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from ESPN

Last August, I thought owner Chip Ganassi was heavy on hyperbole when he uttered these words upon confirming he would move Kyle Larson up to Cup in 2014: "Certainly we believe Kyle is the future of the sport."

The future? That seemed a bit much. Now I wonder. Now we all should, after this weekend at Fontana, when Larson came out of nowhere twice, to win on Saturday and narrowly lose on Sunday.

[+] Enlarge

Chris Graythen/NASCAR/Getty ImagesKyle Larson thrilled his home-state fans with his first Nationwide Series win Saturday in Fontana.

Now I look again at NASCAR's 2014 Sprint Cup media guide, issued before the season started, and behold the eeriness. On the opening page of the section marked "Drivers," where you find their biographies and records, there is a picture of a single driver, without comment, without naming him.

It's Kyle Larson.

Not Jimmie Johnson nor Kyle Busch nor Brad Keselowski nor Dale Earnhardt Jr. nor Matt Kenseth nor Jeff Gordon nor Danica Patrick.

Kyle Larson. Age 21. Rookie. With a so-so team. A portrait ... of the future.

That's prescience, proved already, as Larson hurtles into NASCAR Nation's awareness.

In that photo, he sits in a car with the steering wheel removed -- all the more prescient, considering that he did his victory doughnuts after winning the Nationwide race Saturday with his steering wheel detached, waving it out the window while spinning back and forth using only the throttle to steer the car.

Years ago, riding with Dale Earnhardt in passenger cars and pickups, I sometimes saw him control them just a little bit with the throttle more than the wheel. But not like Larson does it.

Larson comes off dirt, out of sprint cars, the best preparation there is for drivers on oval tracks. You learn to be comfortable sideways. Even when you look out of control, you're in control. Gordon and Tony Stewart prepped that way. But Larson brings an uncanny level of car control that Gordon and Stewart haven't displayed in NASCAR.

I used to write that Earnhardt in his prime could make a 3,400-pound car behave like a part of him, like an arm or a leg, make it move like a ballerina, stalk like a panther, strike like a water moccasin.

But you always knew where Earnhardt was. Larson does these things out of nowhere. And that is reminiscent of the best NASCAR driver there has ever been: David Pearson.

Pearson lurked, to the point you almost forgot he was in a race, then struck when he sensed it was time to go. He won 105 races, rarely running a full schedule.

Eerily, beautifully, Larson doesn't even know how he emerges from nowhere. How did he go from ninth to second in barely more than a lap Sunday, and fall just short of Kyle Busch for the win?

"I don't know. It's on TV somewhere," he told reporters at the track, meaning he and they would have to look at the video to figure it out.

His moves are so fast, so reflexive, that his memory can't record them.

On Saturday, "I was surprised we got the lead," he said after taking it from Kevin Harvick on the final restart, then holding off dive after dive from Harvick and Kyle Busch, riding his sprint car instincts, up high, letting his momentum carry him to retake the lead and retake it again.

"He's great," Busch said after the Saturday race. "That's why he's here ... that's why he's in Cup."

Sure enough, next day in Cup, Larson came out of nowhere at the end to become Busch's last challenger for the win.

Coming out of nowhere was what caught Ganassi's eye in the first place, at Daytona in the notorious season-opening Nationwide race of 2013. It wasn't when Larson's car was torn in half and his engine went into the grandstands near the flag stand. It was what Larson did in the moments before, to get into position to go all out for the win.

"I remember watching him in the race, hearing all the time 'how special he is, how special he is,'" Ganassi recalled, "and he's running around ... 14th, or 12th, and I thought, 'What the hell is so special about this kid?'

"Sure enough, at the finish line, he was right there -- of course he [at least his car] was here and there at the finish line. ... Be that as it may, that to me was special."

Often, "He gives you the impression he's dillydallying in the middle of the pack, not paying attention," Ganassi said. "Always at the end, he's where it seems to matter to be."

You just don't come out of nowhere at little Martinsville Speedway, the next stop on the Cup tour, for Sunday's STP 500. It's NASCAR's smallest track, and it ranks alongside Darlington as the most difficult to adapt to. It's maddening for a newcomer. The traffic is too jammed, too often, in what is more NASCAR's answer to a carnival bumper-car ride than a race.

