RPW Exclusive: Fun To Think About; Could Kyle Larson Ever Participate During Super DIRT Week?

Column By: DYLAN TERRY / RPW – OSWEGO, NY – It’s hardly a secret that former NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson loves to play in the dirt when he’s not behind the wheel of his HendrickCars.com #5 Chevy Camaro.

Growing up in California, Larson grew up running outlaw karts, quarter midgets, midgets, and of course his beloved sprint cars.

He was obviously very successful, and it was the dominance in dirt racing that allowed Larson to ironically “pave” his way into the world of asphalt racing.

Since he has risen to the highest level of professional racing, Larson continues to sharpen his driving skills in a variety of cars both on asphalt and dirt. On the dirt side of things, he of course loves being in a Sprint Car the most, but he has also piloted dirt midgets, micro sprints, late models, a UMP modified and almost every type of racecar imaginable.

He has tallied wins in each of these cars he has stepped foot into over the years, and has been quite successful in all of them. Yes, Kyle even has a UMP Modified victory at Eldora in 2023 during a FloRacing Night in America show, which I barely remembered and found out upon researching for this article.

One type of dirt car that Kyle has not been in yet nor scored a victory in yet however, is a Northeast Big Block Modified.

Now before I dive deep into this article, I want everyone to know that I acknowledge that the chances of this actually happening are very, very, very low and are highly unlikely. Kubota High Limit Racing (the Sprint Car Series Larson co-owns) has their final race of the season on the Saturday in which the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 will be contested.  So, that may put a damper to my theory of Larson being able to pull this off from the get-go.

Do I think that Kyle will run Super DIRT Week instead of running High Limit?  Probably not, but Larson has missed some High Limit dates already this year so maybe, just maybe, it could somehow happen.

Regardless, I thought it would be a fun thing to think about, and to write about since the way the Super DIRT Week 52 schedule aligns with Larson’s NASCAR Cup Series schedule.  That could have made the possibility of this historic one-off effort more achievable this year than ever before.

So why would Kyle Larson want to come up to the random city of Oswego, NY in the month of October while he is right in the thick of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs? That is assuming he isn’t eliminated from contention prior to that week.

The opportunity to finally drive a northeastern modified would be awesome for Kyle and perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Elk Grove, CA native. But more so than that, how about a chance to make more motorsports history, against some of the best dirt modified drivers on the biggest stage? That would just be icing on the cake for Larson’s legacy in racing, particularly in the world of dirt racing.

If Larson could somehow pull off a victory in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200, he would become the first driver to have ever scored victories in every single World Racing Group sanctioned premier traveling series.

He already has numerous World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victories and has also parked it in World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Victory Lane on a few different occasions in a limited number of starts. All that is left for him to conquer would be capturing a victory with the Super DIRTcar Series. If Kyle manages to pull off the trifecta, it would be just another historic feat to add to his ever-growing list of accomplishments in the world of motorsports.

Now, how would all this happen? Well first off, Larson would need to find a ride. With his well-established resume, and track record I don’t believe that finding a car to hop into for the week/weekend would be all that difficult. One idea for a ride that initially came to mind off the top of my head was the Petruska family owned #66 car that northeast legend Tim McCreadie piloted last year during SDW 51.

That car has run on a limited basis over the past few seasons, so I originally felt like it could have been a perfect fit prior to the announcement of Alex Yankowski piloting the ride for this year’s edition of SDW. Another possibility could be running a second Matt Sheppard car, as his fellow NASCAR competitor Ross Chastain did during a Short Track Super Series race at Utica-Rome Speedway in 2023.

There are plenty of teams out there throughout the region, and I am certain that if Larson wanted to run SDW, he could align a ride fairly easily.

Once Larson is able to obtain a ride for the week, next would be the scheduling and logistics portion of planning. This would more than likely be the most difficult task to achieving the feat. Technical inspection for SDW 52 is open from 8am-6pm Monday-Wednesday. Kyle would not have to be in attendance for tech, however his safety equipment would be required to go through inspection. This is something that could be arranged ahead of time, so that wouldn’t be an issue as long as his equipment arrived in Oswego prior to when his ride would go through tech line.

There are no on-track activities for the big blocks until Thursday. Because of this, Kyle would more than likely be running the High Limit Series race that Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at the I-70 and Lucas Oil Speedways in Missouri. Once done at Lucas Oil, he could drive down to the Springfield-Branson National Airport in Springfield, MO which is an hour drive from the racetrack. After that, he could then board a plane and fly into Syracuse, NY which is roughly a 5-to-6-hour flight. That would put Larson arriving in the early morning hours on Thursday, which is the first day that the big blocks hit the track at the “Home of the Super Modifieds”.

The Thursday schedule for the Super DIRTcar Series begins at 11:30am that day, when the driver’s meeting will commence. After that, the cars do not hit the track for practice until 2:45pm, which would give Kyle a fair amount of time to learn the car, collaborate with his crew, etc. After practice, time trials for the big blocks roll off at 4:15pm. If Kyle could qualify in the Top 6, he would automatically be locked into the big show on Saturday. If not, he would need to run in the 25-lap qualifying heats that evening, which follow the DIRTcar Sportsman heats beginning around 8 o’clock. Larson very well could be locked in following the conclusion of the SDCS heats or could possibly even be done for the week already depending on circumstances/possible mechanical issues during his heat race. For the sake of this article however, I am going to list the most hectic scenario that he could possibly endure.

So, after the action on Thursday night, Larson would then drive the hour back to Syracuse, then fly out Charlotte, NC for his NASCAR Cup Series duties on Friday which would include practice at the newly configured Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, as well as qualifying for Sunday’s event. This is only a 2-3 hour flight, so this would be certainly manageable for Kyle. Once qualifying concludes, he then could choose to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening in NC and fly back to Syracuse overnight. The drivers meeting for the big blocks on Championship Saturday is at 11:00am, so once again it isn’t early enough to complicate things that much for him.

If he was already locked into the show, the next event up on Saturday after the drivers meeting would be the Top-30 autograph session at 1:00pm. If he isn’t locked in already, he would then have to participate in the SDCS Last Chance Showdowns, which kick off at approximately 3pm. Assuming all things up to that point have gone to plan and he has made the show, all that would be left would be the 200-lap finale to cap off the evening. The opening ceremonies begin at 6:30pm, with racing to follow. Realistically, the show could be done by 10-11pm. That would give Larson an ample amount of time to drive back to Syracuse, and then fly back to Charlotte in the early hours of Sunday morning. He would be able to get back to NC in plenty of time, and plenty rested to take on the ROVAL that afternoon, thanks to NASCAR’s lovely 3pm start times. (That’s a separate debate for another day.)

Normally, all of that planning and running back and forth would make for a super busy and hectic week for arguably the greatest driver in the world. He would possibly be in a sprint car on Tuesday and Wednesday, a big block modified on Thursday and Saturday, and his normal Cup car on Friday and Sunday. That’s SIX consecutive nights behind the wheel of a racecar. To any other driver, that would be very grueling and time-consuming week. We all know that Kyle Larson is certainly far from any other driver. He is a wheelman, and if anybody could possibly make all of this happen, I would put my money on “Yung Money” being the first one to possibly try and complete this crazy and historic feat that nobody has attempted before.