Dirt regular Kyle Larson isn’t in favor of the NASCAR Cup Series on dirt tracks
Shane Walters
Larson talks possible tracks for a second dirt race in the Truck Series – Details why he’s against seeing the NASCAR Cup Series on dirt; Explains how they could change his opinion
Kyle Larson is a hardcore dirt driver. When he’s not in a NASCAR Cup Series machine, he’s behind the wheel of a dirt car.
He’ll run the max number of dirt races allowed by his team owner Chip Ganassi. So, what if the NASCAR Cup Series ran on the dirt? Surely Larson is in favor of that, right? Nope.
Eldora Speedway owner Tony Stewart is making a push to bring the NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series to the dirt. Larson doesn’t want to see that, unless they bring a better tire…
Would you be in favor of a NASCAR Cup Series event on dirt?
“I don’t know, Tony’s probably going to get mad but I’d like to see it just stay as it is,” Kyle Larson commented from the New Hampshire Motor Speedway media center.
“If anything, Xfinity maybe. But, I wouldn’t like to see Cup on dirt. To me, Cup belongs on pavement and real road course tracks.”
Real road course tracks… In other words, he’s not in favor of the Roval either.
“If we went to Eldora… Yeah, I’d be excited because I would be really fast and I feel like I would have definitely the best shot to win.”
“But, I think we’re fine not going there.”
Is Eldora the only option?
“No, definitely not. There’s a lot of other good dirt tracks. I think Eldora would for sure be number one on the list because they have experience running trucks there.”
“Knoxville has got the facility to do it. Off the top of my head, Knoxville would probably be the only other half mile.”
Kyle Larson isn’t the only driver to bring up Knoxville, Iowa as another destination for a NASCAR dirt race. It’s one of the best dirt complexes in the country. Naturally, they come up in this discussion.
But there’s some issues with NASCAR race cars Knoxville…
Before NASCAR went to Eldora for the first NASCAR dirt race in the modern era, series officials actually visited Knoxville Raceway. NASCAR staff came down from Iowa Speedway to check the place out. Iowa Speedway is located nearby and it’s a track owned directly by NASCAR. Staff at that track work directly for the sanction.
However, in the course of that inspection, per say, they were slightly concerned about the walls. The walls at Knoxville are just guardrails. NASCAR was concerned about a heavy truck or stock car going right through that wall. The link below is an interview I did with the track promoter on the topic of a NASCAR event at the facility.
“You have your dirt miles that you could go to. But, I don’t think a dirt mile would put on a good race. It would just end up being a pavement race.”
Would you want to see other dirt tracks on the truck schedule?
“Ive ran dirt miles. I’ve ran Knoxville. I’ve ran Eldora. I’ve ran Silver Crown stuff on the dirt miles and when it gets to race time, they’re not very fun. They end up just being single file and really hard to pass around the very bottom, inside wall.”
“So, I don’t think you could prep those tracks to race good. They’re not clay surfaces, they’re just dirt. They’re horse tracks.”
“Knoxville would probably be the only other place. But, one dirt race is fine.”
Why are you so against a NASCAR Cup Series race on the dirt?
“Maybe if Goodyear could make a way better tire. And us actually be able to use the horsepower or even more horsepower in our cup cars on the dirt track… I think it would be a lot more fun.”
Larson pauses…
“I don’t know really how to answer the question without making people mad,” the #42 driver concludes with a laugh from the media members.
If the Cup cars can’t go to dirt tracks what’s the answer for adding new exciting elements?