Kyle Larson on future, World of Outlaws: ‘They’ve stuck behind me. That means a lot.’

By May 26, 2020, 1:00 PM EDT
Chris Owens/World of Outlaws
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Kyle Larson said he has no firm plans for where he’ll race the rest of the 2020 season, saying in a World of Outlaws release Tuesday he will “pick and choose” the races that make the most sense and will focus on sprint cars.

He also said in an MRN Winged Nation interview Tuesday that he has the next four racing weekends mapped out, but “past the next four weeks, I don’t know what races are even planned in the world right now. We just plan on hitting whenever races make the most sense to us.”

Larson, who was fired by Chip Ganassi Racing last month for using a racial slur in an iRacing event, said he plans to run several more NOS Energy Sprint Car Series after winning and finishing second on consecutive nights last week in Pevely, Missouri.

He also set a track qualifying record as the first Outlaws drivers in 33 years to crack the 10-second barrier at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.

“I love racing with the World of Outlaws,” Larson, whose nine Outlaws wins rank him 44th on the all-time list, said in the interview with the Outlaws PR staff. “They’ve stuck behind me, too, throughout this. That means a lot. I always want to support them, especially with them sticking behind me.

“I can’t wait to get my journey started and see where my future goes.”

Larson remains indefinitely suspended by NASCAR but was approved to race by the Outlaws after completing sensitivity training. Kyle Larson Racing has been competing in the World of Outlaws since 2013.

The release mentioned that Larson, his wife, Katelyn, and their two children had been hanging out with Clint Bowyer and his family in Lake Ozark, Missouri (Larson will be racing when the Outlaws race May 29-30 at Lake Ozark Speedway).

There was no other mention in the release of future NASCAR races, however, for Larson, who said he had received thousands of congratulatory messages since his victory.

During a Tuesday interview with Motor Racing Network’s Winged Nation, Larson said he did want to race in the NASCAR Cup Series again. Larson told MRN hosts Erin Evernham and Steve Post that he had mapped out his races for the next four weeks.

“I’m just happy to be racing race cars right now,” he said. “It’s been weird watching the NASCAR stuff on TV, but I also hope that I’ll still be able to have another opportunity to race in Cup someday, so taking this time to watch and still study and stay relevant in my own mind. That way whenever an opportunity comes up, I’ll be ready to take full advantage of that opportunity and do a good job.”

Larson also credited the support of the sprint car drivers and fans with helping him manage.

“It’s been nice to hang out with my friends in the sprint car world just because a lot of drivers in the sprint car racing community are some of my best friends,” he said in the Winged Nation interview. “Getting to race with them and getting to hang out in the pit area or at the hotels or whatever has been a lot of fun. It seems like life is getting back to normal, and I’m enjoying it and enjoying traveling. We made our first long road trip as a family from Mooresville to Missouri this week, so that was fun. Just getting to do things we haven’t done in a long time

“It’s meant the world to me (to have fans’ support). Obviously, I’ve gone through a lot here lately and lost a lot of my partners, which I fully understand. But the ones who’ve stuck me, it just means the world to have that support from people and fans and friends and family.

“That’s what has really helped me get by and stay positive through this all. It’s been life-changing, no doubt. But the support of everybody has really helped get me by and Katelyn, and the kids don’t know what’s going on, but still just getting that support from everybody helps me stay strong and be a dad still. It’s tough, but the support. … It’s hard to be positive, but the support really helps.

Kyle Larson celebrates after winning at I-55 Raceway (Trent Gower).

Larson said he cried and was choked up upon returning to his team hauler after the record qualifying lap in Pevely and seemed happy to have found solace in dirt racing.

“It’s definitely something I love,” Larson said in the Outlaws release. “I really just love racing cars in general. I’m just happy I can still get out here and have some fun and be around my close friends.”

“It’s just been a crazy, rough handful of weeks. So, any small accomplishment like (the qualifying record) means a lot.”

Larson also heavily credited Paul Silva, who has provided the No. 57 he has raced in three starts since his return and also tunes the car.

“Just really proud of Paul and everyone who helps out on his team,” Larson said. “Everyone who has stuck behind us after my mistake there. It means a lot. I’m having a blast. Trying to have as much fun as I can anyways. Trying to keep my mind off things. To turn it around here now, it gives us confidence for sure.”

