Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson will be racing close to home this weekend when the Cup Series travels to Arizona. One of the best drivers of the current generation, Larson moved to State No. 48 from North Carolina in 2023 and lives in his $5.6 million mansion. Months after the move, he now prefers the desert over Carolina, or even his home state, California.
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Ahead of the race at the Phoenix Short Track, Larson reasoned why he would choose to stay at the picturesque town of Scottsdale if the NASCAR schedule allowed him. Above the obvious advantages of weather and scenery, it was the familial connections that were facilitated by being there for him.
Married to Katelyn Sweet, he has three children, Owen, Audrey, and Cooper. He said to the Phoenix daily, “The kids are always outside playing. In North Carolina, the way our house is laid out, they don’t really go outside a whole lot. But the way it’s laid out in Arizona, the kitchen looks out to the backyard and you can kind of just sit around while they play.”
Larson also believes that living in Scottsdale is much easier compared to anywhere else considering that things are always very close by. Noting that he’d have to drive for 35 minutes to get to his gym in North Carolina, he said that the one in Scottsdale was just 10 minutes away. A native of California, Larson also finds his relatives and extended family within reach now.
Kyle Larson does not miss living in California after the move to Arizona
When asked if he missed living in California ahead of a USAC Racing event last November, Larson stated that he did not. Upon being pressed further, he acknowledged that he missed the Mexican food and nothing much else beyond that.
His words were, “That’s probably about it. Yeah, I miss my friends and stuff, but I definitely don’t miss living out here at all. I think just between traffic and all that, and for a majority of the places that I race, California is so far.” With that, he continued heaping praise on Arizona and his quality of life in the new home.
Despite his affinity for the Grand Canyon State, Larson cannot afford to stay there throughout the year. NASCAR’s races on the West Coast are few and largely scattered. He concluded that he did not know what the next 30 or so years held for him and his family, but that Arizona was a place he’d want to be when he retired.
