NASCAR: The misconception some fans still have about Kyle Larson

By Asher Fair | Apr 12, 2021

Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing, NASCAR (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

There are still several fans upset with Kyle Larson’s return to NASCAR with Hendrick Motorsports, but many tend to forget one detail.

When Kyle Larson was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing last April after multiple sponsors cut ties with him over his use of a racial slur during an iRacing event, which was contested exactly one year ago today, there was never any guarantee that he would be able to compete in a NASCAR Cup Series race again.

But 52 weeks after what turned out to be his final start behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet at Phoenix Raceway, he secured his first trip to victory lane since October 2019. His win, which came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway early last month, was the seventh of his career and his second since the end of the 2017 regular season.

Larson signed with Hendrick Motorsports ahead of the 2021 season as the replacement for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, albeit behind the wheel of the #5 Chevrolet with Alex Bowman moving from the #88 Chevrolet to Johnson’s #48 Chevrolet.

And naturally, there are still some who are bitter about the entire situation.

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Some fans feel as though the 28-year-old Elk Grove, California native’s mistake ultimately led him to an ever greater opportunity — that saying the n-word so casually effectively led to him being given the best opportunity of his NASCAR career with Hendrick Motorsports.

Even with the suspension, which was never actually guaranteed to end, some argue that he should not have been let off so lightly, much less “rewarded”.

But what many tend to forget is that not only did Larson do a ton of work behind the scenes to land himself the opportunity simply to be able to return to the sport in any capacity, but he was already slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2020 season.

And when Johnson announced that the 2020 season would be his last back in November 2019, Larson immediately became the top candidate to replace him.

Team owner Rick Hendrick admitted that acquiring Larson was his goal from the start. It wasn’t his firing that caused Larson to emerge on Mr. H’s radar.

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So Larson very well may be the driver of the #5 Chevrolet right now anyway, even if not for his firing and his reinstatement, which only came several months later.

Him saying what he said was by no means “rewarded”.

The only thing that may have changed is that Stewart-Haas Racing may have been a more serious option for him in 2021.

That also would have marked his best career opportunity.

Team co-owner Tony Stewart is a longtime fan of Larson and wanted to put him in the #14 car after his retirement in 2016, but due to Larson’s contract with Chip Ganassi Racing at the time — it was late 2015 when Stewart announced that the 2016 season would be his last — he wasn’t able to do so.

Larson remained with Chip Ganassi Racing through the first four races of the 2020 season.

Stewart-Haas Racing had always been seen as a potential landing spot for Larson in the 2021 season, even before his firing, and that remained the case throughout last summer. However, Stewart ultimately admitted that he wanted to make it happen, but he couldn’t get Ford’s approval on the signing.

So this idea that Larson wouldn’t be in this amazing situation had he not said what he said on Easter Sunday 2020 is simply inaccurate. Yes, it helped him grow as an individual, and yes, that growth landed him the opportunity to return to the sport.

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But that’s what you want to see happen in a case like this. He was by no means rewarded for his mistake, and his 2021 landing spot would have been his to decide anyway as the top free agent on the market.

Thankfully, we’ve put a full year between that incident and now.

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