Kyle Larson on F1 driver swap: 'I would love to do it,' but would prefer 'open test-style'

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Kyle Larson continues to win.

Last week, the NASCAR star claimed his fifth victory of the 2024 season, winning the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway and leading a remarkable 462 of 500 laps. As Larson continues to win, chatter persists about whether he’d be open to competing in a Formula 1 race.

Larson detailed his interest in such a quest in Monday’s edition of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.”

“I would love to do it, and it sounds like hopefully I’ll get to it down the road. I think it was an option this year, I just have so much going on. It’s like something that I need to plan probably a year in advance or more,” Larson said. “I would like to, but, honestly, I would rather do it on one of those open test-style deals like after Abu Dhabi when other drivers are on the track, too. … I think that driver swaps are really cool, but you don’t really have like a bar. You don’t have a gauge of where you stack up to others who do it. It would be fun to do that with Oscar [Piastri] or Lando [Norris] or whoever, but I would love to strap in with 19 other cars out there and really see where you’re at on the speed charts. 

“Obviously, I don’t think that I would be the best, but I would hope to not be last. I think that would show how good American oval racers are and unique, or if I was really bad, then it would just show how bad we are.”

Larson dabbled in IndyCar racing in May, finishing 18th in the Indianapolis 500 in a race that he started fifth. That day turned into a tailspin for Larson, as the start time of the race was delayed due to weather, resulting in him not being able to fly in for the start of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway later that night.

Then, shortly after Larson arrived for the latter race, it was delayed due to weather and later called off. Ironically, Larson won the Brickyard 400 in July.

Last month, Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, said that he was a better “all-around driver” than three-time Formula 1-champion Max Verstappen in an interview with FloRacing, which has played a role in the push for Larson to compete in an F1 race.

As for his NASCAR standing, Larson’s victory at Bristol was his first of the playoffs and has him first in the Cup Series in total points (3,047), with 11 top-five finishes and 14 top-10 finishes also under his belt. Next up on the NASCAR circuit is the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

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