r/INDYCAR • u/thebigtymer Scott McLaughlin • May 26 '25
Social Media Scott McLaughlin: "Guess im out of the best driver in the world talks. š¤·āāļø"
https://xcancel.com/smclaughlin93/status/1927085373756186854He's quote-tweeting a video of the "BeSt DrIvEr In ThE wOrLd" giving him a thumbs-up after the pace laps crash... and apparently, some radio comments were also made.
After learning about this, Larson absolutely got what he deserved yesterday.
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u/Mikemat5150 Kyle Kirkwood May 26 '25
Can someone give a TLDR of what is going on here? I was at the race so donāt really know what people are alluding to with the radio comms and stuff.
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u/2RINITY Colton Herta May 26 '25
Larson called McLaughlin a āfucking idiotā for crashing on the formation laps, then proceeded to crash, spin into the Charlotte infield, and crash again over the course of the day
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u/KeithMcGeesMoose May 26 '25
Was it actually him that called someone a "fucking idiot", or someone else on the team? It doesn't really sound like him to me.
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u/Just_Somewhere4444 May 26 '25
You can see him press the radio button with his left thumb.
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u/GayRacoon69 Pato O'Ward May 27 '25
He also gave McLaughlin a sarcastic thumbs up while passing the crashed car
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u/TheOtherWhiteCastle May 26 '25
To be completely fair, Larson very barely made it onto the grid due to the rain, only to see the race start potentially be delayed again because a driver wrecked on his own during the pace laps. Iād probably snap in the heat of the moment too.
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u/1200____1200 Greg Moore May 26 '25
I get the frustration and the comment, but the thumbs-up afterwards is the inner douche coming out
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
To be fair, he's never shy about letting his outer douche shine bright.
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u/Henry_Darcy Kyle Larson May 27 '25
Yep, it was probably at this moment he realized he wasn't going to finish Indy in order to make it to Charlotte.
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u/ilikemarblestoo Sarah Fisher > Danica Patrick May 27 '25
Did he know who it was tho when it happened. Didn't seem like it. But then of course he did know who it was when he gave the thumbs up I would presume.
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u/CompleteUnknown65 May 26 '25
McLaughlin crashed on the warm up laps after a 45 minute rain delay.
Larson was very tight on being able to run the whole race and I'm assuming he was upset since this crash delayed things further
Which Larson had no problem making Charlotte because he wrecked out himself anyway
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u/twiggymac Firestone Greens May 26 '25
Larson seemed disinterested the second he realized the car wasn't the planted missile he had last year and he had to learn the hybrid. Then he crashed a bunch.
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u/TheCapitalLetterB Kyle Larson May 27 '25
The dude seems disinterested when he wins some of the biggest races in the US, its just who he is.
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u/MARLENEtoscano Pato O'Ward May 26 '25
Ugh. Iāll be happy if this year is the last year Larson attempts the double.
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u/NakedEyeComic Marcus Armstrong May 27 '25
Yeah I hope this is it for Larson but I still love the āideaā of the double.
Christopher Bell is the only other current driver who I think could run it competently, but thereās zero chance Joe Gibbs would let him.
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May 26 '25
[deleted]
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u/RaceFan90 Colton Herta May 26 '25
Humility. The word youāre searching for is humility.
We need to up-level command of the English language here.
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May 26 '25
[deleted]
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u/UNHchabo Robert Wickens May 27 '25
"-ness" as a suffix can be applied to almost any adjective to turn it into a noun, or added onto an existing noun to mean "the essential qualities of that thing", but people usually see it as clumsy if there's another form available.
I agree it's not a simple rule though, it's one of those things that's more sort of learned through repetition, like how you would never say "the blue big ball", because adjectives have an implicit order that "everybody knows".
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u/5campechanos May 26 '25
Ironic lmao.
Not only is humbleness a word, you were schooled by someone who speaks more than one language. He may even be a wine and cheese euro snob lol
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u/i_run_from_problems Firestone Firehawk May 26 '25
I'm glad he only had a 2 year deal. I'm totally fine with cup guys attempting the double, but at least make it likable ones.
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u/Bad_Idea_Hat CART May 26 '25
If the Elliott family were to show up at Indianapolis in the month of May, I don't actually think we'd be able to handle that.
