Kyle Larson and Ryan Timms exchanged pointed words after a controversial move ended their battle for the lead at Monday’s Front Row Challenge at Southern Iowa Speedway. The Cup Series driver made the pass with five laps remaining and went on to win his third consecutive $21,000 Challenge and sixth overall.
Timms had led much of the 30-lap feature after starting on the front row, building space over a field that included Corey Day, Parker Price-Miller, and Danny Sams III through the race’s midpoint. Larson worked steadily from his 11th starting spot, which was determined by event points, and moved into second by the closing laps.
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With four to go, Larson shot across the bottom of Turns 3 and 4 and made contact with Timms, knocking the 19-year-old’s nose wing askew. It dropped him to third as Larson led the rest of the way to beat Corey Day by 1.699 seconds. Timms did not hide his frustration afterward:
“Went into three there. I knew I was screwing up, and figured he (Kyle Larson) might be gaining on me. I just kept doing what I did every lap… I seen him coming up. Initially I was going to try and drive around it. I realized he wasn’t giving me any room. I lifted, slammed on the brakes, and tried to turn it and he still just ran right over me. So, he is a piece of s**t. But it is what it is. I will remember it, and that’s that.”
Kyle Larson gave his own account of how the pass developed:
“He (Ryan Timms) was getting nervous in (Turns) 1 and 2 and started making mistakes, and allowed me to build runs. It was just strung out. And you’ve got to get going. I’m sure that wasn’t the cleanest move. I am sure if anybody has followed his career, we’ve seen him make a lot of mistakes as well. His car owner’s upset at me, which is fine, but at least get my race right. I’m not Chinese, I’m Japanese.”
The back-and-forth continued into victory lane, where Timms told Larson:
“I’ll remember that”
Kyle Larson pointed to Ryan Timms’ own dirt track reputation:
“I remember your Midget resume.”
Timms threw his hands up and walked past. Elsewhere in the Iowa Front Row Challenge, Austin McCarl made a late charge to finish fourth, with James McFadden fifth, Steven Snyder Jr. sixth, and Spencer Bayston, Cam Martin, Kasey Kahne, and Christopher Thram rounding out the top 10.
Kyle Larson wins back-to-back dirt races during Knoxville week as NASCAR drought continues
The Southern Iowa Speedway victory capped a dominant stretch of dirt racing for Kyle Larson. The stretch began a day earlier in the Knoxville Nationals, where he was not originally planning to compete. The Hendrick Motorsports driver entered Sunday night’s Capitani Classic at Knoxville Raceway still frustrated after a difficult Knoxville weekend and decided at the last minute to jump into the field.
The decision paid off as Larson worked forward from fourth, tracked down polesitter David Gravel in traffic, and made the winning pass with six laps remaining. He also held off a late charge from Rico Abreu through a three-lap shootout restart for his second $13,000 Classic win and his first since 2020.
“I wasn’t planning to run this, but after 360 Nationals I was kind of grumpy… I was happy to get back behind the wheel of a 410 sprint car. I’m really glad to get in victory lane,” Kyle Larson said via Flo Racing.
The two dirt wins arrive against the backdrop of a NASCAR Cup Series season that has offered Kyle Larson considerably less to celebrate. He remains winless in the Cup since Kansas Speedway in May 2025 and has gone without a top-10 finish in his last five Cup starts.
At Iowa Speedway on Sunday, Larson finished 33rd, 15 laps down after being collected in a multi-car incident. With three races remaining before the Chase field is finalized, the contrast between his dirt-track dominance and his Cup Series struggles has never been sharper.
Edited by Anurup Chakraborty