All Larson wants Sunday, he said on an ESPN.com live chat Tuesday, is to "stay out of trouble and stay on the lead lap."

But that's typical Larson understatement and humility. He has raced there but once, and briefly, last fall, falling out early with a blown engine in a subpar car.

So if he shouldn't flash out of nowhere at the end, that wouldn't tell you much about his future, and NASCAR's future.

But if he should, that would tell you everything.

m ESPN

 
I LEARNED ESP FROM MY MOM

"PUT YOUR SWEATER ON: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHEN 
YOU'RE COLD?"

Truth be told I'm a Sprint Car fan and don't get to travel much so I'm looking forward to watching Rico again than Kyle.  I look at Kyle kind of the same as Jeff Gordon, he ran good in Sprints but I never saw him race before he moved up to NASCAR.  I'm going to guarantee you Kyle backers one thing, if he keeps up these phenomenol runs in Cup cars and is hailed as NASCAR's savior a "no Sprint Car racing" clause will be on his contract in short order.

I'm a Sprint Car fan, that's why I'm here, watching Cup races is an after thought and gets pushed aside once the snow melts.  I'm not seeing much out of the Tony Stewart camp regarding his future in Sprints, Larson's future in Sprints will likely take the same path.  What else could we expect from owners and sponsors if Larson keeps walking on water every weekend?

Go Rico!!!  Hope to see you at the Cedar Lake and Jackson WoO shows.  Kyle who?  Jeff who?  Get my point? 

Stan Meissner

I see your point with the no other racing being put on Kyle and that would be a shame. I don't know if Ganassi would do that or not as both he and Turner Scott  allowed Kyle to race sprints all year last year but now it is different. Now he is in the premier series still developing so I think its expected a for a few years to not see Kyle in sprint cars. After that who knows, that strictly is up to the owner. I noticed that some owners like Hendrick and Gibbs do not allow there drivers to race in anything other than their cars, (Hints why you do not see Kasey Kahne as much anymore). That is why I am hoping Kyle does not go to Hendrick in the future for that reason and the fact I just do not like Hendrick Motorsports.

Stan, you should look on YouTube at Stewarts' Oskaloosa and Larsons' 2012 Four Crown crashes.  If I'm  sponsor investing millions of dollars in these guys, they wouldn't drive anything else either. Shame you never got to see Larson drive a sprint or midget.  Seeing his sprint, midget, and SC sweep of the 2011 Four Crown was incredible.

I made it out to Eldora for the Million but that was made possible by four of us pooling our resources to rent a motor home.  As far as my usual routine goes I'm confined to Cedar Lake and Saint Croix Valley, both exactly 32 miles.  I work while I'm at the races taking photos and writing for publications just to make those nearby places possible.  It's damn expensive to follow this sport, I wouldn't be able to do it enough to maintain my interest if I wasn't catching a break for the work I'm doing.  Singing for my supper is the only way I can make it work to get out to a couple dozen shows.   

We did see Rico up here and that was pretty cool.  I doubt if I'll ever see Larson race aside from on television in Cup.

Stan Meissner

 I have seen larson in a sprint car several times.He is something special.The first time I saw him was at Eldora in 2011 at the 4-Crown Nationals.It was his first time at Eldora and had not driven any of the cars he was in that night either.He won all three divisions.I knew that night that he would be in cup some day if he wanted to. 

Rico is good, but Christopher Bell is the one you need to be watching.....

Member of this message board since 1997

Both of which will be gone to another series before you know it! Just saying. Get out there and watch them whenever possible. 

Yep, you got it right..... Dirtbutt and I have seen him a number of times and he's only going in one direction, up!