The win in Pevely, Missouri, was Kyle Larson’s ninth in the World of Outlaws (Trent Gower).

Tony Kanaan at peace with IndyCar career end: ‘I’ll always be an Indianapolis 500 winner’

By May 31, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Few drivers in Indy 500 history have been as popular as Tony Kanaan.

Throughout his career at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that began with his first Indy 500 in 2002, the fans loved his aggressiveness on the track and his engaging personality with the fans.

The Brazilian always got the loudest cheers from the fans during driver introductions before the Indy 500.

Sunday’s 107th Indianapolis 500 would be his last time to walk up the steps for driver introductions. Kanaan announced earlier this year that it would be his final race of his IndyCar career, but not the final race as a race driver.

He will continue to compete in stock cars in Brazil and in Tony Stewart’s summer series known as the “Superstar Racing Experience” – an IROC-type series that competes at legendary short tracks around the country beginning in June.

Kanaan was the extra driver at Arrow McLaren for this year’s Indy 500 joining NTT IndyCar Series regulars Pato O’Ward of Mexico, Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden, and Alexander Rossi of northern California.

He had a sporty ride, the No. 66 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet that paid homage to McLaren’s first Indianapolis 500 victory by the late Mark Donohue for Team Penske in 1972.

Because Kanaan has meant so much to the Indianapolis 500 and the NTT IndyCar Series, the 2013 Indy 500 winner was honored before the start of the race with a special video.

It featured Kanaan sitting in the Grandstand A seats writing a love letter to the fans of this great event. Kanaan narrated the video, reciting the words in the letter and it finished with the driver putting it in an envelope and leaving it at the Yard of Bricks.

Lauren Kanaan with daughter Nina before the 107th Indy 500 (Bruce Martin Photo).

Many in the huge crowd of 330,000 fans watched the video on the large screens around the speedway. On the starting grid, Kanaan’s wife, Lauren, who bears a striking resemblance to actress Kate Beckinsale, watched with their four children.

Kanaan’s wife is an Indiana girl who was a high school basketball star in Cambridge City, Indiana.

Kanaan proposed to Lauren in 2010, and after a three-year engagement, they were married in 2013 – the year he won his only Indianapolis 500.

She has been Kanaan’s rock, and this was a moment for the family to share.

After receiving an ovation and the accolades from the crowd, Kanaan walked to his car on the starting grid and exchanged hugs with people who were important in his career.

One of those was Takuma Sato’s engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing, Eric Cowdin.

Tony Kanaan shares a moment with former engineer Eric Cowdin (Bruce Martin Photo).

Kanaan and Cowdin shared a longtime relationship dating all the way back to the Andretti Green Racing days when Kanaan was a series champion in 2004. This combination stayed together when Kanaan moved to KV Racing in 2011, then Chip Ganassi Racing from 2014-2018 followed by two years at AJ Foyt Racing.

Kanaan returned to run the four oval races for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 in the No. 48 Honda that was shared with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

In 2022, Johnson ran the full IndyCar Series schedule, and Kanaan drove the No. 1 American Legion entry to a third-place finish in his only IndyCar race of the season.

Kanaan knew that 2023 would be his last Indy 500 and properly prepared himself mentally and emotionally for his long goodbye.

But one could sense the heartfelt love, gratitude, and most of all respect for this tenacious driver in the moments leading up to the start of the race.

Tony Kanaan gets emotional during an interview after the Indy 500 (Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar/ USA TODAY Sports Images Network).

“The emotions are just there,” Kanaan said. “I cried 400 times. This guy came to hug me, and I made Rocket (IndyCar Technical Director Kevin Blanch) cry. I mean, that is something.

“Yeah, it was emotional.”

Kanaan started ninth and finished 18th in a race that was very clean for the first two thirds of the race before ending in disjointed fashion with three red flags to stop the race over the final 15 laps.

“Yellows breed yellows and when you are talking about the Indianapolis 500 and a field that is so tough to pass, that happens,” Kanaan said. “It’s the Indy 500. Come on. We’ve got to leave it out there.

“Every red flag, everybody goes, I’m going to pass everybody. It’s tough to pass. It’s the toughest field, the tightest field we ever had here. It was going to happen. We knew it was going to happen.

