Could the proposed sequel of Days of Thunder (DOT2) be partly based on the true life story of NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Larson?
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That’s what podcast host and part-time Cup driver Corey LaJoie and co-host and Ryan Blaney crew member Ryan “Skip” Flores professed in the latest edition of the Stacking Pennies podcast.
Larson’s career is definitely Hollywood-worthy. He has good looks, is multi-cultural (he’s half-Asian), is a great, versatile driver not just in NASCAR, but also in IndyCar and sprint cars, and has a great storyline in real life.
There’s drama, followed by incredible redemption: he was suspended in 2020 for uttering the N-word during an online racing session and lost his ride with Chip Ganassi Racing. Larson then bounced back by being picked up by legendary owner Rick Hendrick for the following year, ending that first season with Hendrick Motorsports by winning the Cup Series championship.
Larson turns 33 later this month and LaJoie is already pushing for the No. 5 HMS driver to essentially become Cole Trickle 2.0 if indeed there is a Days of Thunder sequel. LaJoie and Flores had a back-and-forth repartee about their thoughts on DOT2.
“I don’t want to bring up old stuff, but you were like ‘What would your plot line be?’ And I was like, it had to be Kyle Larson,” Flores said. “Like Kyle Larson’s losing his ride (with Ganassi), obviously it was brutal for him. Like is there more of a down and up?
“(Larson then was) cancelled. He starts on a Twitch stream during Covid, gets cancelled. Fired. They show up to his house with a flatbed 10 hours later to pick up his Tahoe (his company car with Ganassi). He lost at the top level, dude.”
LaJoie interjected, “Yeah, he was building a house on Lake Norman, for sale (sign went up) in the front yard, got rid of that.”
But while Larson was excommunicated from NASCAR after just four races into the 2020 season, that didn’t stop him from racing like he’s never raced. The sprint car world, which he’s been a part of for at least the last 15 years, welcomed him with open arms and Larson was virtually unstoppable. NASCAR be damned.
“He literally gets in his bus, him and his family for the next four months, and wins every single race that there was,” LaJoie said. “There’s a sprint car race in Timbuktu, he shows up and wins that.”
Don’t think the NASCAR world forgot about Larson during his absence. Tony Stewart wanted him for Stewart-Haas Racing. If that had happened, it may have saved SHR from folding after 2024.
Flores said, “Everyone was saying, ‘He’ll never get another ride. He’s done. Who’s going to take him on? Tony Stewart?’ And then Rick Hendrick calls. He goes on to win 10 races and the championship.”
One of the greatest comebacks in NASCAR history?
That’s one of the greatest comeback stories in NASCAR history. Or, as LaJoie said: “There’s your Days of Thunder 2 plot line, ladies and gentlemen. There it is.”
Flores added, “You have the driver that’s like super, just a race car driver, and then you have the real stiff engineer. Yeah, it’s a great story. So I’m sure it’ll be something like that.”
But what about Tom Cruise, the original Cole Trickle? He has to have a part in DOT2, right? “Needs to be,” LaJoie said. “But how do you weave in Cole Trickle now? Does he own a bunch of used car dealerships and he’s the one that owns this mega-team?”
Flores continued, “Jeff Gordon won a couple championships and Rick just gave him the keys. Here. If you don’t use that plot line, you’re really missing it because it’s a hell of a story when you think about it.”
