Kyle Larson’s kids may still be in grade school, but competition already runs in their veins. Both Owen and Audrey Larson have been squaring off in the Junior Sprint division, cutting their teeth on the way to becoming successful racers just like their father. However, seven-year-old Audrey seems to have more than racing on her radar. She’s branching out and extending one hand for checkered flags and the other for hockey sticks.
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In a recent chat with Bob Pockrass, the 2025 NASCAR Cup champion revealed that Audrey has laced up for ice hockey. She has only just started playing, is still learning the ropes, but her father already sees the spark. Practices happen on Mondays, scrimmages on Wednesdays, and, as Larson put it, she’s taking to the ice with gusto.
“But there’s actually a lot of girls in it, too. It’s really cool. She’s really competitive and likes to do everything, try everything, so it’s pretty neat. And she enjoys going out there and roughing some kids up and all that,” Larson narrated. When asked how hockey entered the picture and whether the Larsons had any ice-rink pedigree, he added,
“No hockey in my background. So she watched ‘The Mighty Ducks’ a couple years ago. And so then we got her roller blades and all that. She’s really good at skating, I feel like, for her age and size.”
The spark apparently lit from that movie moment. Besides that, a family friend, Greg Fornelli, a racing sheet-metal supplier, mentioned his son played, and the idea snowballed from there. Before long, Larson and his wife had their daughter fully ready, padded up, and ready to go. The two-time Cup Series champ admitted it’s a lot to keep up with.
Larson, whose life has revolved around racing, finds himself in unfamiliar territory. When he watches practices, he can barely catch the coaches’ calls over the scrape of blades. “I have no clue what to even talk to her about when she gets in the car,” he confessed. Still, the proud father finds pure joy in watching his daughter fearlessly tackle something new.
He is no expert on slap shots or power plays, but Larson has long enjoyed hockey from the stands. Now, he’s wearing a new title, “hockey dad.” Watching Audrey dive into a world far removed from race fuel and tire smoke might be a big token to him that competition comes in many forms, whether on dirt, asphalt, or ice, but a Larson is still a Larson, competitive as ever.
