Kyle Larson is arguably the best all-around driver behind any wheel right now, and he’s a first-place contender every time he races in the NASCAR Cup Series—just don’t compare him to Ricky Bobby.
The series champion appeared on Tuesday’s episode of the “Games With a Name” podcast, hosted by New England Patriots Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman. In the middle of the conversation, he was asked if he liked “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” the 2006 hit comedy that stars Ferrell as a wildly successful but dim-witted NASCAR driver who coined the phrase “If you’re not first, you’re last.”
“Do (the drivers) like ‘Talladega Nights?’ Is this movie funny, or is it dumb for you guys?” co-star Sam Morrill asked Larson, who was a little hesitant to answer.
“I — I think I like the movie,” Larson said. “I think it didn’t do our sport any good. I think it unfortunately turned our sport into a joke. But uh, it’s — I think this has to be the most significant — one of the most popular racing movies.”
Edelman tried to block and get excited about Adam McKay’s hit in 2006—”It’s just a funny comedy with these boys,” he said—but Larson stayed on the gas.
“Yeah. But it’s just – I feel it – just the rest of the world, like, that’s what they think about our sport now,” Larson said.
[Note to Larson: They already thought that.]
“I still think about… one of the hottest short men ever, being dragged from a really smoke show scene after winning the Daytona 500,” Edelman said. “Yeah, that’s what I think about. Field.”
“That might be one of the best movie scenes in movie history, dude,” Larson said.
Okay, so maybe not great at NASCAR, but for short dust.
“That’s what I always used to say when I had a taller girlfriend,” said the relatively diminutive (NFL) Edelman. Or Real Relationships right there, baby. I feel like a NASCAR driver right now. I’m about to get in my car.”
Larson also noted that his friend (and Hendricks Motorsports boss) Jeff Gordon told him the other night that Tom Cruise seriously has a “Day of Thunder” sequel in mind.
“[Gordon] is good friends with Tom, and he went to the… premiere or whatever of ‘Mission Impossible,'” Larson said. “When [Gordon saw] Tom, he’s like, ‘We’re doing this. We had to do another ‘Days of Thunder.’ So, let’s go.”
Watch the entire exchange in the video above.