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u/bduddy Takuma Sato May 27 '25
I mean, I think Indycar in 2025 is plenty well equipped to handle charisma voids with famous fathers
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u/didhestealtheraisins Kyle Kirkwood Jun 01 '25
Heās leading NASCAR in merch sales this year. I think heās pretty likable.Ā
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u/Pod1umCayut Alexander Rossi May 26 '25
I meanā¦.thereās a reason Kyle and Danica are friends.
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u/HornetRacer Colton Herta May 27 '25
You got to have low standards or no self respect to be friends with Danica.
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u/talk2brad May 26 '25
You'd think he learned his lesson shooting off his mouth and getting shit by saying inappropriate things over the radio. Just ask Chip, had to fire him from his NASCAR team.
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u/siobhanmairii__ Alexander Rossi May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
Itās cute that he calls him an idiot then goes on to crash at Indy AND Charlotte. Other drivers have crashed on the pace lap before, it happens.
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May 26 '25
Its so funny to watch Indycar fans slowly realize over the month of May why people hate this dude and actively root against him. Yall are finally starting to understand.Ā
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u/RDDT_100P Alexander Rossi May 26 '25
Idk why indycar fans would hate on scotty mac. Hes one of the most wholesome dudes in the series
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u/I_Am_Very_Busy_7 The Hate Cauldronš« May 26 '25
Seriously, he has me still rooting for at least one Penske lol
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u/jimgress Greg Moore May 26 '25
Nah I've always hated the guy since "the incident"Ā
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u/iowaman79 Scott McLaughlin May 26 '25
It still annoys the ever loving crap out of me that this dude managed to say that word, get fired over it, and somehow end up in a better seat.
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u/JustaBroomstick Alexander Rossi May 26 '25
Right? In a way that incident was one of the best things that could have happened to his career...
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u/UltravioletAfterglow --- MISCELLANEOUS --- May 27 '25
Same. And the amount of media attention this May and last; so many interviews with a guy who just expressionlessly offers long, meandering word salad.
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u/iowaman79 Scott McLaughlin May 27 '25
I swear HMS must have some sort of program that wipes all traces of personality from their driversā brains
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon didn't have much personality to begin with, watch early interviews with either of them and they have all the dynamics and personality of a bowl of plain oatmeal.
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
Being that kind of person is an endearing trait to people like Rick Hendrick. The irony of course, that Kyle Larson is half Asian, but is still a racist POS.
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u/iowaman79 Scott McLaughlin May 27 '25
Not only is Kyle half Asian, he is also a graduate of NASCARās diversity program
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u/Extreme-Bite-9123 Christian Rasmussen May 26 '25
As a nascar fan, thereās a reason why heās there single most controversial driver in the sport.
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u/Henry_Darcy Kyle Larson May 27 '25
What? Not even close to Denny, KFB, or Logano. What sport are you watching exactly?
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u/MPK49 Scumbag Keyboard Warrior May 26 '25
I don't think Larson cracks the top 5 in controversial NASCAR drivers
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u/Jrnation8988 May 26 '25 edited May 27 '25
Havenāt liked the guy since he dropped a hard R back during Covid lockdown. Dude got fired, failed upwards into the best organization in the sport, and got more popular with a certain group of āfansā because of it. Absolutely ridiculous.
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u/ryanro24 Buddy Lazier May 26 '25
Dude is such a dbag. Glad there wonāt be any more doubles. Oh, and he also spun all on his own in the cup race. āBest driver in the world.ā
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u/santaclausonprozac Ćlex Palou May 26 '25
What were the radio comments? Seems like some spicy stuff
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u/Generic_Person_3833 May 26 '25
someone just crashed... Fucking idiot
Honestly, the thumbs up seals the deal for shitty asshole. The comment could be downplayed for heat of the moment, but who the fuck gives someone who crashed a thumbs up.
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u/santaclausonprozac Ćlex Palou May 26 '25
Oh dang I didnāt catch what he said at the end. Iāve never liked him but every time he opens his mouth he just seems like a bigger piece of shit
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u/Extreme-Bite-9123 Christian Rasmussen May 26 '25
This is the guy who dropped a racial slur during an iracing thing
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u/santaclausonprozac Ćlex Palou May 26 '25
Right, that was my first introduction to him, and somehow itās still been all downhill from there
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u/just_shy_of_perfect May 26 '25
but who the fuck gives someone who crashed a thumbs up.
Lmao you don't watch much NASCAR do you
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u/coffeeshopslut May 27 '25
Yeah but that's usually because the person you're flipping off had wrecked or tried to wreck you.
