The hugely versatile American, who recently declared himself “a better all-round driver” than Max Verstappen, has flagged his interest in contesting the Adelaide 500.
Adelaide organisers had hoped to attract a NASCAR driver for this year’s event, believing they had secured Kyle Busch before the veteran last month pulled out of a deal to drive an additional Triple Eight entry.
While there were significant doubts over how competitive Busch would have been, 32-year-old Larson looms as a dream future recruit considering his proven adaptability and road racing prowess.
Larson alluded to the Adelaide talks during a recent appearance on Full Credit to the Noise, where he was asked if he had any interest in tackling the Bathurst 1000.
“I would love to, (but) I don’t really know much about it,” Larson said of the Great Race.
“The last couple of years, I’ve not really had like serious opportunities to do it, but I’ve had Australian acquaintances and stuff mention it to me that I could get a ride with certain teams if I really was able to pursue it.
Buy tickets
“But I always have scheduling conflicts where I’m just not able to get down there.”
Declaring Bathurst’s October date “wouldn’t work for me” due to the NASCAR schedule, Larson then brought up his interest in the Adelaide event and a date clash that ruled him out in 2024.
The Adelaide 500 is the only Supercars race held outside the gruelling, 36-race NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
“The Adelaide race could work, but this year Hendrick Motorsports, it’s their 40th season, so we’re having a big celebration for that on that same weekend,” Larson said.
“But if we weren’t having that I would have loved to come and do the Adelaide thing.
“Sprint cars are racing there as well, they built a track. That would have been an awesome time for me to get down there and try it.
“This year didn’t work out, but maybe in the future.”
Speedcafe understands an approach to Larson was made about contesting the speedway element of the 2024 Adelaide 500, rather than the Supercars races.
The Supercars element was not on the agenda for Larson due to the planned appearance of Busch, whose link to the event stretched back to his NASCAR team owner Richard Childress attending as a guest last year.
Although unable to make Adelaide, Larson will head to Australia in December to contest the High Limits Invitational sprint car event in Perth.
Adelaide 500 organisers are next week expected to reveal the driver line-up for their sprint car spectacular ahead of the November 14-17 event.
Discussion about this post