#kyle larson

[cemeterygrace]

rollercoaster of a day for mclaren fans across f1, f2, and indy. goddamn. lando p1 and oscar p3 for f1. alex dunne doing all that in f2. pato o'ward indy 500 win dreams crushed. nolan siegel in the wall and waiting forever for an update on his wellbeing. kyle larson (for some reason?) was there racing for mclaren and he crashed too. christian lundgaard was also there just chilling. good god did i miss anything?

[grogumaximus]

[kalscattergood]

Oof. Kyle with "The Double DNF".

[sixdegreesofbali]

An interview with Max just came out where he addresses the idea of who the best driver in motorsports is. Mind you, this interview was given at the Barcelona GP long before Larson opened his big mouth.

Note how Max answers this question with absolute class and humility.

Larson can only learn (from a guy who's 6 years his junior...).

x

[crooked-mile]

NASCAR Drivers As Dog Breeds

Kyle Larson: Chihuahua

Smug, writes too many checks his ass can't cash, needs to shut up

Chase Elliott: Greyhound

Quiet, shy, fast but would like to have a conversation that isn't about going fast once in a while, wants to go home now

Ryan Blaney: Corgi

Short but makes it work, a crowd favorite, handsome and polite, great smile; barks to communicate frustration, anxiety or excitement

Joey Logano: German Shepherd

Knows what his job is and is a little too excited to do it, some aggression issues tempered by age and proper socialization

Bubba Wallace: American Pit Bull Terrier

Misunderstood sweetheart, just wants people to like him, attached at the hip to his best friend, probably a blanket hog

Austin Cindric: Borzoi

Tall, just happy to be here

Tyler Reddick: Jack Russell Terrier

Small but unstoppable, compact size reduces drag, sometimes forgotten about until he nips at your heels

Denny Hamlin: Australian Cattle Dog

Good at what he does but is really fucking annoying about it, becomes destructive if he doesn't receive adequate stimulation

[coimbrabertone]

MotoGP Silly Season Predictions - Plus Larson Waiver Talk.

As recently as this morning, I was planning on this week's blogpost being about the Kyle Larson waiver situation over in NASCAR, however, MotoGP then decided to do everything all at once and launched silly season into high gear.

So, with regards to Larson, I'll just say one thing: he raced in the Indianapolis 500 competitively and made NASCAR look good mere years after Jimmie Johnson, unfortunately, struggled in a Chip Ganassi Indycar on road and street circuits - and there were a lot of jokes at NASCAR's expense after their seven-time world champion spun out every race. So how does NASCAR repay him? Utter silence over whether or not he'll get a playoff waiver.

Kyle Larson is the 2021 champion, took his car to the owner's championship final four as a result of playoff shenanigans in 2022, and then made the final four in 2023 again. He is considered one of the top talents in NASCAR and he has the results to back it up. So why is there controversy over him getting a playoff waiver for this year?

Because Kyle Larson prioritized the Indianapolis 500 last weekend.

I talked about this in my Motorsports Christmas blogpost, but the Indy 500 was rain delayed and Kyle Larson stayed there to compete, and only then he flew out to Charlotte. Now, Kyle Larson landed, was ready to get into the car, but then it started raining in Charlotte too. Just before midnight, as the track was drying, NASCAR controversially decided to call the race, thus Kyle Larson was not able to relieve Justin Allgaier in the #5 and resume the rest of the Coke 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR is mad because every other weekend of the year, they're the biggest show in racing, they can throw their weight around and try to chase NFL ratings while all other racing series are considered a niche. That's true every weekend except Memorial Day weekend, when the Indianapolis 500 reigns supreme. The whole existence of the Charlotte 600 is to compete with Indy.

Larson prioritized the bigger race and that made NASCAR made, because they're used to getting their egos stroked.

Larson is one of the best drivers in NASCAR and the double attempt brought good publicity to both sports. He had already won his way into the playoffs and made an effort to get to Charlotte for the end of the 600 - give him a waiver. If not, well, you face the possibility that Austin Cindric is in the playoffs after his shock win at Iowa, and one of the top drivers in the series isn't.

I like Austin, I'm glad he won, but he's nowhere near the same level as Kyle Larson. If he can compete for the championship and Kyle can't, then it makes the NASCAR playoffs look even less legitimate than they already are.

Anyway, that turned into a longer rant than I intended, so I'll leave it there. Now onto the main topic for today: MotoGP silly season.

Yesterday at Mugello, Enea Bastianini spent the final laps of the race charging from fourth to second, overtaking Marc Marquez for third and then pulling off an audacious last corner pass on Jorge Martin for second. This meant that Enea finished just eight tenths off leader Pecco Bagnaia for a factory Ducati 1-2.

So naturally, Ducati has decided to replace him.

Marc Marquez, who finished four and last out of these three, is going to the Ducati Lenovo Team, according to Autosport.

This was all but confirmed when, a few hours later, Aprilia confirmed the signing of Jorge Martin for Aprilia. Jorge Martin who finished third and got overtaken by Enea Bastianini in the final corner, mind you.

Now, of course, Ducati is not judging this off of one race alone and I acknowledge - as I did in two recent blogposts - that Enea has had a rotten time on the factory Ducati seat. That being said, seeing him lose Ducati to Marc Marquez, who finished last of the main three, and then lose out on the Aprilia seat to the guy he overtook in the final corner. It stings.

