In a sport that counts legacies more than it does numbers, Kyle Larson has quietly constructed a stacked résumé that downright bellows greatness. With the 2021 Cup Series Championship, three Chili Bowl Nationals, and a Knoxville Nationals win to boast, he is crafting a Hall of Fame career. Amid all this success, Larson also feels the need to educate the generation that will come after him, but he might not have the most polite way of doing so.

The Xfinity Series has been under a storm of controversy over the last few weeks. It started at Homestead when Kyle Larson was leading by over 15 seconds in what looked like an assured victory. Then, with eight laps to go, a caution caused by Taylor Gray led to a restart, which saw Larson shoved by Sam Mayer, leading to the former losing his lead and finishing 4th.

This must have upset Larson quite a bit as he also won the Truck race the night prior and ended up winning the Cup race that Sunday, leaving him so close to a weekend sweep. While he failed to complete the sweep at Bristol last weekend after losing the Truck race, he won the Xfinity race dominantly. In conversation with Kevin Harvick, Larson revealed why he loves dominating the second-tier series.

Kyle Larson wants to set the bar

After the Homestead debacle with Larson, the Xfinity Series drama only got worse. The following week saw reckless racing as Sammy Smith plowed into race-leader Taylor Gray on the final lap at Martinsville, wrecking the field in a bid to win the race. Smith finished 10th, and Gray was 29th. This led to massive outrage in the community over the lack of respect these young drivers have. Echoing a similar sentiment, Larson told Kevin Harvick on the Happy Hour podcast about his mindset entering Xfinity races.

Larson said, “This is going to come off as very cocky, but I want to embarrass them [Xfinity drivers], honestly. I want to embarrass NASCAR a little bit because they just don’t let Cup guys run anymore, and the kids probably think they’re in a good spot… they don’t know where the bar is really at.” Kyle Larson is referring to the change in rules in 2020, which saw NASCAR reduce the number of races Cup drivers could race in Xfinity or Trucks per season down to five races. Back in the day, Kyle Busch used to run upwards of 15 races in the Xfinity Series and went multiple seasons winning 8+ races in the lower tiers while still having a full Cup schedule! This led to NASCAR capping experienced Cup drivers at 5 races per season, and this fuels Larson to dominate these races every chance he gets.

“I like to go run those Xfinity races and just get 10-second leads to let them realize they’ve got a lot of room to improve, and I think that’s only better for our sport. When those young guys can compete with Cup guys, they’re better suited for the Cup Series once they get there… Yes, I want to smash the field when I run Xfinity. That’s motivating for me.” Kyle Larson feels that he is giving them the learning curve that they need before entering the Cup Series. After his aforementioned dominating run at Homestead in the Xfinity Series, Larson also smoked the field during his Xfinity run at Bristol. The HMS star led 277 out of the 300 laps en route to a victory, and he loves to win in that fashion.

Larson’s remarks are likely to resurface the age-old debate on whether any Cup veteran should run in any of the developmental series. His average finish in Xfinity over the past three years? Inside the top five. Kyle Busch has been winless in the Cup Series for over 60 races but notched up a Truck Series win at Atlanta this season just to show the world that he’s still got it.

NASCAR thinks that Larson distorts the talent pool for youngsters, while he argues that it sharpens them. The philosophy of ‘if you can’t beat the best, how can you become the best?’ gets lost in the hubbub of it all. And it’s that philosophy that Larson underlines- brash, brutal, but maybe necessary for authentic growth. And it’s not just Larson who feels the races across the series are too low per season. 

Kyle Busch said that the declining opportunities to race in the Truck and Xfinity Series since 2020 have impacted his form at the highest level. After all, the community dubbed the rule the ‘Kyle Busch’ rule, and speaking about it earlier in March of 2025, Busch told the Athletic, “The schedule of not being able to participate as much in the Xfinity and the Truck Series races. Maybe I’m a creature of habit, and I just like being out there and doing all of that.” Busch feels that along with the Next-Gen car being tough to work with, the lack of racing opportunities has significantly contributed to his overall decline.

The Richard Childress Racing veteran has won just seven Cup races since 2020 and just 4 in the Next-Gen car. This is a stark difference to his 2019 season, where he won 5 races en route to the Cup Series title right before NASCAR’s new rule came into effect. Evidently, this rule is affecting Kyle Busch’s performance. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson just wants to dominate the young guys and show them who’s the boss. Something that Rowdy would surely be proud of.

So, what do you think? Should NASCAR allow Cup Series drivers to have more races in lower series? Let us know in the comments!