In 2020, when Kyle Larson uttered a racial slur during an iRacing event, he faced the proposition of his racing career coming to a premature end. It would have been an ignominious exit. Larson was suspended by NASCAR for it. His team, Chip Ganassi Racing, fired him as well.
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Six months later, the then 27-year-old was reinstated into the sport. He signed a deal that made him a driver for Hendrick Motorsports. And that move materialized thanks to the intervention of Jeff Gordon.
Hendrick Motorsports was clearly taking a gamble on Larson, given the circumstances back then, even though it was a calculated one. Neither Rick Hendrick nor Gordon wanted to miss out on the opportunity to bring a championship-quality driver into their roster. But Larson had a demand.
Sprint cars. Yes, Larson wanted to continue racing sprint cars. Given the situation, he was in no position to make hard demands, but he expressed his desire with the mindset to accept whatever the decision from Hendrick may be.
Hendrick Motorsports had a strict policy that its drivers should not participate in events outside NASCAR. This presented a roadblock, and Gordon played a part in sorting it out.
On the Harvick Happy Hour podcast, Gordon revealed that the first talk that he had with Larson had been at the bus lot in Daytona in February 2020. It was then that Larson made it clear that he had to compete in sprint cars.
“I remember even after that conversation coming back to Rick and saying, ‘You know, if Larson’s an option, I think racing sprint cars is going to be pretty big to him.’ Rick was open to it. He supports a group that helps them thrive at their job, and if there’s an idea that somebody has… Yeah, he doesn’t love seeing them flip. He’s investing in their future,” Gordon recalled.
Even though racing outside was barred, if it was something that made the driver happy and improved his performance on Sunday, Hendrick would be the first to jump on board, Gordon explained. Well, racing sprint cars made Larson happy. And how productive it was is evident in the fact that he won the 2021 Cup Series championship.
That said, even while requesting, Larson’s expectation was that he would get rejected. The team had never allowed such a concession to a driver before.
“Jeff jumped right in. He was like, ‘No, you know, we’re kind of changing how we’ve been in the past, and we’re open to it.’ And they’ve never said no to a race that I’ve wanted to run since then, which is pretty incredible,” Larson said.
Hendrick’s decision proved to be the right one. Larson vindicated the team’s confidence in him by winning the 2025 Cup Series championship as well. He is now the star driver of the team and fully fired up to defend his title in 2026, all the while racing sprint cars on the side.
