Kyle Larson claims Talladega Nights made NASCAR “a joke” - but he’s missed the point

Kyle Larson claims 2006 comedy film Talladega Nights “did not do anything good” for NASCAR and has warped people’s perception of the stock car series.

The Will Ferrell-helmed Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a comedy film that follows title character Ricky Bobby’s fall and rise again as a NASCAR driver, as well as his personal life exploits.

The film heavily satires NASCAR, playing up to many of the stereotypes held about the series.

Talladega Nights was a commercial and critical hit, while its impact on NASCAR 20 years on continues having helped engage a new audience and remain one of motorsport’s more fondly-recalled films.

Among the NASCAR paddock, too, Talladega Nights is often mentioned in a positive light.

But not everyone agrees, with one of NASCAR’s current top names in Kyle Larson taking aim at what he feels is the negative impact of the film.

Speaking on the Games With Names podcast, Larson said: “I mean, I like the movie. I think it did not do anything good for our sport.

“I think it turned our sport into like a joke unfortunately. But, I mean that’s got to be like the most, one of the most popular race movies.”

Why Larson’s criticism of Talladega Nights misses the point - and lacks self-awareness

Motorsport has been the subject of a lot of Hollywood productions over the years, though none of them have been as infinitely quotable - nor as enjoyable - as 2006’s Talladega Nights.

Ricky Bobby’s catchphrase that he shares with friend and team-mate in the film Cal Naughton Jr,“shake and bake”, is unironically used by athletes across a lot of different sports to this day. All of Talladega Night’s jokes are silly and over the top, but NASCAR is inherently that.

This is a championship that largely features tracks that go in a circle; where drivers will happily jump out of their car and throw fists; that has a pre-race prayer at every event; that’s most famous phrase is “boogity boogity boogity”; and that features some ridiculous race names, like the 2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400, the 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400 and the TreatMyClot.com 300.

None of this detracts from what a great championship NASCAR is, with a genuinely passionate fan base and storied history. The drivers themselves, to boot, are real athletes. But NASCAR is often a bit silly, and that is absolutely fantastic.

“The first part of the movie is just a lot of jokes about NASCAR, like ‘what do I do with my hands’ and all of that stuff,” Dale Earnhardt Jr, one of two official drivers active at the time to feature in the film, said in a February edition of his podcast.

“And it’s all just quick, witty jokes about our sport - which was really fun, the self-deprecation of NASCAR.

“Even though it was a joke, we can definitely handle being the butt of the joke. I didn’t mind it, I thought it was good for NASCAR, I thought it put us in front of a new audience. Yes, it poked fun at us, but I don’t know that it was detrimental to NASCAR. If anything it improved our popularity out of our own bubble.”

The beauty of Talladega Nights is that, while it’s central theme is NASCAR, it takes a loving jibe at motorsport in general. The antagonist of the film, Jean Girard (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) is a caricature of European Formula 1 drivers: stuffy, humourless and believing to be the superior racer.

The recent F1 moving starring Brad Pitt smashed its way through the box office. But reviews of the film were mixed. When motorsport does serious films, it often unwittingly makes itself a parody. Pitt’s 60-year-old F1 driver is arguably more ridiculous than Ricky Bobby. NASCAR’s own F1 - Days of Thunder, starring Tom Cruise - was panned by drivers for its Hollywood-esque portrayal of the series.

So much so, that it led to scepticism from drivers about being involved in Talladega Nights.

Larson’s criticism of Talladega Nights is also a bit on the nose. After all, this is a driver who was handed a ban by NASCAR for using an extreme racial slur during a live stream of a sim race in 2020. He was reinstated six months later and is now one of the series’ more popular current names.

If Talladega Nights was to get a sequel today, a young driver previously banned for making outrageous comments while playing the Playstation to challenge an aging Ricky Bobby sounds like a pretty probable storyline!

As Dale Jr. points out, Talladega Nights took NASCAR out of its own bubble at a point in time when its popularity was massive. Part of the reason for that is it created its spoof so lovingly. Much of the track and racing scene feel authentic because NASCAR allowed its property to be used in such a way. Yes, it’s ridiculous - but that’s the whole point.

The reason other hit spoof films, like This Is Spinal Tap and Slapshot, work is because they do cut close to home where you can’t do anything but laugh at the fact that the absurd is not far off reality whatsoever.

Sport is a serious matter. The dedication involved and the sacrifice so many have made to achieve their dreams is inspiring. And sport is something that brings out the most passionate of emotions in us. But, distill it down to its basic level and you can’t get away from the fact that a lot of sport is also just a little bit silly: for example, who thought racing exploding machines on wheels at ridiculous speeds with a great deal of danger involved was ever actually a good idea?

Talladega Nights has remained something NASCAR has continued to embrace. In 2009, Carl Edwards got into a big wreck at the end of the Aaron’s 400 and elected to run across the finish line, aping a scene at the end of the film - later telling US talk show giant Larry King that “I’m kind of a Will Ferrell fan”.

Special liveries related to Talladega Nights have been used by teams and drivers ever since. And no doubt in 2026, on the 20th anniversary of the film, will NASCAR celebrate.

Larson is entitled to his opinion. But he would do well to remember that NASCAR’s popularity has really fallen away in 2025 compared to 20 years ago. Talladega Nights was a bit of a gift for NASCAR at the time and a follow-up would only be a boon for it now…