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NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: Did Kyle Larson ruin Kansas?

JHby: Jonathan Howard05/12/25Jondean25
Kyle Larson NASCAR Kansas
Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

Well, Sunday was a far cry from the photo finish we saw a year ago. Kyle Larson stunk up the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas. With the lack of thrilling finishes lately, does the Cup Series have a major issue? Or is this just how things are playing out?

Kyle Larson made one heck of a statement with his win on Sunday. On a day when chaos reigned and multiple top drivers had issues on track or pit road, Larson and his team remained more or less perfect.

A lot happened at Kansas between ARCA, Truck Series, and Cup Series action. Let’s break it all down before we get into the NASCAR All-Star Race.

Butterbean Queen earns statement win in ARCA

This short track racer is not too bad, folks. Brenden “Butterbean” Queen came out and made a statement in his dominant win at Kansas. He held off William Sawalich in overtime for the win.

Everyone knew the CARS Tour champion would be good on short tracks. We haven’t even seen him hit the short tracks on the ARCA schedule yet! This could be Butterbean’s year.

NASCAR throws rare penalty out during Truck Series race

During the Truck Series race, the caution came out quickly. It was action from the first lap until Dawson Sutton spun out onto pit road. Then, NASCAR did something interesting.

NASCAR penalized Sutton for intentionally causing the caution. He took a while to refire his truck, but the caution flew almost at the same moment it turned over. Sutton was held for two laps as a result, but finished P15.

Carson Hocevar wins Truck Series race, middle finger up

The end of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race was awesome. Carson Hovecar had taken over the race, but Layne Riggs was chasing him down, and quickly. Riggs even made an attempt to pass for the lead on the last lap.

Riggs made contact with Hocevar, they both hit the wall, and then it was a drag race. Hocevar, middle finger out the window, zoomed around to the finish line and to the win.

Layne Riggs gets flipped off, disqualified

You have to feel bad for Layne Riggs. He came up short once again against a Cup Series driver. On top of that, he got flipped off in front of thousands of viewers.

Riggs noted the middle finger after the race. But then, in post-race inspection, NASCAR gave him a metaphorical finger. Riggs was disqualified from the race for a bed cover violation.

Kyle Larson warns NASCAR fans about ‘boring’ race

On Saturday, Kyle Larson gave a warning to NASCAR fans. He may not have realized it at the time, but he did. Larson said if it was a “boring” race, fans would complain and say the car or new tires were to blame.

“‘NASCAR, you’re idiots, Goodyear, you suck,'” Larson said fans would cry out. “We’ll see how the race goes.” Well…about that…

AJ Allmendinger goes nuclear on the radio about ECR

One driver who had a bad, and short, day at Kansas Speedway was AJ Allmendinger. His engine gave out early in the race, and it did not make AJ very happy.

On the radio, Allmendinger cussed and directed his anger directly at ECR Engines. He isn’t the only driver with ECR power to have complaints recently, but he was the most overt and NSFW, that’s for sure.

Alex Bowman can’t still can’t stand Denny Hamlin

It’s been a few years, I’m sure Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin are friends, right? No? Well, good, because Bowman was fuming mad at Hamlin on Sunday.

Hamlin passed Bowman and stuck his hand out to wave to the 48 car. That didn’t sit well with Bowman who told his team to warn Hamlin about keeping his hands in the car.

Kyle Busch can’t stand it anymore, rips NASCAR

Another driver who was furious on Sunday, go figure, with an ECR Engine, too, was Kyle Busch. Rowdy had a good car, at least for part of the race.

Busch was mad on his radio after stalling out at P12. Not to mention, he had another on-track slide that ruined his finishing position, too. P21 on the day at Kansas, and the bleeding continues for this No. 8 team.

Kyle Larson leads 221 laps, wins at Kansas

No one has led more laps at Kansas in a single race than Kyle Larson. 221 of 267 laps were led by Larson in a good, old-fashioned butt-whooping. Everyone who was capable of running with him made mistakes.

Larson fulfilled his own prophecy. The Hendrick Motorsports driver said fans would complain if there was a “boring” race and then he went out and made it happen. Fans have complained. Big time win.

What is Matt Rhule doing in NASCAR Victory Lane?

Before we get out of here, what the heck was Matt Rhule doing in Victory Lane? The Nebraska Cornhuskers’ head football coach was celebrating with Larson and his crew at Kansas.

Kansas is the closest track to Lincoln, so maybe Rhule and some players spent the afternoon watching the race. Not a bad way to spend an offseason Sunday, if you ask me.