CONCORD, N.C. - It’s been an extremely busy - and successful - “offseason” for Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, both as a driver and series leader.
On Dec. 30, Larson and his sprint car team took on the 3/8 of-a-mile dirt at Australia’s Perth Motorplex for the continent’s richest sprint car race in history, the inaugural $100,000 AUD (approximately $62,000 U.S.) High Limit International show down. He is co-owner of the series.
Larson commenced his racing adventure “Down Under” with a fourth-place effort in the preliminary feature on opening night. Then, slapping the wall while leading on night two, Larson watched as local fan favorite James McFadden captured his second-consecutive A-Main of the three-day show.
That didn’t phase Larson, as the big prize was still out there. Piloting the 1X for Jason Pryde Motorsports, he started the final day by winning his heat race and began the feature without much drama. Early on though, it was McFadden that had once again established pace and seemed like the early favorite.
But the NASCAR Cup Series champ was just getting started.
After a restart on lap 6, Larson jumped from sixth to second, and set his sights on McFadden, who led the race’s first 26 circuits. Larson waited and navigated traffic, running the outside cushion that eventually allowed him to sweep past the Australia native with nine laps remaining. The Elk Grove, Calif., native went onto victory lane from there, more than 3.1 seconds ahead at the stripe.
“It was an amazing event,” Larson told HendrickMotorsports.com. “Great car count and an amazing crowd on the final night. There were like 12,000 people there. Even on the first night, there were close to 10 (thousand people). Great atmosphere all week, and it’s such a great facility.
“It was good for the High Limit brand and great for the Perth Motorplex,” Larson added. “Hopefully, looking to get back to doing it again next year.”
Almost immediately, Larson wrapped up his post-race duties and jumped on a plane and headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of the annual Tulsa Shootout. His first leg took him to Los Angeles International Airport, a nearly 14-hour, cross continent journey.
“Everything went perfect with my travel, thankfully,” Larson said. “My flight from Sydney to LA got in a little early, so I was able to make a quick connection and get on the only direct flight to Tulsa. I got there in time to race the outlaw winged division that night.”
Two races. Different continents. On the same calendar day.
“It was good,” Larson said. “Being there with the family, it was (son) Owen’s first time racing the Shootout. It was my first time in 15 years racing in the Shootout.”
The Shootout features a variety of sprint car disciplines and had more than 1,800 entries for 2025, including the A-class and Outlaw divisions which Larson won. He also came within a car length of beating Christopher Bell in the 55-lap wingless A-feature to close out the event. Yet, it was his family who truly made it a special occasion.
“Owen did a great job and finished sixth in the junior sprint race,” Larson said. “My Shootout went awesome as well, we were able to make all four main events and I won two of them and only came up a car length short in one. I really enjoyed it.
“That’s what’s great about the Shootout with the micro sprints. Right now, I can compete at the same venue, and then in a year or two, I can race against my son. It’s wild. It’s great training for the kids, and it’s a good community of kids to build friendships. It’s a lot of fun.”
Then it was onto the big one – this year’s Chili Bowl. And even though it was a week-long event, he didn’t have to wait long to get going.
Larson and his Paul Silva-tuned 1K won the first 8-lap heat race of the week, outrunning Emilio Hoover and Hayden Mabe at the finish. However, his qualifying race proved to be a bit more challenging, coming home second to Ashton Torgerson, still making the A-Main with a critical entry into Saturday's feature on the line.
After a rocky start in the feature falling from fourth to seventh, Larson started his trek forward. He had the quickest car on the track and 12 laps in, had already moved back into fourth with a spectacular pass on Tanner Carrick. He then moved into third with nine laps to go.
As leaders Shane Golobic and Cannon McIntosh battled it out for the lead, Larson closed in. Caution flew with five to go, bunching the field for a final push. On the restart, Larson moved past McIntosh for second, utilizing his now famous high line to reel in leader Golobic. Yellow flew with one lap to go, setting up a dramatic finish.
The restart saw Larson slip underneath Golobic in turn three where he hung on until the end, enabling Larson to grab the first big win of the 2025 Chili Bowl – positioning himself for a third Golden Driller.
“It was good to get back there in my own equipment with Paul Silva,” Larson said. “We raced our butts off to win the prelim night, which set us up well for Saturday.”
Having grabbed the pole earlier in the day, Larson was once again in a terrific position to cash in and took advantage by taking an early lead in Saturday’s 40-lap A-main. He would never look back, despite a few hiccups along the way.
“Drew a good pill and got our car a lot better I felt like coming into Saturday. Executed 40 good laps. Made a couple of mistakes, one that almost cost me pretty big,” said Larson, who nearly lost command with only four laps remaining.
“It ended up working in my favor, climbing the front stretch wall, throwing a quick caution for the banner. It was just really cool to win another Chili Bowl.”
It was Larson’s third overall Chili Bowl triumph, as he also won in 2020 and 2021.
“Proud of the team and the hard work because it was definitely a lot of work throughout the week.” Larson said.
Not a bad way to start 2025.