Larson sitting 9th in the standings, he will be hoping that a win or two catapults him back up the order.
He told the Tennessean, “We have two good tracks coming up, and we’d love to just get back to leading a bunch of laps, being top three in the stages, and being in the top three in the race, and we would really love to get a win to break the streak.”
So far, 2026 has been the Tyler Reddick and Toyota show, but Hendrick Motorsports seems to have picked up the pace.
