NASCAR: Where Kyle Larson could end up if he returns in 2021

If Kyle Larson does return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2021 season following his use of a racial slur, one potential landing spot stands out.

Last week at this time, Kyle Larson was doing what most other NASCAR Cup Series have been doing for the past several weeks in response to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down all real-life action for the foreseeable future. He was competing in iRacing.

Skip ahead to now, or really to just a few days later. For the first time in his career, Larson is the former driver of the #42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.

As a result of his use of a racial slur in last Sunday night’s virtual NASCAR race at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Larson was suspended indefinitely by both Chip Ganassi Racing and NASCAR.

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Then he was cut by multiple big-name sponsors, sponsors which remained with Chip Ganassi’s team despite cutting ties with Larson, and Ganassi’s hand was practically forced, unless he wanted to lose millions of dollars.

He fired Larson.

To say that the 27-year-old Elk Grove, California native’s future in NASCAR is uncertain would be a massive understatement. But he does have one thing going for him. Before he was fired, he was considered the top pending free agent on the driver market, as his contract with Ganassi’s team expired at the end of the 2020.

According to Sports Business Journal‘s Adam Stern, sources close to Larson have stated that he has already enrolled in the sensitivity training that is required of him before NASCAR considers reinstating him and that he is “determined to try to make a comeback” in NASCAR.

Let’s say that Larson is back in a Cup car next year. For which team would he be competing?

Before he was fired, Larson had been rumored to three possible landing spots due to his status as a free agent: Chip Ganassi Racing via a contract extension, Hendrick Motorsports to replace retiring seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, and Stewart-Haas Racing.

A return to Chip Ganassi Racing is all but out of the question, primarily because of the sponsorship losses. The Hendrick Motorsports possibility was waning anyway.

Enter the four-car Ford team owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas.

This could be the perfect opportunity for Stewart to get what he wanted several years ago.

In 2015, when he had announced that the 2016 season to be his last, Stewart wanted Larson behind the wheel of the #14 car beginning in the 2017 season. But due to his contractual status with Chip Ganassi Racing at the time, Larson was unable to sign a deal for 2017, so Stewart went with Clint Bowyer, who still drives the #14 Ford full-time.

For the 2021 season, only one of Stewart-Haas Racing’s four drivers, Kevin Harvick, is under contract, although it is also unlikely that rookie Cole Custer will be one-and-done after spending three seasons with the team in the Xfinity Series prior to his Cup Series arrival.

The team have altered their driver lineup in some way after each of the last four seasons, and with both Bowyer and Aric Almirola in contract years this season, more changes could be on the way after 2020.

Stewart and Larson both share illustrious dirt track racing backgrounds, and that is one of the reasons that Stewart has grown so fond of Larson’s talents over the years.

Of course, it’s not just “Stewart Racing”. It’s Stewart-Haas Racing. Would Gene Haas want to take a chance on Larson not even a year after he dropped the N-word during a live streamed race for the world to hear?

Stewart, of all people, wouldn’t be the one to stand in the way of somebody getting a second chance, especially since that “somebody” would be Larson in this case. If Haas feels the same way, slap HAAS on the car and suddenly Larson is back competing for a top-tier team in arguably the best equipment he has ever had at NASCAR’s highest level.

It may seem like a best-case scenario for Kyle Larson, especially amid the fallout of his career-derailing mistake. But that was one week ago, and the 2021 season begins in close to 10 months. If he is serious about returning to NASCAR, he will do everything he can possibly do over the course of the next 10 months to get back, and if he does end up coming back next year, it’s hard to see it playing out any other way.