A few years ago, Kyle Larson was given a nickname.
The nickname, which I believe was coined by either my former NBC Sports colleague Nate Ryan or The Athletic‘s Jeff Gluck, is really only traded by those who take up residence on the internet hive mind formerly known as NASCAR Twitter (now called X).
Simply, it refers to the Hendrick Motorsports driver as “#BluntLarson.”
The moniker gets trotted out — even by yours truly — whenever the California native gives a terse, but honest answer to a question about something.
These answers aren’t usually given in a dismissive manner.
They’re just to the point. And blunt.
#BluntLarson made an appearance Monday morning (Sept. 23), less than 48 hours after he beat his competitors into submission in the Saturday’s (Sept. 21) NASCAR Cup Series playoff elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
How could you forget?
He led the most laps, 462, and torched the field with a margin of victory of 7.088 seconds, the most at the short track since Dale Earnhardt Sr. won by 7.63 seconds in 1994.
In a race plagued by the inability to pass and tires that refused to wear like they inexplicably did in the spring, Larson’s performance was really the only notable aspect of this particular race.
Fans expressed their disappointment in Gluck’s weekly “Good Race Poll.”
Only 27.7% of voters in the less than scientific exercise thought it was a good race.
It didn’t take long for #BluntLarson to enter the chat with a dig at NASCAR’s fan base (at least the ones that can’t let go of X).
Writing this now, one of my favorite GIFs — from the Marvel TV show “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” — comes to mind.
If mayhem had broken out late in Saturday’s race and provided a highlight reel of a finish — or multiple attempts at one — I’d be hard pressed to disagree with Larson’s assessment.
Even though I don’t believe a hair-raising moment can cover up for a dud of race, sometimes it does make said race easier to accept.
Besides, what would you rather be talking about for the next week? An exciting finish or a dominating race and our collective disappointment in a lack of tire wear.
But #BluntLarson didn’t stop there.
He was back on Tuesday (Sept. 24) and in uncharacteristic fashion.
What’s a word for being blunt, but in long form?
Whatever it may be, it’s probably German.
Anyway, Larson isn’t one to go monologuing. But apparently the bear had been poked when it came to complaints of the racing at Bristol and tire wear.
“All this tire wear talk about Bristol got me wondering … have we ever had a lot tire wear at Bristol besides the spring of ’24?” Larson said. “Eh, not much of any. Have we seen great races there? Absolutely. Have we seen duds where Kyle Busch leads 300+ laps? Sure.
“From what I remember in my career before the Next Gen car was we had cars with some disparity that could run closer to one another in traffic and a wheel/tire combo that got hotter, which in essence gave us less grip on the long run. I’ve ran with 900 hp [horsepower] all the way down to 650 hp or less potentially, high downforce, low downforce and everything in between.”
Larson said that at Bristol, it’s “ALWAYS been tough to pass” and anyone caught speeding on pit road will likely get lapped on the next run.
“That’s the way it is and has been for a very long time,” Larson continued. “We had more natural cautions from wrecks because cars could run closer, and we never quite made it a full fuel run because eventually someone’s [right front] tire would explode from overheating.
“I’m not saying I want tires to explode again, but we’re trying to crutch this racecar on short tracks with the tire and then blame Goodyear every week cause cars can’t pass. I don’t have the answer to fix what we currently have, and neither do you, but please stop blaming Goodyear. It’s not a tire problem. And also, have any of you ran around Bristol with or without PJ1? Or resin for that matter. Yeah that’s right … so [zipped lips emoji].
“Temper your expectations. We’re driving spec racecars.”
The TLDR: It’s not a tire problem. NASCAR’s prized Next Gen Car sucks on short tracks, and they won’t do what they could to make it better.
#BluntLarson wasn’t done.
He responded to one fan who felt the need to point out to him that he had never raced at Thunder Valley before its unfortunate reconfiguration.
Denny Hamlin, who has track record of being blunt in his own way, echoed Larson’s sentiment on his weekly podcast, Actions Detrimental.
“It is a car problem,” Hamlin said. “We are trying to fix it with tires, because that’s the most economical way for us to fix it.
“Me as a car owner, I don’t want to buy any more parts or pieces for this Next Gen car. We already have a tough enough time keeping up with all the changes.”
Hamlin is an advocate for NASCAR just “designing Next Gen 2.0.”
I think everyone can agree, NASCAR needs to stop beating around the bush and pull out all the stops to fix short track racing with the Next Gen car.
Or, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. warned this week, “I do not see short track racing surviving this if they don’t find some solution.”
Daniel McFadin is a 10-year veteran of the NASCAR media corp. He wrote for NBC Sports from 2015 to October 2020. He currently works full time for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and is lead reporter and an editor for Frontstretch. He is also host of the NASCAR podcast "Dropping the Hammer with Daniel McFadin" presented by Democrat-Gazette.
You can email him at danielmcfadin@gmail.com.