Kyle Larson’s Boycott Not the Reason Behind Chili Bowl Purse Increase

In 2022, Kyle Larson made some major headlines in the dirt world when he decided not to take part in the Chili Bowl. He claimed he did so because the purse money wasn’t what he felt was fair as he said, “I’m just at the point where I want to see the purse grow a lot. So, for the time being, and unless that happens, I won’t be running it this year and I know there are a lot of racers that feel the same way.”

Fast forward to the present, Larson is still not going to be a part of the Chili Bowl in 2024, even though this year, the prize money has been increased. However, if event promoter Emmett Hahn is to be believed, Larson isn’t the reason behind the purse increase.

“Kyle Larson has nothing to do with it,” Hahn said as per Matt Weaver.

I asked Emmett Hahn about the purse increase

Before I could get it fully out, Emmett characteristically and bombastically.

"Kyle Larson had nothing to do with it!"

He says any racer could choose to prelim on Friday and make this a two day show too.https://t.co/wXntTXBSSc

— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) January 8, 2024

Like the 2020 Chili Bowl champion, other drivers like Christopher Bell have also been demanding a raise on top of the $10,000 purse money. Luckily, the requests have been heard as the amount has been doubled this year.

A busy season for Kyle Larson

Arguably, 2024 is the most eventful year for the 2021 Cup Series champion. The full-time Cup season, the Indy 500-Coca-Cola 600 double, the High Limit Sprint Car Championship, among his other dates on the schedule. Indeed, there is a lot on his to-do list.

However, there is not a lot of late-model racing in Kyle Larson’s schedule this year. And that’s because of the commitments that he has already made to his High Limit Sprint Car racing series.

“My schedule is crazy this coming year. Yeah, unfortunately, there’s less Late Model races this year, but I’ll still hit 15 of them, which is better than nothing I guess,” he acknowledged.

Six of those 15 races are being held at the Wild West Shootout, a minor late-model racing series where the HMS star races Kevin Rumley’s #6 machine. However, following a DNF last June at Tri-City Speedway, Larson had gone on a 6-month-long hiatus.

So naturally, Chili Bowl or not, for Kyle Larson fans, 2024 is surely going to be one exciting year.