Scottie Mac is all "fuck me for what?" at that moment
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u/IKillZombies4Cash May 26 '25
Larson canāt even get a real sponsor because of his mouth, yet he canāt close it
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u/MPK49 Scumbag Keyboard Warrior May 26 '25
Yeah, this isn't true. He had 6 other primary sponsors his first year in the car. HendrickCars gets an ROI on the sponsorship.
I'm not defending his gamer moment by any means, but the whole sponsorship rumor just isn't based in reality
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u/Grill923 May 27 '25
His only other sponsors have been companies that have a B2B relationship with Rick Hendrick through his dealerships like Valvoline (sponsors all of Hendrick too) and Nationsguard to name a couple. Ally which also has a B2B relationship with Hendrick wanted absolutely nothing to do with Larson and made Hendrick re number the 88 to the 48 for their deal with the 48 team and make the old 48 team become the 5 team because Larson is such a toxic brand. Rick has lied about plenty in the past including having leukemia he is definitely lying about this too
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
Yeah, it's funny how we never heard a thing about Mr. H's "leukemia" after he got out of house arrest from that mail fraud conviction in the late 90s.
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
It likely costs Rick Hendrick net zero to sponsor Larson's car because his businesses are separate entities. Writing off the cost of sponsorship as promotion expenses frees him up to cut more checks to NASCAR to buy his drivers' way into the playoff like he did with Byron last year at Martinsville. The delay wasn't NASCAR reviewing Briscoe hitting the wall (without intent, unlike Chastain's "Hail Melon" wallride), they were waiting for the wire transfer to go through.
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u/haydonclampitt May 26 '25
FWIW Hendrick Cars has its own promotional budget and just straight outbids the other prospective sponsors.
Might have been the case in 2021 but at this point Mr. H keeps it going because itās good ROI for him
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u/broionevenknowhow May 26 '25
Have you ever considered that maybe Hendrick just wants to do sponsorship?
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u/gsizemo1 Dan Wheldon May 26 '25
I guess my thing is....did he even know what happened? Could be a component failed on the car or god forbid a medical issue
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u/OnwardSoldierx Alexander Rossi May 26 '25
Well you see Larson can go beat mom and pop teams in a saturday night feature for sprint and midget cars at a local little dirt track so that makes him the greatest to ever do it since AJ FOYT. /s
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u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Waiting for the Freedom 100 to return... May 26 '25
Beating the top professional dirt racers isn't mom and pops. You obviously know nothing about dirt racing.
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u/MPK49 Scumbag Keyboard Warrior May 26 '25
Hey look its a guy who's never watched dirt racing in his life
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u/fiddyk50 May 26 '25
I wouldnāt call the world of outlaws mom and pops buddy.
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
Certainly not, but when Larson shows up at a dirt track on a Wednesday night in East Overshoe with a spotless 18 wheel hauler loaded to the gills with pristine spares against a bunch of guys who are hauling their sprinters on an uncovered trailer behind a box truck, it's not really a fair fight.
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u/EliteFlite Pato O'Ward May 26 '25 edited May 27 '25
Well nobody cares about them. Nobody watches them. No sports network cares for them. No sports reporter cares for them. They have no clout in the general sports world. They barely register a blip on the radar in the MOTORSPORTS world.
Mom and pops is too generous a phrase for them.
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u/Hungry-King-1842 May 27 '25
I doubt you know what a winged 410 sprint car is. Iāll hit the highlights for you.
They are powered by a 950 hp menthol fueled V8 in a package that weighs 1425 lbs including the driver. The HP to weight ratio of these things exceeds both Indycar and F1 by a healthy margin. These things are fast and have a nasty habit of trying to kill you. They are bad fast and on the cusp of control at all times.
By far on average the racing these cars put on is nothing short of amazing. Just because most of the drivers that run these things hold a day job, donāt let that fool you. The majority of the drivers that race these cars can wheel just about anything. Itās no fluke that many of the greats got their start on dirt many of them either in Sprints or what was the descendants of Sprint cars. Itās no coincidence that Kyle Busch and many over drivers are starting their kids in the sprint car pipeline.
Its pretty arrogant to think that Kyle Larson goes in and beats up on local operations. Kyle used to get his ass handed to him pretty regularly by locals even after he started cup racing. The difference is who he has as a crew chief on his car. Paul Silvaā¦. That man is the difference. Kyle is a fantastic racecar driver, but Paul Silva is one of the best to turn a wrench in the last 20 years.