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

Posted By: opnwhlr on March 26 2014 at 10:05:03 PM from ESPN   Last August, I thought owner Chip Ganassi was heavy on hyperbole when he uttered these words upon confirming he would move Kyle Larson up to Cup in 2014: "Certainly we believe Kyle is the future of the sport." The future? That seemed a bit much. Now I wonder. Now we all should, after this weekend at Fontana, when Larson came out of nowhere twice, to win on Saturday and narrowly lose on Sunday. [+] Enlarge Chris Graythen/NASCAR/Getty ImagesKyle Larson thrilled his home-state fans with his first Nationwide Series win Saturday in Fontana.   Now I look again at NASCAR's 2014 Sprint Cup media guide, issued before the season started, and behold the eeriness. On the opening page of the section marked "Drivers," where you find their biographies and records, there is a picture of a single driver, without comment, without naming him. It's Kyle Larson. Not Jimmie Johnson nor Kyle Busch nor Brad Keselowski nor Dale Earnhardt Jr. nor Matt Kenseth nor Jeff Gordon nor Danica Patrick. Kyle Larson. Age 21. Rookie. With a so-so team. A portrait ... of the future. That's prescience, proved already, as Larson hurtles into NASCAR Nation's awareness. In that photo, he sits in a car with the steering wheel removed -- all the more prescient, considering that he did his victory doughnuts after winning the Nationwide race Saturday with his steering wheel detached, waving it out the window while spinning back and forth using only the throttle to steer the car. Years ago, riding with Dale Earnhardt in passenger cars and pickups, I sometimes saw him control them just a little bit with the throttle more than the wheel. But not like Larson does it. Larson comes off dirt, out of sprint cars, the best preparation there is for drivers on oval tracks. You learn to be comfortable sideways. Even when you look out of control, you're in control. Gordon and Tony Stewart prepped that way. But Larson brings an uncanny level of car control that Gordon and Stewart haven't displayed in NASCAR. I used to write that Earnhardt in his prime could make a 3,400-pound car behave like a part of him, like an arm or a leg, make it move like a ballerina, stalk like a panther, strike like a water moccasin. But you always knew where Earnhardt was. Larson does these things out of nowhere. And that is reminiscent of the best NASCAR driver there has ever been: David Pearson. Marty and McGee   Marty Smith and Ryan McGee talk with Kyle Larson about his first career victory in the Nationwide Series and what it's like to have endorsements from racing legends. More Podcasts »   Pearson lurked, to the point you almost forgot he was in a race, then struck when he sensed it was time to go. He won 105 races, rarely running a full schedule. Eerily, beautifully, Larson doesn't even know how he emerges from nowhere. How did he go from ninth to second in barely more than a lap Sunday, and fall just short of Kyle Busch for the win? "I don't know. It's on TV somewhere," he told reporters at the track, meaning he and they would have to look at the video to figure it out. His moves are so fast, so reflexive, that his memory can't record them. On Saturday, "I was surprised we got the lead," he said after taking it from Kevin Harvick on the final restart, then holding off dive after dive from Harvick and Kyle Busch, riding his sprint car instincts, up high, letting his momentum carry him to retake the lead and retake it again. "He's great," Busch said after the Saturday race. "That's why he's here ... that's why he's in Cup." Sure enough, next day in Cup, Larson came out of nowhere at the end to become Busch's last challenger for the win. Coming out of nowhere was what caught Ganassi's eye in the first place, at Daytona in the notorious season-opening Nationwide race of 2013. It wasn't when Larson's car was torn in half and his engine went into the grandstands near the flag stand. It was what Larson did in the moments before, to get into position to go all out for the win. Hinton: Monday Rundown Many had trouble with tires at Fontana; others didn't. Luck of the draw? No. Staying clean came because of a word from the wise, writes Ed Hinton. Story   "I remember watching him in the race, hearing all the time 'how special he is, how special he is,'" Ganassi recalled, "and he's running around ... 14th, or 12th, and I thought, 'What the hell is so special about this kid?' "Sure enough, at the finish line, he was right there -- of course he [at least his car] was here and there at the finish line. ... Be that as it may, that to me was special." Often, "He gives you the impression he's dillydallying in the middle of the pack, not paying attention," Ganassi said. "Always at the end, he's where it seems to matter to be." You just don't come out of nowhere at little Martinsville Speedway, the next stop on the Cup tour, for Sunday's STP 500. It's NASCAR's smallest track, and it ranks alongside Darlington as the most difficult to adapt to. It's maddening for a newcomer. The traffic is too jammed, too often, in what is more NASCAR's answer to a carnival bumper-car ride than a race. All Larson wants Sunday, he said on an ESPN.com live chat Tuesday, is to "stay out of trouble and stay on the lead lap." But that's typical Larson understatement and humility. He has raced there but once, and briefly, last fall, falling out early with a blown engine in a subpar car. So if he shouldn't flash out of nowhere at the end, that wouldn't tell you much about his future, and NASCAR's future. But if he should, that would tell you everything. m ESPN

