In June, Iowa will be a stop in Kyle Larson’s race-anywhere world

NEWTON — Premier racecar drivers are not like us.

They drive faster. They live faster. Insanely fast, which seems to be their normal pace. If you can qualify a racecar at 232.8 mph like Kyle Larson did for the Indianapolis 500, the rest of the world probably slows down.

What do you on a day when you aren’t racing? Larson was at Iowa Speedway Tuesday, with fellow NASCAR Cup Series stars Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell. They ran between 200 and 350 laps apiece between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the 7/8-mile oval. They were testing tires for the first Cup Series race in Iowa’s history, on June 16.

Larson got to Newton the morning after he was at the Indianapolis 500 awards banquet, which was held the day after he raced 500 miles at Indy and then flew to metro Charlotte, N.C., for the 600-mile NASCAR race there.

That was one day of his month that has included 10 days at Indy, competing in Cup Series events in Kansas, South Carolina and North Carolina, and mixing in sprint car races in Kansas and Indiana.

Larson, in his first Indy 500, qualified fifth for Indy. That was his highlight. The weather and a mistake he made in the 500 were lowlights.

The 500 started four hours late because of rain. Larson was assessed a penalty on Lap 134 for a speed violation on pit row, knocking him out of contention. He finished on the lead lap in 18th place, good enough to be the race’s Rookie of the Year and not nearly good enough to please him.

He then got in a helicopter at the track, went to the Indianapolis airport, was flown to North Carolina, helicoptered to Charlotte Motor Speedway, and was to replace substitute driver Justin Allgaier in Larson’s NASCAR car since he was getting there late.

That race was red-flagged for a weather delay when Larson arrived. He suited up and waited. Over two hours later, the race was called. Bell, in first place at the time of the red flag, was the winner, Keselowski got second place, and Larson ended a long and maddening day.

“What I thought could be one of the best days of my life quickly turned into one of the most disappointing ones I’ve ever experienced,” Larson tweeted early the next morning.

Tuesday night in Newton, Larson said this: “It was a lot of emotions. Mostly sad, but then mad, some more sad.”

Into every life a little rain must fall. Larson, 31, resumes his quest of a second Cup Series championship this weekend in metro St. Louis. It’s on to Sonoma, Calif., the following week. Then the inaugural Iowa Corn 350.

Larson raced here when NASCAR held then-Nationwide Series (now Xfinity Series) and Craftsman Truck Series events between 2009 and 2019. He had a pair of top-five finishes in his two Nationwide starts here.

In January, Larson was asked to name which of the 38 Cup Series races of 2024 excites him the most. He named Iowa.

When he learned Iowa was getting a Cup race, “I was stoked,” he said Tuesday. “We've all been wanting a Cup race here for a long time.

“I'm not sure the reasonings behind why we didn't, or even why we have one now, but I’m just happy to get to race in front of some great Midwest fans.”

Larson likes Iowa for another reason. He was the 2021 and 2023 winner of the Knoxville Nationals, held 28 miles from Newton. It’s the top sprint car extravaganza in the world. It’s on a half-mile track of Iowa dirt. Larson races nearly anything, anywhere.

“For August,” he said, “Knoxville is where you want to be.”

Larson is 31. Flying around the country, flying around racetracks enormous and small. If there were a Cup race in Manhattan, he’d try to find a dirt track in Brooklyn the night before.

Few ever try to race 1,100 miles in a day at tracks 575 miles apart. A hundred years ago, George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest. “Because it’s there,” Mallory said.

Tuesday, Larson was asked if he wanted to give the Indy-Charlotte double another try.

“I would love to,” he said.

Premier racecar drivers are not like us.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com