NASCAR star Kyle Larson has hit back at something he says has irritated him throughout his career.
The 33-year-old will race for his second Cup Series title on Sunday, and in an interview released this week he affirmed his love for the sport – something he says many cast doubts on, including within his own team.
Larson is in his 11th year driving full-time in the Cup Series (discounting 2020, when he was suspended after four races for using a racial slur during an iRacing event), and is frequently referred to as the sport's busiest driver thanks to the number of events he runs outside of NASCAR.
He has now insisted that if he wanted to run sprint cars alone, he would do that regardless of the hit to his bank account that not driving in NASCAR would deliver.
Larson: I love what I'm doing
“Something that's bugged me throughout my whole career is that everybody just assumes I'm here for the money," he said. "That's not the case at all. I would not be here if I did not want to be a NASCAR. I love the sport – I love what it provides, but I love what I'm doing.
“If I wanted to go race sprint cars full-time, I would have done that a long time ago. Even (crew chief) Cliff [Daniel], he asks me all the time, ‘How long do you think you're gonna do this?’ And I’m like, ‘I don't know, a long time'. So I’m happy doing what I'm doing. And I've always been happy being in NASCAR. I've been in it for 12 something years.”
He added: “For me, I get to compete in NASCAR, and I love doing that. And I also get to compete in 30 to 40 sprint car races a year.
“So I feel like it's a great balance for me. I get to compete in a lot of the big races, the races that mean a lot to me and compete in every big race in NASCAR, and get to compete for a championship every year for the best team. So why would I ever give that up?”