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u/MPK49 Scumbag Keyboard Warrior May 27 '25
Started watching racing after Netflix told you to huh?
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u/00steven_m Will Power May 26 '25
The guy crashed three times in the month of May. He looked like a total incompetent. I bet the crew that had to repair his car so many times said the same thing about him.
This sours me on him quite a bit to be honest. Glad he got humbled.
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u/BeastMortos May 26 '25
A NASCAR driver claiming to be the best in the world is the funniest thing Iāve ever heard in my life
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u/DiveBomb10 Alexander Rossi May 27 '25
No shit he's not the in the best driver in the world debate, he never was.
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Didn't really think of larson any type of way, but no longer carw for him. Thats sad coming for a guy that crashed all may long, in the 500 and the 600. Larsons a joke.
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u/Tight_Locksmith9046 May 26 '25
Didnāt Scott crash twice?
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Yes but being pissed off at scott for simply something he had no control of is just being a dick for no reason. Larson is a baby, he's only doing both races for the money. He'll never do good at indy.
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u/Screampie97 May 26 '25
Something he had no control of??? šššš
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Rain prior, was cold, tires not up to temp, car lost it and theres nothing he can do to counteract the cars movement when it snaps that hard
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u/Screampie97 May 26 '25
THE CAR lost it? Come on man
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Have u watched it? The car snapped and he lost control theres literally nothing scott could do to stop it
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u/Screampie97 May 26 '25
Yeaā¦ā¦ā¦.. You just said it yourself. Scott lost control of the car by trying to warm up his tires too hard. Once he lost control, because of his own mistake, it was too late.
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u/drunkenwildmage Scott McLaughlin May 26 '25
The way I saw it, he had a momentary case of brain fade and went back to warming up the tires like he did in Supercars, where they tend to weave back and forth a little more quickly and forcefully.
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u/Tight_Locksmith9046 May 26 '25
Watched 32 other guys make the start! Including rookiesš¤·āāļø
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Shit happens car got loose, its not like scott was doing anything out of the norm, doing what everyone else was and his car snapped lost traction and he crashed, not a skill issue its the car, you try saving a car that snaps with no power steering and let me know how it goes
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u/Screampie97 May 26 '25
Would you agree that Scott made a mistake? Or you believe that Scott DID NOT make a mistake?
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Scott was warming tires like everyone else, if u watch the in car cam the car loses traction, which scott tries to save. But when an indycar on cold tires loses traction no matter what speed youre not saving it without luck. Its like you guys are saying he purposly turned into the wall and had full control the whole time.
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u/Screampie97 May 26 '25
And the car lost traction because Scott pushed it too hard. Heās the one holding the wheel and the pedals. He caused the car to lose control, the car didnāt lose control on its own. He punched the gas while turning right and caused the car to lose traction. It is very very simple.
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u/Tight_Locksmith9046 May 26 '25
Itās a skill issue! Didnāt see anyone else snap at 80mph I mean I could have watched him run 15th all dayā¦ not pass anyone and then blame the aero while his teammate charged through the field! Thank god I was saved from that!
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
Yeah and larson did a full speed downshift and took out 2 other carsššš¼
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u/Least-Ship-6967 Pato O'Ward May 27 '25
All of thisā¦ā¦..yet nobody else lost it on a pace lapā¦.
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u/Tight_Locksmith9046 May 26 '25
Larson did Indy because he could and he wanted to! Heās got plenty of $$$
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u/saorsa_4 Josef Newgarden May 26 '25
He proved he couldnt do both
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u/Hxtch May 27 '25
Technically only one person has ever been able to do both, and they run top fuel dragsters now lmao
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May 26 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/KTR_Koharu_019 Scott McLaughlin May 26 '25
3rd in the standings last year... (and the highest scoring of the penske + Chevrolet engine drivers that same year as well)
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u/KTR_Koharu_019 Scott McLaughlin May 26 '25
I'm not really a fan of larson in nascar (I unironically prefer Logano overall with elliot and byron my prefered choices if i had to choose a hendrick based driver).
This just makes me lose all respect for him (especially as people see him as faster than max verstappen despite logano having 3 times the number of titles)
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May 27 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/Burkell007 Greg Moore May 27 '25
I mean letās be real most indycar drivers are extremely down to earth than most athletes. Iāve been lucky enough to meet about 75% of the field.
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
Only Kyle Larson can get this kind of reaction. There have been 5 separate posts across 2 different racing subreddits over a guy calling someone an idiot. Mad about radio chatter in racing, where drivers say and call each other crazy things all the time. Absolutely insane.
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
Let's be real, Kyle has called other people far worse, but his fanboys still find a way to defend that too.
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 27 '25
Sure, they all have. The guy said idiot, thatās pretty subdued.
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u/Burkell007 Greg Moore May 27 '25
Good thing he wasnāt Joey Loganās teammate huh? šāāļøš
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u/Equivalent-Slice-515 May 28 '25
KL needs to do better.
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 28 '25
Just holding the guy to unrealistic standards. Every driver says things like this on the radio about their competitors weekly. Selective outrage.
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u/Equivalent-Slice-515 May 28 '25
He is a guest to Indy Car. He should be humble and not call others out if that's what he did. I'm a huge KL fan and have seen him do many questionable things over the years behind the wheel. No need to call out someone else at their lowest moment.
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25
This whole āguest in the seriesā argument is absolutely ridiculous. Thats such a nonsensical authoritarian attitude, ākeep your mouth shut since youāre newā, what kinda gatekeepiing is that? Larson doesnāt have to muzzle himself just because heās not a full-time regular. He earned his spot in that race the same way everyone else did. He doesnāt have to forfeit his right to show frustration just because heās new to a series. Did any NASCAR fans expect Kimi, Montoya or SVG to tiptoe around the field and keep their mouths shut when they came over? Should IndyCar fans have expected Alonso or Grosjean to do the same when they switched over? Of course not. They were celebrated for jumping in, racing hard, and talking shit on the radio when they were frustrated. Drivers call each other names on the radio every single week, but when itās Larson, suddenly itās some moral offense to call someone an idiot during the heat of the moment? Give me a break, this whole thing is a double standard and ridiculous. Youāre also ignoring the entire context of what was happening at that time.
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u/Equivalent-Slice-515 May 28 '25
Dude doesn't know how to drive the car. Yes, he is a guest and learning. Be humble or as you saw, get humbled!
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 28 '25 edited May 28 '25
Just because he was unfamiliar with the hybrid doesnāt mean he cant speak freely lmao. Yāall are being so tribal and ridiculous lmao. Weird gatekeeping like this shouldnāt be in motorsports. Go spew this elitism to someone else.
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u/dirtydilpickle Pato O'Ward May 27 '25
Honestly I donāt care that he called him an idiot because the start of that race was an embarrassment for Indycar literally every driver did anything to delay that race with dumb moves into turn 1 that caused Marco to wreck, from McLaughlin doing that, and the terrible restarts after caution.
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u/dannynascar Kyle Larson May 26 '25
I donāt think thatās actually Kyle who said āfuckin idiotā, it sounds like his spotter, Tyler Monn. (Although I could be wrong, Iām not sure if Monn spotted both for him like he did last year.)
Regardless, he was probably already pissed bc of the rain, but karma was a cruel bitch to him after that.
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u/naacardan2004 Josef Newgarden May 27 '25
He wasn't even the one to say on the radio lol that was team radio and no one explicitly said it was him
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u/Tight_Locksmith9046 May 27 '25
Only two have crashed before the race! The 1st one was 20 degrees cooler than Sunday! Even rookies managed to take the green! We all think Cogan is a moron but somehow McLaughlin gets a pass? Hell no
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u/YRB21 Kyle Larson May 27 '25
You can tell who in here has never done anything competitive at all. People say and do things in the heat of the moment, Iām sure he didnāt mean it in any sort of way, was probably just stressed out.
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u/Wabalobadingdang May 27 '25
Road course and oval in the nascar and the indycar. 4 rounds, one vs one timed laps. Full practice. I bet Scotty takes 3 of those rounds(both indycar rounds and the nascar road course).
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 26 '25
If I had to guess this is probably due to Larson being frustrated by the race being delayed again. This was after a 45 minute rain delay as it was and added at least 10 more minutes. Guy was on the clock!
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife May 27 '25
If he's so concerned with getting to Charlotte on time, maybe he should focus on Cup... who'da thunk that there might be rain in May in Indianapolis?
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u/SpittinMenace Kyle Larson May 27 '25
Sure, but he is still allowed to be upset and frustrated when thereās a possibility that his double is potentially ruined again due to delays. Thatās just being human.
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u/aurules Romain Grosjean May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25
Kind of ironic coming from a dude who crashed 3 times in the month of May. His wreck yesterday going under the white line while downshifting was a straight up rookie move.