That being said, some news out of this weekend might offer a possibility for Enea to have a bit of a soft landing from the factory seat anyway. Let me explain:

Earlier in this weekend, Marc Marquez spelled out his demands in an interview. He said that he was not interested in going to Pramac, saying that he didn't want to switch from a satellite team (he's currently riding a 2023 Ducati at Gresini Racing) to another satellite team (Pramac runs 2024 Ducatis, same as the factory team, with factory contracted riders, they are still customers, however). Instead, Marquez said that the best option was a factory team, and if not that, then a factory bike at minimum.

Translation: Marc Marquez wanted the factory team for 2025, and if he couldn't get that, then he wanted a 2025 Ducati at Gresini, remaining at his current team.

In response, Gino Borsoi, who is the team manager at Pramac, insisted that his team had a contract for two factory-spec Ducati GP25s next year. This was somewhat of a surprise for a number of reasons, one: Ducati announced late last year that they signed Moto2 rider Fermin Aldeguer for 2025, and it seemed like the natural landing spot for him was going to be Pramac...until it emerged later on that Ducati wanted to start Fermin out on a 2024 bike. Two: regardless of which spec Ducati Fermin is going to be on, Pramac has been heavily linked to Yamaha lately.

The Japanese bikes are struggling in MotoGP right now and, ever since RNF switched to satellite Aprilias for 2023, Yamaha has not had a satellite team. Four bikes capturing data instead of two could really help Yamaha right now, so they've been linked to pretty much every Ducati satellite team the last few months. VR46 with the romanticism of a Valentino Rossi and Yamaha reunion, Gresini until they renewed their deal, and most recently, with Pramac.

Yamaha was desperate and the rumor has been that they offered very generous terms to Pramac.

So, the news that Pramac may stay with Ducati after all is a shock to the media, but it does not seem to have been much of a shock to Ducati. Ducati had been working on a way to keep both Martin and Marquez, and it seems that they wanted to offer Pramac the chance to run MotoGP's biggest star - Marc Marquez - as a reason to stay...and potentially a reason to accept taking on a rookie Aldeguer on a year-old bike as well.

Now that Marquez is going to the factory team instead and Jorge Martin has snatched the open Aprilia seat, I see an opening. Ducati can send Enea Bastianini to Pramac, keeping him on a factory spec bike while giving Pramac another frontrunning rider. Aldeguer joins as Bastianini's teammate, on a GP25 if that's what it takes to keep Pramac in the fold, because Marc Marquez will be in the factory team so freeing up a GP25 won't be as important.

What about VR46 and Gresini then? Well, I think Marco Bezzecchi's current season has been a bit of a disaster, so he won't really have much of a chance to get a factory ride next year, so staying at VR46 seems likely. Furthermore, his struggles mean that Bezzecchi probably isn't going to have much luck demanding Ducati gives him a GP25, so status quo is probably the most likely outcome there. It's unfortunate for Bezzecchi, but the sheer reality is that, with all these hot riders on the market, his options seem to be either stay at VR46, or make a more or less lateral move to Trackhouse Aprilia.

Then Franco Morbidelli, another Valentino Rossi academy product, can drop from Pramac into the other VR46 seat.

Where does Fabio DiGiannantonio go then? Well, with Marquez going to the factory, Fabio can now return to Gresini and be reunited with Frankie Carchedi. Thus, restoring the 2023 lineup of Fabio DiGiannantonio and Alex Marquez.

So, to sum things up, I think Ducati can keep all three of its satellite teams and all eight bikes like this:

Ducati Lenovo (GP25): Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez.

Pramac (GP25): Enea Bastianini and Fermin Aldeguer.

VR46 (GP24): Marco Bezzecchi and Franco Morbidelli.

Gresini (GP24): Fabio DiGiannantonio and Alex Marquez.

Maybe Pramac will go to Yamaha after all, maybe my predictions will look radically wrong in a few weeks. I don't know how it'll turn out, but this is the scheme I've thought up in my mind.

I need to do something since with Marc Marquez at Ducati and Jorge Martin at Aprilia, my two favorite teams now have my two least favorite riders and I'm trying not to dwell on that part.

So yeah.

Oh, also this weekend Indycar raced at Detroit, but uhh...the less said about that, the better.

[acrosstobear]

mclaren WE. ARE. McLAREN. 🧡 Monaco. Indy 500. Shanghai. It's set to be a special weekend with @.ArrowMcLaren and @.McLarenFE! 💫

[driveforfive]

this surpasses last year as the most chaotic 500 ive ever seen

[dozydawn]

[bloodonmybarbieshirt]

FUCK YEAH KYLE LARSON WITH THE DOUBLE DOUBLE

TWO RACE RUINING SOLO SPIN OUTS, TWO HUGE RACES, LESS THAN SIX HOURS APART

[gentlemanmotorslifestyle]

[motorsportbarbie13]

No bc wdym they’ve run 70 laps of the Indy 500 and there’s been TWELVE LEAD CHANGES?? WHY IS PATO 12th? IS THE MCLAREN TEAM BOSS GONNA HAVE TO CLIMB INTO THE CAR SO KYLE LARSON CAN RACE IN THE COCA COLA 600???

This is chaotic like what???

[grogumaximus]

James Hinchcliffe on the Max Verstappen vs. Kyle Larson debate | The Red Flags podcast

[once-and-future-loser]

How I slept last night knowing that Kyle "could beat Max Verstappen in any car" Larson majorly flopped in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 yesterday.

[sixdegreesofbali]

LOL. He literally can't be bothered.

x

[crooked-mile]

We asked NASCAR drivers which characters they like to play as in Mario Kart. 🍄 [via NASCAR on NBC's Instagram]