Kyle Larson and dirt racing was always a love story beyond description. Often considered his favorite format of racing, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was thought of as a dirt racer first, and a NASCAR driver next. But things took a surprising turn in 2022.

The Chili Bowl Nationals, also called the Golden Driller, is an event that dirt racers love. It is dirt racing heritage. Larson, a 2-time winner of the race, came out to say that he will not be participating in the event in 2023. That came as a shock to everyone – mostly because the reason cited was an unreasonable purse amount.

Kyle Larson has his calendar full

His withdrawal from the event looks to be confirmed by his interview with Shifting Gears, suggesting he has no plans to participate. The interviewer asked him, “Is there anything that’s on your agenda between now and February, that’s on your racing agenda?”

Larson made clear that his plans had nothing to do with the Chili Bowl Nationals. “Nothing in California or Southern California, but I’m gonna do some late model stuff – dirt late model stuff – in New Mexico. So that’ll be, I think it’s the 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, and maybe 14th, 15th, 16th, or something like that, of January. Not too far, not extremely far away. But I’m excited about that.”

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Larson’s withdrawal is definitely going to hurt the event and the organizers massively. He has a pull for fans that not too many other drivers have.

Larson not thinking too much about 2023

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As he finished speaking about his planned participation for 2023, Larson also described how time in the pre-season/off-season has been for him. With the remainder of the year jam-packed, drivers try to make the most of these few months and spend time with their families. Larson is no different.

He said to the interviewer, “Like you mentioned, I haven’t done much off-season racing. I’ve only ran once since Phoenix, so… we have a baby coming in any time in the next couple of weeks. That’s really kept me from racing.” 

But he has been enjoying the time off, as he said, “It has been really nice to spend time with the family. This is the most time consecutively I’ve ever spent with my wife and kids. It’s been a lot of fun.” 

Larson also spoke about how he is loving every bit of being a father to his kids. “Now that I have the time to do it, you know getting my kids involved in other things,” he said.

“I got my daughter signed up for gymnastics. Later tonight I’m taking my son to his first wrestling class. He’s got baseball camp next week. They’ve been ice skating. They want to get into hockey. So they’re trying everything and it’s been a lot of fun.”

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The Chili Bowl is just a handful of days down the line. With Larson out of the race for the first time in many years, it’ll be interesting to see what knockdown effect it has on viewership and footfall.