It’s pretty common these days to see NASCAR Cup Series drivers race in smaller competitions throughout the week. Kyle Larson does that a lot with sprint car racing. The Hendrick Motorsports star recently credited NASCAR with having a simple race weekend schedule that allows drivers to run in smaller competitions, which in turn helps motorsports at the grassroots level.
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“I think grassroots has grown a lot in the last few years and I would say live streaming has been a big part of that but I think probably, a factor in that would be the Cup schedule being much simpler on a race weekend,” he said.
“I think its helped grow the sport as a whole.” 💬
Kyle Larson shares his thoughts on the recent growth of grassroots racing and how the current Cup schedule allows drivers to run more races outside of #NASCAR. @TeamHendrick X @Hendrick5Team pic.twitter.com/z66UzqKMt0
— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) June 19, 2024
The 2021 Cup Series champion has taken part in several competitions while simultaneously competing in the Cup Series so far in his career. Judging by how he goes about them, it has not been much of a challenge for him (apart from the Indy 500 weekend). He also co-founded the High Limit Racing series which has introduced new fans to the grassroots American racing scene.
“It allows your drivers to have more time to go do stuff, want to go do stuff outside of NASCAR because our weekends are so compact with only a 20-minute practice. A lot of drivers are now venturing out in trying to get more track time,” he added.
Kyle Larson ran in World of Outlaws before Iowa Cup Series race
Larson was true to his comments about the schedule allowing drivers the time to race elsewhere in the Iowa race weekend. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was racing in the World of Outlaws sprint car race at the iconic Knoxville Raceway before the Cup race. He finished P3 after starting from P13.
The race was won by Corey Day ahead of Donny Schatz in P2. Sprint car racing legend Brad Sweet was also part of the race but he could only muster a P9 finish. Rico Abreu, who posed a strong challenge to Larson on several occasions in the High Limit Racing series, also raced on Saturday and finished P21.
