Kyle Larson believes NASCAR has made big advances at its most fundamental level. Recently, he explained how the shortened NASCAR weekend schedule has given drivers more time to pursue other interests and engage with fans.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver has been a member of NASCAR since 2012, and after over a decade, he is largely recognized as one of the sport’s best drivers. While he is well-versed in NASCAR races, tracks, and vehicles, he has expanded his knowledge beyond the Cup and Xfinity series. Larson actively competes in Sprint Cars, Late Models, Midget Cars, and virtually any other competitive vehicle on wheels, promoting grassroots racing while continuing his Cup Series career.
In an interview with Racing America, Kyle Larson said he appreciates how NASCAR’s condensed schedule, with only about 20 minutes of practice time, has been beneficial:
“I think grassroots has grown a lot, you know, here the last few years. And I would say live streaming has been a big part of that, but… Yeah, I mean, I think even probably a factor in that would be the cup schedule being much simpler on a race weekend.”
“It allows your drivers to have more time to go do stuff, want to go do stuff outside of NASCAR because our weekends are so, you know, with only 20 minute practice,” he added.
A month ago, Kyle Larson opened up about the importance of grassroots racing.
Kyle Larson explains the value of grassroots racing
Kyle Larson owns his own sprint car series, High Limit Racing, and regularly participates in various series, including dirt and sprint car racing outside of NASCAR. His most recent endeavor was the double duty of the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
Last year, he even expanded the schedule of his High Limit sprint car series to 60 races in just its second year. Additionally, this year, sprint car racers are set to receive much larger payouts, with more than $5.8 million prize money set aside because he intends to help the drivers financially.Discussing the significance of grassroots racing, Kyle Larson said (via NASCAR):
“The grassroots racing is really important to me just because that’s where everybody gets their start to get to this level. I mean the race fans are super passionate at that level as well. And the drivers and teams, like they are just grinding to do something that they love. I think it’s probably mostly a hobby for most of them.”
Kyle Larson intends to return from time to time to give back to the sprint car racing fans and help grow the sport by making appearances and generating excitement about it.
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