Kyle Larson shared his thoughts on whether the NASCAR Cup Series should remove the digital rearview cameras from the cars.
During an appearance on the Stacking Pennies podcast, Larson was asked if the rearview cameras should be banned. He initially answered by sharing that he did not run one when they were initially introduced.
“So when Next Gen first came out, I did not run it for the first year or two maybe,” he said. “I tried it a handful of times. Just the depth perception of it. I wasn’t comfortable with.”
“I felt really aware of my surroundings with my mirrors. And then with the digital mirror I just felt like I was late on making moves and I didn’t really know how close they were to my rear bumper,” he continued. “But since I’ve committed to it, I’ve gotten a lot better at it and now I’m comfortable with it.”
He then admitted, “It makes blocking WAY easier.”
Larson explained, “[The physical] mirror is vibrating in the car. You can’t really tell exactly where they are, how close they are, stuff like that. Where with the digital mirror, it’s locked in solid. It’s HD. You can literally see their hands and their eyes. It’s that clear.”
“If they made a rule, I’m cool with it,” he added. “It’s definitely won me some races and then I’ve also feel like I’ve lost some races from it. It’s hard to say. Briscoe’s a great defender anyways. So he probably was going to do a well enough job without the digital mirror.”
While he would not be opposed to having the digital cameras be banned moving forward. He wants to keep spotters and the physical mirrors even though it might be frustrating sometimes.
“I do feel like you need mirrors and I do feel like you need spotters,” he said. “Spotters, they relay a lot of information. Stock car racing can get frustrating sometimes from the sense of like you found this new line, you’re making up three tenths on the guy in front of you. Their spotter’s like, ‘Hey, 5 car’s coming running the top.’ And they just [move up].”
This is not the first time Larson has spoken about the cameras. Back in 2024, following a race at Dover, where he finished behind Denny Hamlin, Larson said, “Honestly, if they took the cameras out of the car, that’s probably one of the little things that I think could fix it. It’s hard to see out of the rear view mirrors, but the cameras are so easy. I would be for it if they took the cameras out. Like I said, it’s so easy.”
Kyle Busch concurred with Larson in May 2024. Jeff Gluck reported that Busch told him that he “100%” agrees.
Additionally, Gluck reported that Busch informed him that not only should NASCAR ban the mirror, but they should ban the top mirror as well and only allow the left-side mirror for safety.
“That gives you a separation point,” Busch explained. “The camera or the mirror right now is zero separation. You can literally just watch the thing and just go (move to air block) instantly, right?”
Would @kylebusch agree with @KyleLarsonRacin’s idea to get rid of the rear camera? Busch says he would not only “1000%” agree, but also says NASCAR should ban the top mirror and only allow drivers to keep the left-side mirror for safety. Busch says spotters would then become even more important, but notes at least there would be a delay in getting info. “That gives you a separation point. The camera or the mirror right now is zero separation. You can literally just watch the thing and just go (move to air block) instantly, right?”
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) May 4, 2024
Dal Earnhardt Jr. agreed with Busch.
https://t.co/d8aeeXlgvs
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 5, 2024
In 2025, he shared that there should be an option between the camera or a spotter, “Us talking about it isn’t going to change anything. But I would say that if you run the mirror, you don’t get a spotter. If you want a spotter then you don’t get the mirror, the camera. So pick one.”
Busch went on to say that he would pick the spotter over the mirror.
Earlier this year Ty Gibbs also called for the camera to be removed from the Cup car during an appearance on the Dale Jr. Download.
“Honestly, I think if you took the digital camera out of the car, I think it would be a mix of drivers that probably wouldn’t be in the Cup series anymore, honestly.”
“I think Dale could probably speak on that, but I swear sometimes, man, if there was no digital cameras in here some of these guys definitely would not be in Cup,” he added.
Earnhardt then stated, “I would be for going back to the regular mirror we used to run.” Gibbs concurred, “100%. I would 100% be for that. Obviously, we’d want to have a car that races a little better in dirty air, but for the time being if you took those out I think it’d make the racing a little better. Because you can’t just sit there and look at your iPad and just blip, go up and just hose somebody on their line.”
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