“I wouldn’t want it any different. We left it all out there. Everybody that was out left it out.”

At one point in the second half of the race, Kanaan passed Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin by driving through the grass on the backstretch.

“That was OK, right?” Kanaan said. “That is one thing I have not done in 22 years here. Even (team owner) Sam Schmidt came to me and said, ‘That was a good one.’

“That was a farewell move.”

On the final lap, it was Kanaan battling his boyhood friend from Brazil, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, for a mid-pack finish.

“Helio and I battling for 15th and 16th on the last lap like we’re going for the lead,” Kanaan said. “It was like, who’s playing pranks with us.

“We both went side by side on the backstretch after the checker and we saluted with each other, and I just told him actually I dropped a tear because of that, and he said, ‘I did, too.’

“We went side by side like twice. A lot of memories came to my mind, and I even said how ironic it is that we started it together and I get to battle him on the last lap of my last race.

Tony Kanaan is embraced by his wife, Lauren, after finishing 16th in the 107th Indianapolis 500 ((Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar/ USA TODAY Sports Images Network).

“It’s pretty neat. It’s a pretty cool story. He’s a great friend. My reference, a guy that I love and hate a lot throughout my career, and like he just told me — I was coming up here and he just said, who am I going to look on the time sheet when I come into the pits now, because we always said that it didn’t matter if I was — if I was 22nd and he was 23rd, my day was okay. And vice versa.

“It was a good day for me, man. What can I say? We cried on the grid.

“Not the result that we wanted. I went really aggressive on the downforce to start the race. It was wrong. Then I added downforce towards the end of the race, and it was wrong. It was just one of those days.”

After the race was over, Kanaan drove his No. 66 Honda back to the Arrow McLaren pit area and climbed out of the car to cheers of the fans that could see him. Others were focused on Josef Newgarden’s wild celebration after the Team Penske driver had won his first Indianapolis 500.

There were no tears, though, only smiles from Kanaan who closes an IndyCar career with 389 starts, 17 wins including the 2013 Indianapolis 500, 79 podiums, 13 poles, and 4,077 laps led in a 26-year career.

Kanaan came, he raced, and he raced hard.

“That’s what we did, we raced as hard as we could,” Kanaan told NBC Sports.com. “It wasn’t enough.

“The win was the only thing that mattered. If we were second or 16th, we were going to celebrate regardless.

“In a way, being 16th will stop people wondering if I’m going to come back.

“I’m ready to go. I’m ready to enjoy the time with my family, with my team and doing other things as well.”

Kanaan’s face will forever be part of the Borg-Warner Trophy as the winner of the Indianapolis 500.

“I won one and that is there, and it will always be there,” Kanaan said. “It was an awesome day.

“The way this crowd made me feel was unbelievable. I don’t regret a bit.”

Tony Kanaan hugs his son Max before the Indy 500 (Grace Hollars/IndyStar/USA TODAY Sports Images Network).

Kanaan actually announced the 2020 Indianapolis 500 would be TK’s last ride because he wanted to say goodbye to the fans.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 hit, the Indianapolis 500 was moved from Memorial Day Weekend to August 23 and because of COVID restrictions, fans were not allowed to attend the Indianapolis 500.

Three years later, Kanaan was finally able to say goodbye to this fans that were part of the largest crowd to see the Indianapolis 500 since the sold-out gathering for 350,000 that attended the 100th running in 2016.

“That’s it, that’s what I wanted, and I got what I wanted,” Kanaan said. “This moment was so special; I don’t want to ever spoil it again.

Tony Kanaan kisses his daughter Nina before the 107th Indy 500 (Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY Sports Images Network).

“We’ve been building and growing this series as much as we can. I’m really glad and proud that I was able to be part of building something big and this year’s race was one of the biggest ones.”

Kanaan walked off pit lane and rejoined his family. He will always be part of the glorious history of the Indianapolis 500 and fans will be talking about Tony Kanaan years from now, not by what he did, but the way he did it.

“This is what it is all about,” Kanaan said on pit lane. “Having kids, be a good person. Even if you don’t win, it’s fine if you don’t, as long as you make a difference.

“Hopefully, I made a difference in this sport.

“I will always be an IndyCar driver. I will always be an Indy 500 winner and I will always make people aware of IndyCar in the way it deserves.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500 

(Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY Sports Images Network)