When will there be a right time to bring Kyle Larson back?

[Returning to Dirt]

http://insidecircletrack.com/2020/07...e-larson-back/

Larson has been piling up the wins on dirt. With the current climate, when would NASCAR and a team be able to bring him back?

[Rajflyboy]

Who knows. He is an exciting racer and will learn from his mistakes and improve himself.

[CIRF]

Larson, driving top notch cars with an adequate team, could accomplish generational driving feat's in NASCAR. He's already being included in conversation's regarding the best and most diverse driver ever on short tracks.

I believe the only team Larson has a shot at catching on with is Stewart/Haas. It remains to be seen if Stewart/Haas has adequate influence with sponsors to get Larson back in Cup racing. Even an outsider like myself knows that Larson's existence in Cup racing hinges upon sponsors who are willing to accept the backlash that will certainly come from his past verbal indiscretions. The mob doesn't care how much atonement, remorse and regret Larson is willing to show and express. I really don't want to get too far into the political and racial aspects of Larson's predicament, but at this point in time it's the reality of the situation.

Everyone likes to boast how Stewart "tells it like it is" and says and does what he thinks is right but we also know how big (literally) of a hypocrite he is. He also knows what side his bread is buttered on and if hiring Larson is a net loss Stewart and Haas are not going to subsidize that with their own money and success potential.

[Rajflyboy]

He has not yet proven himself in NASCAR

[TerryM]

He has not yet proven himself in NASCAR

LOL ... he has 20 NASCAR wins and 185 top tens. He was named rookie of the year at all three levels. He has six Cup wins and 100 top tens. Those might not sound like huge numbers, but for his age — and not having had the luxury of driving for any of the mega teams — he’s more than proven himself. You’re probably the only person on the planet who thinks otherwise.

[Rajflyboy]

He looked pretty good this weekhttps://speedsport.com/sprints-midgets/other-sprint-cars/larson-finishes-off-the-posse/

[CIRF]

Terry, thanks for doing the leg work on Yung Muny's NASCAR numbers. Larson is a winner no matter what he's driving. To say Larson hasn't proven himself in NASCAR is to ignore his numbers. In Cup competition he did more with less than anyone since Sterling Marlin drove for ol' nasty Ganassi.

Besides being one of the best all around drivers to come along in decades he's a good, humble, respectful, classy and dignified young man who, by all accounts, is a good father and husband. In my world that counts for something. Those virtue's are not as common as they once were.

Larson certainly put a spankin' on the vaunted Pennsylvania Posse this past week! Those PA fans aren't all that used to having an outsider come in and put a collective whoopin' on their local boys. I wonder what the over/under is on when Larson starts being booed for winning too much!

[Rajflyboy]

Larson only has 6 CUP wins. That’s not horrible I guess.

[Rajflyboy]

But he can’t win the longer races and struggles with it. That could change in time. He would probably pick it up now similar to what Logano did when Penske took him onboard.

[CIRF]

Can't win the longer races, you say?!! Consider this, in January of 2015 he was a large part of the team that won the overall Rolex 24 twenty four hour race at Daytona. Races don't get much longer than that! Even though Larson was only part of the driver lineup for that team he had to race more than one leg of the 24 hours and one of his stints behind the wheel was in the dead of night. He won a couple of 400 milers at Michigan and California. Do those qualify as longer races?

Larson is without question the best dirt racer on the planet Earth at this moment in time (sorry B Shep & Bloomy, LOL!) and has adapted to, and won driving every different racing discipline and endeavor in which he's competed. I truly believe he could be Indy Car champion if given competitive machinery and team. I also believe he could win races if he had competitive machinery and opportunity in Formula 1.

[Rajflyboy]

I was at that 24 hours of Daytona event. Larson did good but certainly wasn't the main driver. He did run some excellent lap times though and that was great experience. I am a Larson fan though... especially for NASCAR who really needs some driver talent. You can go 5 or 6 deep on drivers in NASCAR but then the quality of driver talent drops steeply. The big push for the 18 year olds hasn't worked as good as the sponsor/teams thought (Kyle and Joey turned out very good but thats about it so far... well since the Wonder Boy Jeff Gordon anyway)

[CIRF]

I was at that 24 hours of Daytona event. Larson did good but certainly wasn't the main driver. He did run some excellent lap times though and that was great experience.

I don't fully understand the "main driver" concept that you tout. I've never seen any reporting that would suggest the team had a "main driver" policy in place. I doubt that anyone would suggest that Larson is a more accomplished sports car road racer than Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon or Jamie McMurray. That said, Larson was an integral portion of the driver lineup and gave a very good accounting of himself during his time behind the wheel. I've never attended a Rolex 24 or, for that matter, any sports car endurance race so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage. I was not aware that some drivers on a team are more substantially important than the other 3. Maybe Larson was just a guy that would do his stints and really have no particular importance to the success of the team.

I really need to see your criteria and evidence that Larson is a liability as a driver in longer events. I've never seen that criticism of Larson. Does he lose concentration? Does he get tired? Does he lose interest? What precisely is the touchstone for your evaluation?

[buster83]

i look for him to be in 10 car soon.

[CIRF]

i look for him to be in 10 car soon.

Personally I wouldn't bet on that happening. The radical and extreme racial and political climate around the country will make acquiring adequate sponsorship acutely difficult to get on board. There are no doubt several teams that would love to have Larson in their cars but it can't be done without sponsorship, even an uninformed bleacher jockey like myself knows that.

Larson is quickly expanding and reinforcing his legend status running dirt and I believe he and his family are having a ball doing so. The selfish in me wants him to race on dirt at places where I can easily watch him but I'm sure if a lucrative opportunity presents itself he'll be back in a Cup car.