She’s a smart girl.
Last night, the NASCAR Award’s banquet took place in Miami, which honored the now-champion Kyle Larson, and he gave a great speech about his career, this season as a driver, and of course, he included his family in his wife Katelyn and three children Owen, Audrey, and Cooper.
Kyle is now a three-time NASCAR Cup Series championship, but his 8-year-old daughter Audrey is his toughest critic, as he brought up when she called him out earlier in the season, after he criticized her racing performance at Millbridge Speedway, telling her she “sucks,” where she responded that he “sucks in NASCAR.”
Only your daughter could humble you that quickly… and Kyle took it to heart.
He told the audience that Audrey was his “toughest critic,” and now that he’s a champion once again, he’s “still waiting” on her apology:
“Audrey, I want you to pay attention right here. Before I get going, I have to acknowledge my toughest critic: my daughter, Audrey. A while back, you told me I sucked at NASCAR. And I want you to know that I took that personally, so I went out and won the championship. I’m still waiting on your apology, by the way.”
Audrey actively competes in youth motorsports and sprint car and dirt track racing, and she’s a tough young competitor, so I think she definitely knows a thing or two, and is one of the only people who could say that to her dad.
It was a really sweet moment:
Kyle also talked about his wife Katelyn, and even though fans know her as “shotgun sweetie” (Katelyn is often seen shotgunning beers in celebration of her husband’s wins, and she’s really dang good at it), and
“Most people know you as my wife or shotgun sweetie. But when it comes to the kids’ racing, you’re also their team principal, motor home driver, videographer and driver coach. And trust me, the driver coaching does not stop with the kids. I get plenty of feedback after my races too, whether I ask for it or not. I love you.”
As Larson addressed all three of his children, Audrey tried to take a phone away from her little brother, Cooper, and the 3-year-old swatted at her while the cameras were on them, and of course, the audience got a good laugh at it, and Audrey playfully swatted back. Even Larson couldn’t help but laugh to, and it added such a lighthearted moment to his speech as his kids were absolutely themselves, even at such a formal event.
On a more serious note, Kyle told them that he hopes they took a lot away from watching how tough this season was at times, and how if you’re willing to “dedicate yourself to your craft,” the hard work will eventually pay off:
“This year, you got to see how hard racing is. There were plenty of weekends where nothing your dad did seemed to work, and I know Audrey had a few things to say about that.
I hope you also saw how rewarding it can be when you put in the time and dedicate yourself to your craft. Whatever you decide to chase, chase it like that.”
He closed it out by telling the kids to “always listen to your driver coach,” their mom Katelyn, because “she’s always right”:
“And always listen to your driver coach, trust me. She’s always right.”
He’s a smart man, too, and it really was a great speech:
Clearly, Kyle has a great support system around him, and I won’t be surprised at all if we see Audrey, or any of the other Larson kids, up on that stage one day making their own championship speech.
You can watch his full speech here:
