Kyle Larson Appreciation Thread

StandOnIt said:
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jaqua19 said:
I saw some of them say Max would come out and dominate NASCAR because plenty of guys from other racing series not nearly as talented as Max have come out and done well in NASCAR.

Who? Lol
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Why would Max bother? Does he even know who Kyle Larson is? I think it was a stupid chest thumping thing from a guy who doesn't normally do that. Weird.
 
Revman said:
Why would Max bother? Does he even know who Kyle Larson is? I think it was a stupid chest thumping thing from a guy who doesn't normally do that. Weird.
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Of course he does. I think everyone in motorsports knows the top racing names in the planet.

I do agree with Larson though. I also don't think Larson is the only guy who would do that. F1 elitist have this weird idea that their drivers are simply superior to the world due to simply racing in F1. They're specialists who's skills probably aren't as transferrable to other cars and surfaces as other racers are. I think that's ultimately what Larson was saying.
 
jaqua19 said:
Of course he does. I think everyone in motorsports knows the top racing names in the planet.

I do agree with Larson though. I also don't think Larson is the only guy who would do that. F1 elitist have this weird idea that their drivers are simply superior to the world due to simply racing in F1. They're specialists who's skills probably aren't as transferrable to other cars and surfaces as other racers are. I think that's ultimately what Larson was saying.
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But that's the thing.....why do the skills need to be transferrable? In my opinion, motorsport isn't this huge ball of driving. Within this general idea, the subsets of series, etc. require specific skill sets. Who cares if a guy is good overall? There is no trophy for that. Be the best in the world in the series you are in. I mean I get it, but I don't get it. The Race of Champions stuff held not interest for me. Michael Schumacher is the greatest driver to have ever lived because he was the greatest in his genre....not because what he could have done at Eldora. I think that Kyle is getting caught up the media stuff about him. Shut up and dominate NASCAR, and then go out and issue challenges to the world.
 
I don't think I have ever watched this Max guy race. There has only been a couple of F-1 racers I have ever really enjoyed watching them race, and that is Mario Andretti and Fernando Alonso...and it was only in the Indy 500. I try to never miss any race that Kyle Larson is in... but if he ever races in F-1 I won't be watching. Just not my cup of tea.
 
Nitro Dude said:
I don't think I have ever watched this Max guy race. There has only been a couple of F-1 racers I have ever really enjoyed watching them race, and that is Mario Andretti and Fernando Alonso...and it was only in the Indy 500. I try to never miss any race that Kyle Larson is in... but if he ever races in F-1 I won't be watching. Just not my cup of tea.
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F1 is just an engineering competition imo.
 
Nitro Dude said:
I don't think I have ever watched this Max guy race. There has only been a couple of F-1 racers I have ever really enjoyed watching them race, and that is Mario Andretti and Fernando Alonso...and it was only in the Indy 500. I try to never miss any race that Kyle Larson is in... but if he ever races in F-1 I won't be watching. Just not my cup of tea.
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I have no doubt that if Larson went to F-1 he could win races and be a factor in that series in a short period of time, but like you I doubt if I would watch much of it. On the other hand, there has been a small number of F-1 drivers who have tried to race in Nascar. Juan Pablo stayed around for a few years but he was a long way from dominating Nascar races. He was a mid packer. None of the other F-1 drivers I know of were even mid pack grade.
 
Nobody but F1 fans say Schumacher is the greatest driver ever. Most of the time when that conversation comes up it’s people that have won across many disciplines. Foyt, Andretti, Stewart, names like that. Nobody thinks Richard Petty was the best ever and I doubt you’ll find someone with as many wins at the top level in any discipline outside of dirt sprint cars that race 100 times a year.
 
jaqua19 said:
I saw some of them say Max would come out and dominate NASCAR because plenty of guys from other racing series not nearly as talented as Max have come out and done well in NASCAR.

Who? Lol
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I say no way would he dominate Nascar except maybe a road course or two especially since "stock" cars are a completely different animal than an F1 machine, or any open wheel road car for that matter. SVG is proving a dominating force on road courses can be a long learning curve for road guys on ovals.
 
Efisher131 said:
Nobody but F1 fans say Schumacher is the greatest driver ever. Most of the time when that conversation comes up it’s people that have won across many disciplines. Foyt, Andretti, Stewart, names like that. Nobody thinks Richard Petty was the best ever and I doubt you’ll find someone with as many wins at the top level in any discipline outside of dirt sprint cars that race 100 times a year.
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That’s a whole other can of worms. I do think Mario Andretti is the best overall driver for what he’s done in F1, Indy and NASCAR
 
Mispeedway15 said:
That’s a whole other can of worms. I do think Mario Andretti is the best overall driver for what he’s done in F1, Indy and NASCAR
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On the flip side you can be the best there is in your field and try Cup and fell on your face. Steve Kinser comes to mind.
 
