Kyle Larson has a pretty vast fanbase in the current era of NASCAR. In fact, his fanbase even includes current legends like Tony Stewart! But there was something that even he couldn’t understand about Larson.

Every generation of NASCAR has had its outliers that stood out among the rest. Many fans argue that Kyle Larson might be this year’s diamond in a pit of coal. And they wouldn’t be wrong to feel that way, judging from his highly adaptable driving style that is consistently fast and never ceases to impress.

To add to that, Larson has a particularly calm and composed mindset. So composed that last year, he backed away from starting a fight with Bubba Wallace after being very intentionally shoved and put out of a race entirely. Even Tony Stewart was caught off guard by his insane ability to hold himself back as he poked fun at him.

“There’s another difference that I saw last year, too,” as per Sportscasting.com, Stewart said. “He had somebody pushing him and he didn’t get in a fight.”

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Maybe Stewart finds it hard to relate to Larson, but still, it takes a lot of patience to hold back from a fight after being physically harmed so much. Especially in a high-intensity, high-adrenaline environment.

Tony Stewart made a $10,000 mistake with Kyle Larson

NBC journalist, Robin Miller, once recalled a memory of Tony Stewart when he had the golden opportunity to sign Larson. But of course, he didn’t and regretted it later on. Miller revealed what Stewart said at Eldora, “‘I’ve never seen anything like this’. He goes, ‘if that kid wins a Silver Crown race, I’m gonna write him a check for ten grand out of my pocket’.”

And then the journalist shared the advice he gave to Stewart “I said, ‘Well if you were smart, you’ll put a contract under because all he wants to do is drive World of Outlaws or Stock cars. And you’ve got teams in both of those’. Stewart’s like, ‘Well. I don’t have a ride for him. I say, well who cares? Sign him.’”

Unfortunately, he didn’t sign him and clearly regretted it. “And then next time I see Stewart was that Chilli Bowl he goes, ‘God I screwed up’.” 

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Well, everyone makes mistakes, but Stewart really messed up big time here. What if things transcended further and maybe Larson ended up in Stewart Haas Racing?