NASCAR: Five possible replacement candidates for Danica Patrick in 2018
By Asher Fair
Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson, 25, went from being NASCAR’s “next big thing” to being a legitimate championship contender, and he is driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, which is just a two-car team. While he has said that he wants to stay with the team, there are no guarantees, and certainly coming to the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing team could potentially play to his advantage in the long run.
As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Larson has certainly had a great 2017 season, with only Martin Truex Jr. winning as many races as he did in the regular season (four), which would lead one to think that “it ain’t broke.” But it hasn’t all been great for him throughout his career. In his first two seasons with the team, he didn’t even make the playoffs, and it took until his third season for him to finally win a race.
This season, he has finally starting to show flashes of the talent that could make him NASCAR’s next superstar, and moving to a larger team could be the best move for him to continue to exploit that talent. When Tony Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, was asked a few months ago about why Kyle Larson was not driving for him, here was his reply.
I would love to have him. You need to ask him that question
— Tony Stewart (@TonyStewart) June 19, 2017
While not likely, if Larson does end up leaving Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the season, you can bet that Tony Stewart will do whatever he can to get him to fill a vacant seat for Stewart-Haas Racing, with the #10 car being the only guaranteed seat available.