The NASCAR echo chamber was at it again. “Kyle Larson is the best driver in the world!” they crowed, conveniently ignoring that their sport runs on ovals where pack racing, drafting, and “bump-and-run” politics often matter more than pure wheel-to-wheel genius. Then came the 2026 reality check. Reports highlighted Larson’s mounting struggles: zero wins in the Cup Series through 20 races, self-inflicted spins at Atlanta (34th place after starting third) and Chicagoland, and a violent flip while leading a World of Outlaws sprint car event at Attica.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Fans openly questioned his confidence, with one observer posting on X: “This isn’t just Kyle Larson at all, literally, since last year’s Indianapolis 500, he’s never been the same old Larson of the great driving. Right now, he’s either taking himself out or getting into people, just zero confidence from Larson.”
To prove there were actually people saying this with a straight face, look at the articles and quotes that popped up during his stronger periods. FloRacing ran a piece headlined around why Larson thinks he’s a better all-around driver than Max Verstappen, featuring dirt racing figures declaring him “the greatest driver ever to live” and claiming “I don’t think it’s silly saying that. We all know” and “there’s anyone on the planet better than Kyle Larson in a race car.”
The Athletic published a long debate piece titled “The world’s best all-around racer: F1’s Max Verstappen or NASCAR’s Kyle Larson?” while NASCAR circles openly championed him as the best driver on Earth. Even teammate Christopher Bell has been quoted calling Larson the “Best Driver in the World.”
Larson himself leaned in, telling FloRacing: “I know in my mind I am better than him as an all-around driver… I think I would beat him in everything else. You can quote that.”
The “Yung Money” swagger that once defined his dirt-to-asphalt dominance? It’s looking more like “Middle Aged Money” fatigue under a brutal schedule and mounting errors. Larson himself admitted after the Attica crash: “It’s just really tight, and it’s getting heavy up there… Bryce was doing a good job running hard. I screwed up again.”
This isn’t the untouchable force of old. This is a driver whose recent form reveals cracks that make any “best in the world” claim look like pure cope. Fans piled on with blunt takes like “Thought it was just NASCAR, but apparently he isn’t good at any form of racing,” while another joked, “He’s sure screwing up a lot lately. Probably driving angry because he’s been stuck driving those boring s— boxes on Sundays.”
Head-to-Head: Major Career Highlights
Category
Kyle Larson (NASCAR)
Max Verstappen (Formula 1)
Age
33
28
Championships
2 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Four F1 World Championships
Career Wins
32+ in NASCAR Cup Series
71 in Formula 1
2026 Season (as of mid-July)
0 wins in 20 Cup races, currently 6th in standings, multiple self-inflicted spins and crashes
0 wins due to uncompetitive car, but still dominating his teammate and consistently scoring strong results
Primary Discipline
Stock cars on ovals, dirt/sprint cars
High-downforce single-seater road course racing
Peak Dominance
Multiple strong seasons with high win totals
Record win streaks and near-total control of F1
Versatility
Races NASCAR + dirt/sprint cars
Masters the most technically complex cars in motorsport
Series Prestige
Top American stock car series
Global pinnacle of motorsport
Recent Form Trend
Declining confidence, frequent mistakes
Ice-cold consistency even with a bad car
Now compare that to Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 05, 2026 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool //
Verstappen doesn’t just win in Formula 1 — he dominates the most technically demanding, physically punishing, and globally competitive motorsport on the planet. Multiple world championships. Record-breaking win streaks. The ability to extract performance from cars that shouldn’t be winning, while out-driving teammates and rivals who are themselves elite. F1 demands split-second precision at 200+ mph, tire degradation management over full race distances, aerodynamic mastery, and overtaking in traffic where one mistake ends your race (or worse). There are no “stage cautions” to reset the field. No pack drafting to mask deficiencies. It’s raw driving talent under a microscope every single weekend.
Even in 2026, with a clearly uncompetitive Red Bull, Verstappen has continued to outperform his teammate on a regular basis — something that separates elite drivers from the rest. That kind of consistency under poor circumstances is exactly what the “greatest driver ever” hype around Larson conveniently ignores.
Larson is undeniably talented within NASCAR’s ecosystem. Two Cup titles, dozens of wins, and that rare dirt-racing versatility that lets him hop between series. But that’s the key word: within NASCAR. The series rewards different skills — short-track aggression, superspeedway survival, and playing the strategy game in a field where 20+ cars can run nose-to-tail. It’s entertaining chaos, not the clinical execution required at the absolute pinnacle.
Crew chief Cliff Daniels (L) Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrate in victory lane after finish first of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 drivers to win the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 02, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Trying to crown Larson “the best driver in the world” while Verstappen is actively rewriting F1 history is like calling the best high school quarterback the greatest athlete alive. Different games. Different ceilings. Verstappen has repeatedly proven he can take a car and make it do things others simply cannot — even when the car is holding him back. Larson’s current 2026 campaign — sitting sixth in points with no wins, self-spinning out of contention, and fans openly debating whether his confidence has evaporated — shows a driver who is very good at what he does, but nowhere near the level where cross-series comparisons even make sense.
The “Yung Money” persona thrived on dominance and swagger. The 2026 version is getting picked apart for exactly the mistakes that separate good drivers from generational ones: repeated errors under pressure, a brutal schedule exposing fatigue, and a lack of the ice-cold consistency Verstappen displays lap after lap, season after season. Some fans still held out hope with comments like “Nothing against Larson, but he’s had some bad juju lately” and “🤦🏻♂️ when will this struggle end, man?” — but the pattern of self-inflicted damage tells the real story.
Verstappen doesn’t need to race sprint cars on the side to prove versatility — he proves it every time he steps into an F1 car and bends the laws of physics in his favor against the best competition motorsport has to offer, even when the machinery is working against him. With that said he did race GT cars earlier this year and dominated before his car failed him.
NASCAR fans can keep their bubble. Enjoy the racing. Celebrate Larson’s highlights when they come. But let’s stop pretending the guy who’s currently winless in Cup and flipping sprint cars while leading — the same guy some outlets once called the greatest driver ever to live — is anywhere near the same stratosphere as a driver who has made “world champion” look routine in the hardest racing series on Earth.
Kyle Larson is a very good NASCAR driver having a rough patch.
Max Verstappen is operating on another planet.
One of them is not fit to shine the other’s boots. The results — and the series they compete in — make that obvious.