SeventyGTX said:
On the flip side you can be the best there is in your field and try Cup and fell on your face. Steve Kinser comes to mind.
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I don't think Kinser was ever really given a chance. It looked liked they just threw him into the Kenny Bernstein cup car and hoped for the best.

I remember going to the Febuary or early March Rockingham race that year and he was totally out of his element. I am going off my memory but I think it was his 2nd start ever in a cup car. From a WoO car directly into the Cup series.

It was as brutal it sounds and very much a reputation damaging disservice imo, at least he got some Quaker State sponsorship to take back to the WoO series
 
Greg said:
I don't think Kinser was ever really given a chance. It looked liked they just threw him into the Kenny Bernstein cup car and hoped for the best.

I remember going to the Febuary or early March Rockingham race that year and he was totally out of his element. I am going off my memory but I think it was his 2nd start ever in a cup car. From a WoO car directly into the Cup series.

It was as brutal it sounds and very much a reputation damaging disservice imo, at least he got some Quaker State sponsorship to take back to the WoO series
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I agree, from memory he went straight to Cup with no Busch or any other experience. But being the circle track ace that he was, you would think he could have made a bit better showing. Things like that are what make Kyle Larson in a league of his own, he is a super quick learner.
 
SeventyGTX said:
I agree, from memory he went straight to Cup with no Busch or any other experience. But being the circle track ace that he was, you would think he could have made a bit better showing. Things like that are what make Kyle Larson in a league of his own, he is a super quick learner.
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Those are some good points but Larson got to run an Xfinity car and to build some experience prior to Cup. It seemed so much more like throwing someone into the middle of a hurricane with Kinser's case.
 
Efisher131 said:
Nobody but F1 fans say Schumacher is the greatest driver ever. Most of the time when that conversation comes up it’s people that have won across many disciplines. Foyt, Andretti, Stewart, names like that. Nobody thinks Richard Petty was the best ever and I doubt you’ll find someone with as many wins at the top level in any discipline outside of dirt sprint cars that race 100 times a year.
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Tony Stewart is the greatest race car driver ever imo. I think drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Sr etc were better stock car drivers, but across the board, Tony is royalty
 
jaqua19 said:
Tony Stewart is the greatest race car driver ever imo. I think drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Sr etc were better stock car drivers, but across the board, Tony is royalty
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It would be interesting to see some objective comparisons between Stewart and Larson. My recollection of Stewart is that during his career he was able to really focus on particular series. Larson is out there now just jumping from seat to seat and winning in whatever series/car he is driving that day.

I have seen them both race many times and in my opinion I give Larson the edge in the “wow” factor. Smoke was good, but I just don’t have a recollection of him driving a race car and me sitting there shaking my head saying this is unbelievable.
 
DIDIT said:
It would be interesting to see some objective comparisons between Stewart and Larson. My recollection of Stewart is that during his career he was able to really focus on particular series. Larson is out there now just jumping from seat to seat and winning in whatever series/car he is driving that day.

I have seen them both race many times and in my opinion I give Larson the edge in the “wow” factor. Smoke was good, but I just don’t have a recollection of him driving a race car and me sitting there shaking my head saying this is unbelievable.
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What made Tony stand out against everyone isn't just that he's super faster and "wowza" like Larson. I think Larson very well may have been the greater racing talent in terms of going out, winning, and being fast and wowing you.

But Tony overall just had better and more versatile racecraft than Kyle Larson imo.

While Larson has shown he can be fast and win in anything, Tony has shown that he can win a championship in anything.

I mean look at his championship resume as a driver.

3x cup series champion
IndyCar Champion
IROC champion
USAC Triple Crown champion
USAC Midget champion
SRX champion

As far as races go
2x Brickyard 400 champion
3x prelude to the dream winner
2x chilli bowl winner.

It's tough to look past Tony's resume. Larson is that guy too, but Tony's championship success is just something else.
 
jaqua19 said:
What made Tony stand out against everyone isn't just that he's super faster and "wowza" like Larson. I think Larson very well may have been the greater racing talent in terms of going out, winning, and being fast and wowing you.

But Tony overall just had better and more versatile racecraft than Kyle Larson imo.

While Larson has shown he can be fast and win in anything, Tony has shown that he can win a championship in anything.

I mean look at his championship resume as a driver.

