Newly crowned NASCAR back-to-back champion Kyle Larson revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday that Chris Buescher’s sarcastic thumbs-up is a gesture he plans to steal. Watch the full video of Larson’s appearance, below.
The conversation, Larson’s second Fallon visit in as many years as champion, ranged from his daughter’s blunt critique to a trophy he nearly dropped in victory lane.
Larson clinched his third Cup Series title on Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, finishing fourth in Stage 1 for seven points after Chase Briscoe’s engine failure triggered a Lap 78 caution. Christopher Bell placed third and Denny Hamlin sixth, which eliminated both from contention.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver entered the Chase as the seventh seed after a winless regular season, then won Chase races at St. Louis, Kansas and Talladega. He became the 11th driver with three Cup titles and the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2010. The championship was Hendrick’s 16th Cup title in 32 years.
Nielsen figures for Wednesday’s Tonight Show were not available as of Thursday morning. The program averaged about 1.38 million viewers in October. The Homestead finale drew 2.471 million viewers on NBC, roughly 1.1 million more, though that total was down from 2.774 million for last year’s Phoenix finale.
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson Share Track History
“We can’t talk to our competitors when we’re out there, but you can definitely, you know, show the middle finger,” Larson said when Fallon asked about trash talk. “The best that I’ve gotten is I was holding somebody up, Chris Buescher, and he drove by me and gave me the most sarcastic thumbs-up.”
“Yeah, I was like, ‘That’s a good one. I’m gonna try and use that,’” Larson said. Fallon called the gesture “actually genius.”
Larson did not say when or where the exchange happened. The two drivers do have a recent record of contact. Buescher lost to Larson by 0.001 seconds at Kansas in May 2024, the closest finish in NASCAR history.
Stage 1 of the Aug. 29 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway ended with Buescher, the stage leader, spinning into the infield grass along with Larson and Ryan Preece. Shane van Gisbergen’s push sent Larson into Buescher. Buescher led six laps before finishing 40th, last in the field.
“Yeah, I mean, it killed our night,” Buescher told reporters on pit road, as quoted by On3. Larson apologized to Buescher after the race, according to On3.
Kyle Larson Details Daughter’s Critique
“I know. I hope that means I’m not done,” Larson said when Fallon pointed out that he now has a championship for each of his children. “Because I’m definitely done having kids.”
“Well, we were kind of struggling earlier in the year, and she races herself, so I was trying to give her some tips and pointers, and she’s like, ‘Dad, don’t talk to me. You suck at NASCAR,’” Larson said. “It definitely motivated me.” He added that his daughter “finally apologized.”
“It’s about 75 pounds,” Larson said of the trophy, which slipped in victory lane. “I’ve never lifted it like that, so, yes, in my head, I’m like, ‘Don’t drop it. Don’t drop it. Don’t drop it.’ And I almost dropped it. It just slipped.”
Fallon asked how fast the cars travel.
“Every track is different, so we race anywhere from, like, a half-mile track to 2.5-mile tracks,” Larson said. “So our fastest ones, we’re probably pushing a little over 200 miles per hour in the draft. Inches away from each other. It’s fun. It’s exciting.”
Larson sided with Days of Thunder over Talladega Nights as his favorite NASCAR movie.
“They’re actually gonna make a Days of Thunder 2, I think, coming out in a couple years. We’re all excited about that.”
Larson agreed to return to Fallon’s show next year, saying, “Let’s do it. Let’s make it a tradition.”
VIDEO: NASCAR Champ Kyle Larson Revisits Chris Buescher Incident on Jimmy Fallon