I know this isn't timely. The Atlanta cup race was last night and Kyle went from 14 to 8 on a green, white, checker. I think Everyone that has supported this site for the last 20 years like I have considers sprints and midgets a lot more exciting and more difficult to drive than stock cars. Something about 360 cu. in. gas burning, carburated, with clutches and transmissions and weighing 3400 lbs just doesn't impress me next to 86" wb, 850 plus hp, methanol,direct drive, 1350 lbs with the driver. For those that haven't been fortunate enough to have lived through the golden age of sprint cars, 1975-1990, or there abouts, you have missed racing that will never ever be matched due to many factors. Unfortunately, racing is driven by money today. The days of a couple guys like Sammy and Tommy Sanders building a sprint car in the garage and racing competitively all over the country are over. During that era, the vast majority of drivers were veterans of either WW2, Korea, or Viet Nam and the whole mind set was different. If you are really serious about wanting to see Kyle Larson race, you need to do whatever it takes, even drive all night and sleep in your car for 5 days, but get to the chili bowl this January. I live in Tulsa and always go, but you will not get a ticket. You will have to get a pit pass. Believe me. It is everything you have heard. 20 years from now when everyone is lying and saying they saw him when he was just starting, be able to tell the truth and for a bonus, see the best racing in the world. If it was possible to od on good racing, this is where it would happen. Seriously, make the sacrifice. You won't get many chances. We never know how long a racing career is going to be. After the sad passing of Kevin Ward, we can be assured that it will be harder for drivers to be able to journey outside nascar to race. The Chili Bowl is the one exception that they all can run. Chip is an open wheel guy so he will probably be more forgiving than other owners, but in the end, the sponsors rule the sport. I may be looking through rose colored glasses, but I don't compare him with Jeff or Tony. He is better. Neither of them ever won a WoO feature. I think Kyle is more like a Foyt or Andretti. He could win the Kentucky Derby if he had a good horse.

i dont know if i would say kyle is better than tony or jeff, all 3 got to where they are following a little bit different route but all 3 have incredible talent and great help and coaching along the way.

as far as larson in a sprint car, or midget, or silver crown, or WoO.......i believe that you have not seen much of him this season cause he is all over the nascar map. he owns a top woo team and i wouldnt be too surprised if he is helping rico but i think its just the logistics of trying to run anything nascar allows and not having the means and/or support that stewart has that allows him to be at a cup track in the afternoon and run a sprint car at anytown speedway that night.

if larson is really "the future", he should put in his contract that he wants to continue racing the cars "from his past" as long as it doesnt conflict with his team and sponsor comittments.

Calastoga race highlites. http://youtu.be/5XkIng19szg?a

Bells skill to manuver car on track is crazy

He was just fun to watch, and I agree with the Kentucky Derby comment. The times I saw him, an effect took over the stands, everyone just smiled knowing they were watching a rare talent. 

Not interested in watching nascar, but can't blame a business decision of sacrificing certain things to make millions. Something about Larson and Stewart evokes the sentiment from the end of Eight Men Out: after Shoeless Joe had been banished from baseball, he was still playing somewhere because he loved the game so much. I think we will see Kyle Larson race a sprint car again. 

A Larson thread with no negative posts. Amazing.

Knew I could depend on you to respond. You F'ing moron

Ive witnessed and been part of Kyle Larsons progression in racing since his days in Outlaw carts ect and Ive been watching midgets and sprint cars for 57 years.  He is without question the best midget and sprint car driver Ive "EVER" seen.  Ive watched Gordon, Foyt, Stewart, Vogler, Vukovich ect and he is the best Ive ever witnessed drive a race car.  Give him some time in Nascar, its a huge jump up and if you honestly look at what he's doing as a rookie it too is amazing.  Im thinking by year three he'll be knocking off wins left and right.  We on the west coast were lucky watching him progress as a midget and sprint car driver, he's the "genuine article". 

CAJ

LOL