Kyle Larson, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and one of the most respected drivers in NASCAR, Midget, Sprint Car, Late Model and IndyCar, has joined the impressive lineup of featured speakers for the 5th Annual Race Industry Week, taking place Monday through Thursday, Dec. 2–5.
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Known as a “wheel man” for his innate ability to control a race car after rising up through the dirt track racing ranks to stardom in NASCAR, Larson has firmly established himself as one of motorsport’s most respected drivers on pavement and dirt.
After taking the dirt track racing world by storm, Larson blasted onto the NASCAR scene in 2012. The Northern California native of Japanese descent quickly worked his way to a full-time ride in the premier NASCAR Cup Series, earning accolades for his racing ability and becoming a regular playoffs contender.
Upon joining Hendrick Motorsports for the 2021 season in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Larson’s career trajectory rocketed. He won a series-high, 10 Cup Series races plus the NASCAR All-Star Race on his way to the 2021 Cup Series championship. Perhaps more impressively, his 2,581 laps led in 2021 were the most by a driver since Jeff Gordon led 2,610 in 1995.
In addition to his stellar success in NASCAR, Larson won some of the most marque dirt track racing events in 2021, including the Chili Bowl, Kings Royal, Prairie Dirt Classic and the Knoxville Nationals. Considering the unique skill level it takes to race these different race cars, this feat will likely never be accomplished again and go down as one of the greatest seasons in American racing history.
In 2022, Larson returned the No. 5 car to victory lane three times in the NASCAR Cup Series and followed that up in 2023 with four more career wins to finish as driver championship runner-up.
Off the track, he launched a new dirt track racing series called the High Limit Racing Sprint Car Series, which kicked off its first full 12-race season in 2023 before rolling out a 60-race nationwide schedule in 2024.
And If he wasn’t satisfied with all that, Larson took on another challenge in 2024, racing an Indy car at the 2024 Indianapolis 500 in an attempt to become the fifth driver ever to attempt an 1,100 mile “Double” on the same day, racing 500 miles at Indianapolis, immediately flying to Charlotte to race another 600 miles in the NASCAR Cup Series race.
However, weather hampered his effort as a rain-delayed start to the Indy 500, where he finished 18th in an Arrow McLaren Chevrolet after a costly pit road speeding penalty, meant he missed the first half of the Charlotte 600 race, which ultimately got called before Larson could turn a lap. The effort garnered a tremendous amount of media attention and fan interest in having Larson make the attempt again in 2025.