Throughout 2025, Kyle Larson slowly built up his momentum for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship. He picked up three trophies, overcame crashes, and counted on terrific pit calls to clinch the Bill France trophy in the end. However, NASCAR was not his only training ground, with Larson’s eclectic sprint car racing schedule. Given the riskier aspects of that sport, Rick Hendrick is worried about Larson while pursuing an unlikely pastime.

Kyle Larson reveals his team owner’s Gen-Z habit

“Rick has this thing. So he is on TikTok all the time. He’s on TikTok all the time. He’ll send me random… The only time he texts me is… I’ll show you. I’ll just pull it up. He’ll send me TikToks of me crashing sprint cars. Just TikToks of people crashing, me crashing. Oh, let me see. This is when Gravel wrecked in Eldora. He’s got to see how safe this is not,” Kyle Larson recently said on episode 67 of The Driver’s Project Podcast.

While NASCAR has definitely been eventful for Kyle Larson this year, so has sprint car racing. The two-time Cup Series champion slipped into multiple crashes, like a World of Outlaws race in June at the Plymouth Dirt Track. Larson was running second when his winged vehicle flipped end-over-end before slamming into the catch fence. He was able to climb out of the car unscathed and said that the right rear axle “or something” broke.

Then, quite recently, in mid-November, Kyle Larson dominated most of the 2025 Hangtown 100 USAC race. With four laps to go, Daison Pursley did a slide job on Larson’s No. 57 Keith Kunz Motorsports car. Pursley’s car hit a slick patch, slid up the track, and tagged Larson’s right rear, sending Larson flipping down the frontstretch. Then he went on to grab the race win and $20,000, with race officials ruling his move as a racing incident.

So it makes all the more sense that Rick Hendrick is worried about Kyle Larson’s sprint racing passion. At the same time, Hendrick cultivates his TikTok-watching habits, something that Gen-Z people usually do. Larson talked about a party where Hendrick asked him if he had crashed recently. Corey Day was also involved in the Hangtown 100 mess, and Hendrick was even more concerned.

“I was talking to Rick. He’s like, “Yeah, you crashed, right?” or whatever. “Do you see Cory’s?” “No, I haven’t seen Cory’s.” “Don’t go look for it,” Kyle Larson said. “Yeah, he loves to send TikToks of me crashing sprint cars from like years ago. I’m like, “Are you okay?” And Rick: “That was from six years ago.”

While Kyle Larson brushed off Rick Hendrick’s concerns, he himself is letting his next generation relax.

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No pressure to follow in his footsteps

Many legendary NASCAR drivers, notably Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, are also raising legendary racers. Keelan Harvick and Brexton Busch are already making waves in midget racing and Super Late models. However, Kyle Larson is adopting a different approach in this regard. He is committed to letting his children choose whichever professional path calls to them.

Larson’s kids are Owen, Audrey, and Cooper. He has shared that Owen leans towards baseball and flag football besides racing. Audrey harbors a sharp competitive spirit with her dabbling in racing and hockey. If racing captures their hearts, their Cup Series star father will back them fully. At the same time, if some other future awaits them, Larson is prepared to accept it.

“I would say I’m not as hands-on as who I guess I could compare myself to, like a Kyle Bush or Kevin Harvick or somebody like that,” Kyle Larson said in an interview with RACER. “They’re pretty hands-on and probably more intense with it than I would be. But I also think their kids are a little bit more intense with it, too. But… It’s fun to go there and see them enjoy it, have a good time, hopefully do a good job.”

Evidently, Kyle Larson takes joy in the moment and hence lets his kids do the same. That is why he found Rick Hendrick’s pet peeve amusing as well. With 2026 around the corner, let’s wait and see how Larson tackles the new year.