3x cup series champion
IndyCar Champion
IROC champion
USAC Triple Crown champion
USAC Midget champion
SRX champion

As far as races go
2x Brickyard 400 champion
3x prelude to the dream winner
2x chilli bowl winner.

It's tough to look past Tony's resume. Larson is that guy too, but Tony's championship success is just something else.
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Agree with you here. Those championships come with a full time commitment to a series. What else is interesting is the time Larson spent with the “other” NASCAR team and it really wasn’t until 2020 that this whole Larson deal exploded.
 
jaqua19 said:
Tony Stewart is the greatest race car driver ever imo. I think drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Sr etc were better stock car drivers, but across the board, Tony is royalty
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Smoke is who I most compare Kyle Larson to. Can climb in anything anytime and wheel it to the front. IndyCars, sprint cars, stock cars. You name it.

Also maddeningly streaky and enigmatic at times. Won a whole hell of a lot. But not as much as they should have in NASCAR.
 
jaqua19 said:
Tony Stewart is the greatest race car driver ever imo. I think drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Sr etc were better stock car drivers, but across the board, Tony is royalty
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Who's number did Tony grab when SHR was created? Oh Yeah, A.J. Foyt...Tony's pick.
 
Not sure why Larson is seen to have cooled so much (still seems very competitive every race just had some bad luck). But I do have the odd feeling this isn’t his year.

That being said..I’ll bet anyone here he will have more Cup Championships before he retires. No way I see him not repeating in the next couple years at the least. He is that good…and having HMS funding can’t hurt.
 
RaceCritter said:
Not sure why Larson is seen to have cooled so much (still seems very competitive every race just had some bad luck). But I do have the odd feeling this isn’t his year.

That being said..I’ll bet anyone here he will have more Cup Championships before he retires. No way I see him not repeating in the next couple years at the least. He is that good…and having HMS funding can’t hurt.
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SeventyGTX said:
"..........second half went typical Kyle Larson". So true and many races he should have won or at least had a good finish in were erased by crashes or some late race caution and the ensuing overtime.
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I'm glad he referenced this.

Larson ran an outstanding first 15 races. Super mistake free. But after the Indy 500, he had 3 or 4 bad races where he didn't just wreck himself out of a good finish, but likely a shot to win. Chicago had a top 5 written all over it, Iowa was stupid, no one was within a half second of him on pace, and Michigan was another winning car, bad luck cost him stage points before wrecking himself.

If Larson didn't miss the 600, and didn't piss over himself those races, he wins the regular season by 100 points. Darlington was a clean, well excuted race, and assuming he got the wrecking himself out of his system, I think this is his year.

I agree. I think Larson comes close to, or eclipses Kyle Busch in career wins. He's already close to matching Kyle Busch's best 5 year stretch, in fact, one more championship, and 7 more wins between the rest of this season and next season, and he matches Kyle Busch's peak 5 year stretch.

Larson finishes up with around 60 wins and 3 championships imo
 
It’s hard to predict where Larson lands on the all time wins list in cup. It all depends on how long he races cup full time. The guy could quit in 5 years to go full time sprint car racing and it wouldn’t surprise me. He could also race in cup until he’s 48 and it wouldn’t surprise me. Hell, he even might end up in an Indycar full time. You just never know with him.
 
SeventyGTX said:
"..........second half went typical Kyle Larson". So true and many races he should have won or at least had a good finish in were erased by crashes or some late race caution and the ensuing overtime.
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And despite this, if just one of those many races he blew turned into decent finish, he wins the regular season going away...while spotting the field.

I think how dominant he's been this year is a bit overlooked.

He and Cliff are in a class of their own this season
 
jaqua19 said:
And despite this, if just one of those many races he blew turned into decent finish, he wins the regular season going away...while spotting the field.

I think how dominant he's been this year is a bit overlooked.

He and Cliff are in a class of their own this season
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Despite missing a race and those heartbreak losses, he still has the most laps led by a bunch.
 
jaqua19 said:
And despite this, if just one of those many races he blew turned into decent finish, he wins the regular season going away...while spotting the field.

I think how dominant he's been this year is a bit overlooked.

He and Cliff are in a class of their own this season
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Because his teammate got his wins early and spent 3/4 of the regular season testing so not to lose at Phoenix again. :D ;)
 
hmmm298 said:
Because his teammate got his wins early and spent 3/4 of the regular season testing so not to lose at Phoenix again. :D ;)
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This system is a joke having it come down to the last race of the season between 4 drivers. One guy could have 20 wins or more and the others two or three and something as simple as a tire go down in the last few laps ruin his chance at the Cup.
 
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