Larson has signed with Hendrick Motorsports for 2021. What does that mean for his dirt track racing schedule?
Kyle Larson was suspended from NASCAR back in April. Soon after, he returned to the dirt track where he immediately began pure domination.
Kyle Larson has run 82 dirt races in 2020. In 42 of them, he’s parked it in victory lane.
Chip Ganassi was more strict on when Larson could and couldn’t run on the dirt while he drove the No. 42 NASCAR Cup Series ride. For example, he wasn’t able to run any dirt races on NASCAR weekends, including practice days. That left mid-week dirt races and off weekends as the only option.
Now, Larson has signed a deal with Hendrick Motorsports for 2021. He’ll be closing his dirt sprint car team at the end of 2020. However, that doesn’t mean Larson himself won’t be on the dirt.
The green light is there for him to continue running dirt races…
Related: Kyle Larson to drive No. 5 for Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 NASCAR season
What does the new NASCAR deal mean for Larson’s dirt racing career?
“I think everybody knows, that’s something that’s important to me,” Larson said via the Dale Jr Download.
“They’ve made it sound like they’re going to still let me continue to race dirt cars when I can. Who knows if the schedule is similar to this year, with single day events. That opens up a lot of opportunities for me to get back and race.”
“But, there’s priorities. Meetings, appearances and anything that has to do with Cup racing, that’s where my full focus is going to be. I’m never going to miss a [Cup] meeting or anything like that to go dirt race.”
“As long as I’m taking care of the obligations I got going on within Hendrick Motorsports then they’ll allow me to race dirt stuff. Hopefully, if I’m not crashing too much in that, they’ll let me still race.”
Related: Kyle Larson talks the Bristol Dirt race
Larson on his dirt schedule
In 2020, Larson ran everything. He went to victory lane with the World of Outlaws, All-Star Circuit of Champions, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and USAC.
“I’m the type of dirt racer that doesn’t want to follow a series. I’m a versatile driver and I don’t think you can showcase that, running one series,” Larson added.
“So, I’ve had a lot of fun this year, racing all those different series. Picking and choosing our schedule, taking a weekend off when I want to.”
“We’ve tried to hit all of the higher paying races. If there was an All-Star race that paid more than an Outlaw race, we were going to do that. Logistically too, it had to make sense. We’re not going to go back and forth across the country.”
“The money drove the schedule and that’s what a ‘True Outlaw’ does. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Related: Kyle Larson to shut down sprint car team
Links
Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Dale Earnhardt Jr | World of Outlaws | All-Star Circuit of Champions | Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series | USAC | NASCAR
