NASCAR veterans Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace voice their opinions on “more horsepower” after Kyle Larson’s Kansas domination

Kyle Larson’s dominant win at Kansas Speedway has started a fresh debate about horsepower in the NASCAR Cup Series. After Larson led 221 of 267 laps to win the AdventHealth 400 on Sunday, May 11, veterans Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace shared their thoughts on whether it’s time to bring back more powerful cars.

Kyle Larson started on pole and barely looked back, beating Christopher Bell by 0.712 seconds. The victory marked Larson’s third of the season and his third career win at Kansas. It also marked Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th win at the track.

With this victory, Larson passed 10,000 career laps led, joining Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch as the only active drivers to reach that number. But even before Sunday’s race, Larson said the Cup Series product has “gotten a little bit stale” and suggested that more horsepower could improve the racing.

His comments got the attention of Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader and they discussed about the same in a recent episode of their Herm & Schrader podcast. Wallace reshared a clip from the podcast on X, saying:

"Kyle Larson goes there and I am like, 'Oh no, Schrader is not going to like this.' Kyle Larson says, 'Yeah, we need to do something. We need to maybe up the horsepower. The NASCAR Cup Racing is getting stale.' And I went, 'No!'"

Ken Schrader reacted to this by pointing out how NASCAR has deliberately slowed down the cars in the past couple of decades, so the cars could actually do with some more power.

"In Atlanta in 1997, 28 years ago, right? Geoff Bodine ran a 27.08 (seconds lap) to get the pole. This year, the pole was a 30.90 (seconds). That's close to four seconds slower," Schrader noted.

"Did Atlanta become a drafting track because they put four more degrees bank in it or whatever?” he added. “No, they slowed the cars down so damn much that you don't have to let off. So I think the cars do need more power."

Kyle Larson's victory at Kansas also placed him at the top of the Cup Series drivers' standings with a lead of 35 points over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron.

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Kyle Larson shares his mindset before his second attempt at the double on May 25

Kyle Larson is preparing for a busy weekend as he gets ready to compete in both the qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR All-Star Race. The 32-year-old driver says he’s fully focused on qualifying for the Indy 500.

Larson will spend the weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, trying to earn a strong starting spot for the Indy 500. However, he plans to skip the final round of Indy 500 qualifying, the Firestone Fast Six, on Sunday. That way, he can fly to North Wilkesboro Speedway in time for the All-Star Race.

While Larson takes part in the Indy qualifying session, Justin Allgaier from JR Motorsports will likely step in to drive the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at North Wilkesboro. Allgaier would work under crew chief Cliff Daniels, who is staying in close contact with both drivers.

Larson explained his thinking (via X) about juggling both races:

“Cliff (Daniels) and I talked, maybe if there's time on Saturday during qualifying, we could get together and talk about how their practice went and stuff like that... get prepared for the race on Sunday.”

“I think it's nice that we are so kind of well organized over there that I can completely shut myself off from them for a handful of days to really try and learn this and get prepared for the 500…” he added.

Larson is not worried about making it into the All-Star race as he is pre-qualified for the race courtesy of being an active former Cup Series champion and a race winner in 2024 and 2025.