Kyle Larson Admits There’s “Little Bit Of” Truth in His Burnout & Exhaustion After Running Over 100 Races a Year

It is a known fact that aside from running in the NASCAR Cup Series, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson also participates in a lot of other races. Keeping his off-season equally busy as the rest of the year. However, this year after the birth of his son, Larson took a step back from running races back to back. During a recent interview, he was asked if he felt burnt out after participating in several races throughout the year. Or if he voluntarily took some time off for himself and his family this year.

Answering the question, Larson said, “I would say there is a little bit of that. But honestly, there’s not that many opportunities for me to race after Knoxville nationals… National opens would be, you know, one that I could race after Knoxville, that’s like worth going to. It pays really well, and it’s a big event. Aside from that, I can’t do the world finals because that’s Phoenix weekend every year. There’s just not a race worth going back and forth from a Cup one that I can talk my team into…”

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The Hendrick Motorsports driver further elaborated that he would take part in more sprint car or late-model races. But only if it made any logistical sense, “like during the playoffs and stuff.” He kept prioritizing the fact that if the races were midweek, he would be more open to attending them. “So there’s just less opportunity for me to race past Knoxville.”

Kyle Larson hopes to plan a better schedule for this year

Larson further spoke about his racing schedule and how it would burn him out. He mentioned that he raced offseason between February to the end of March. Ending his run at Knoxville. Calling the schedule to be “really heavy.”

Furthermore, he mentioned how in 2021 when returned to NASCAR as he raced almost “100 times”. But that it “didn’t feel that bad” or anything. Larson also explained how he had loaded up his 2022 schedule with more races than a year prior to that. Added, “I think ended up running 110 races. But I burned myself out because I didn’t factor in the part that we do have practice and qualifying.”

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Moreover, he also mentioned because of the added sessions, he might have spent somewhere around “130 days” of the year inside the race car. He mentioned this to be the reason why he was so burnt out by the end of summer. He concluded by mentioning, “I just wanted a break.”

In the end, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion hoped that this year’s schedule would be planned in such a way that he would not be burnt out.