Larson feels he is "the last true racer" in the NASCAR Cup Series
Kyle Larson means no disrespect when he considers himself “the last true racer” in the NASCAR Cup garage.
Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
No matter the car, no matter the track, no matter the surface, Larson will climb in and race.
And that makes him a dying breed in the stock car ranks. No brag--just a fact.
“There are other drivers at the Cup level that go on their off-weekends and run other types of racing and stuff,” Larson said. “They don’t race nearly as much as I do outside of NASCAR. And I would race a lot more, if I was allowed to. That’s why I feel like I’m the last true racer.”
Racing as much as possible
In 2012, Larson ran 123 races while competing — and winning — his first NASCAR title in the K&N Pro Series. The same season, he finished fifth in the USAC Midget Series. He raced for 22 different owners in a combination of midgets, winged and non-winged sprint cars, trucks and stock cars. He won 30 races, competing in multiple different divisions at 20 different tracks — a mixture of dirt and pavement.
Larson’s team owner, Chip Ganassi, limits his driver’s extracurricular racing to 25-dirt races a year.
“I would love to race any type of vehicle, whether it’s in a circle or a straight line or a road course, I don’t care,” Larson said. “I just feel like I think like Andretti and Foyt and Tony Stewart, like I feel like I’m in the same category as them.
“They would race anything every day of the week. Like I said, there’s a couple that will race here and there, but I would race every day of the week if I could. So, that’s why I feel like I’m the last true racer left.”
Larson’s moxie — and talent — make him uniquely qualified to attract the next generation of race fans. Since his fourth race of the season, Larson has led the Monster Energy Cup point standings. Despite the retirements of former open wheel turned NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart — and this week’s announcement of Dale Earnhardt Jr. stepping down — Larson believes there is plenty of talent to take over.
“Although it’s sad that we have all our veterans and heroes retiring,” Larson said. “I think NASCAR is in a great position with all the young talent that they have in the Cup series currently, and really in every feeder series below them, there’s a lot of young guys with great equipment and good backing. So, I think the competition will be good.”
Filling the void once Dale Jr. retires
When it comes to potential candidates to capture the on-track attention of Junior Nation once Earnhardt Jr. retires from full-time competition, Larson wouldn’t be a bad backup plan.
“There’s a lot of personalities, too, with people getting themselves out there on social media and stuff like that; showing their personalities,” Larson said. “So, I feel like we’re in a good spot to have some new stars step-up. I know a lot of people have been pointing at myself and Chase (Elliott) and (Ryan) Blaney, just to name three.
“That’s pretty cool to be in that category and hopefully we all have a lot of Junior’s fans kind of dispersed to cheer for us and don’t just leave the sport totally. So, it’s going to be interesting to see, with him retiring, how it changes the sport, popularity-wise. It could be good. It could be bad. Who knows? I think all of us young guys are ready to kind of fill in his shoes a little bit.”
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