Chaos and calculations turned Iowa Speedway into a pressure cooker last weekend. William Byron ultimately emerged victorious, stretching his fuel over a staggering 144 laps in a masterclass of strategic patience. Starting from third on the grid, his strongest qualifying effort so far this season, Kyle Larson had managed a solid opening stage in sixth, working methodically through the pack. But the race devolved quickly, with twelve cautions disrupting the rhythm and strategy. Larson eventually plummeted to a 28th-place finish, delivering a crushing blow as he now trails the regular-season standings leader by 45 points. Yet behind the statistics lay the emotional spark that set the race’s real tone, an on-track friction with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
Tensions simmered, then spilled over between teammates during a restart melee. In a tight three-wide battle, Larson and Chase Elliott exchanged heavy contact, not once but multiple times, which briefly sent Elliott loose before he pulled off a remarkable save, avoiding a potential wreck. That’s when Larson’s simmering frustration broke free over the radio. Through explicit, heated language, he vented: “How much fu—-g room do I have to leave people? I’ve been trying to be a good teammate, a good competitor, and it hasn’t gotten me anywhere the last fu—-g hour.” But as the race is in the past, so is the frustration of Larson, as he reflected on what actually caused the outbreak over his own teammate with a calmer mind.
Kyle Larson was upset with things other than Elliott
In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Kyle Larson opened up about his radio comments during the Iowa race. “I honestly wasn’t even that frustrated with Chase at all,” Larson confessed. “It was just a number of things were building up over all of those cautions that we had.” Despite his claim, footage and media reports tell a more complex story. During the restart, where Larson and Elliott rubbed fenders, onboard footage captured both cars jostling through Turns 1 and 2, as well as a dramatic save that was replayed across NASCAR’s social channels. Larson kept finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time amid the chaos, setting the tone for his day to unravel.
Indeed, the Iowa Corn 350 was marred by 12 cautions for 72 yellow-flag laps, and the constant stop-start racing at a 7/8-mile oval like Iowa, making the rhythm and tire temperature a moving target. While Byron’s team used the cautions to their advantage, Larson saw restarts repeatedly put his team in dicey three-wide scrums. In earlier seasons, Larson captured the pole with a lap of 23.084 seconds at Iowa and led multiple stints before fading in the final stages. He also entered the 2025 race firmly in championship contention, qualifying with a lap time of 23.089 seconds. But it wasn’t just Elliott who caused the frustration. “And then the 20 got into us, and then my top blew off there for a little bit,” Larson continued. “But it was just a good way for me to vent and get some frustration out and try to refocus.”
NASCAR and crash reports reference Christopher Bell spinning and tangling multiple times in the race. Larson had to pit for repairs after getting collected in a crash, and a mid-race hit cost Larson track position. Race timing also showed that there were 10 lead changes among six drivers, further evidence of traffic and strategy swings caused by those stoppages. The direct consequence was measurable, with Larson, who led laps earlier in the season and had been inside the Top 10 at Iowa’s opening stage, sliding back more than 20 seconds behind race winner William Byron. But Larson isn’t disheartened at the end of the day. “But, unfortunately, I think maybe the next restart or the one after that, we got some damage that pretty much ended our shot at having a good day,” said Larson. “So, it’s just, like I said, NASCAR is tough. These cars are, you can get into people, and sometimes it doesn’t cause much damage, and other times it does. I’ve been on the getting end plenty of times.”
“I honestly wasn’t even that frustrated with Chase at all it was just a number of things were building up over all those cautions that we had.”
@KyleLarsonRacin clarifies his radio comments from @iowaspeedway, explaining his reaction.
More https://t.co/WGRTG5gnEd pic.twitter.com/jq1vElBzhH
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) August 8, 2025
But a final sprawling comment pointed to resilience. “So, yeah, just didn’t go well for us at Iowa. But, we’re looking forward to Watkins Glen, and hopefully we can do a good job there,” said Larson. Watkins Glen has been one of Larson’s happier hunting grounds. He has converted promise into victory there before and tasted the sting of late miscues. Larson scored a dramatic win at the Glen in 2021, taking the Go Bowling at The Glen trophy after a tense final restart. He followed that up with another triumph at the venue in 2022, proving the road-course setup and his wheel-to-wheel aggression suited the twists of the Finger Lakes circuit. But the Glen hasn’t been immune to trouble. In 2023, Larson went from a promising weekend to a 26th-place finish after a late-race speeding penalty and mistakes that cost track position.
Watkins Glen poses different technical challenges, with different tires, different setups, and Larson’s pivot to that event is exactly the kind of forward-looking mindset teams preach when damage destroys a day.
Kyle Larson’s summer of dominance continues at Knoxville
Kyle Larson‘s red-hot streak continued in style, as Yung Money dominated the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at the famed 0.5-mile dirt oval known as the ‘Sprint Car Capital of the World.’ Just weeks after securing the $100,000 Joker’s Jackpot at Eldora Speedway and another win at the Front Row Challenge in Southern Iowa, Larson stormed to victory in Knoxville for the fourth time in five years, leading the prestigious 50-lap finale from Lap 13 to the checkered flag.
Starting from fifth, the 33-year-old wasted no time climbing through the field. By Lap 6, he was already second, closing in on Spencer Bayston’s 10-car-length lead. By Lap 13, Larson seized control and never looked back. Logan Schuchart moved into second on Lap 19, while Bayston, despite losing momentum in a scrape with Scelzi, still held on for third. Meanwhile, High Limit Racing co-owner Brad Sweet impressed with an eighth-place finish, clawing back from 21st in just 25 laps.
As confetti fell and Larson waved the checkered flag atop his #57 sprint car, fans were reminded of his unmatched versatility. Now, with two straight qualifying night wins under his belt, Larson sets his sights on the 2025 Go Bowling at The Glen, aiming to break his 13-race winless streak in the Cup Series.
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