Kyle Larson out of NASCAR but back in winner’s circle ‘trying to have as much fun as I can’

Kyle Larson took a little sting off his NASCAR benching by winning a Memorial Day weekend sprint car race.

The 27-year-old from Elk Grove won the World of Outlaws feature race Saturday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 south of St. Louis.

It was part of a solid weekend: Larson set the track qualifying record Friday in his first competitive lap on the third-mile, banked clay oval and finishing second behind brother-in-law Brad Sweet in the preliminary feature that night.

Saturday’s win was worth $20,000.

It was just his third sprint car race since he was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR and fired by the Chip Ganassi Racing stock car team for saying the n-word. It happened during an April 11 streaming video sprint car racing event.

Larson said he was happy for “everyone who has stuck behind us after my mistake there. It means a lot. I’m having a blast. Trying to have as much fun as I can anyways. Trying to keep my mind off things.”

Larson came up through the open-wheel ranks and has always kept his hand in it; 2020 had started promising when he got a bucket-list victory in the Chili Bowl indoor national midget event.

He owns an Outlaws sprint car team employing driver Carson Macedo of Lemoore, who finished seventh Saturday. two other Fresno-area drivers were in the field, with Cory Eliason finishing 10th and Dominic Scelzi 25th.