Kyle Larson enters Chili Bowl at last minute

NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson announced Tuesday he will take part in the 38th annual Chili Bowl Midget Nationals this week.

Larson, a two-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion, will reunite with former longtime car owner Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby to drive the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 98K sponsored by DH Horton, FloRacing, HendrickCars.com, per FloRacing.com.

Larson’s admission into the event comes on short notice and came together rather quickly Tuesday morning. The 31-year-old called Kunz at 8:13 a.m. asking if he had a car available. Kunz did, and Larson was booking travel arrangements shortly thereafter.

Larson will fly into Tulsa after racing a late model in night three of the Wild West Shootout at Vado Speedway Park Wednesday. He will then compete in a prelim Thursday night, where a top-2 finish locks him into his 11th feature appearance. If he qualifies, he’ll race Saturday evening at Vado and then fly to Tulsa to compete for his third Golden Driller. The championship feature begins at midnight from the Tulsa Expo Center.

Larson won his first Chili Bowl Nationals title in 2020 and followed it up with another win in 2021. He finished sixth in the 2022 championship feature and didn’t participate last year.

Kyle Larson could retire early from NASCAR: ‘I don’t see myself going to 40’

Larson isn’t taking any time off despite it being the NASCAR offseason, though that comes as no surprise. The 2021 Cup Series champion loves racing, primarily on dirt, and often packs his schedule with events. How long will that continue? Larson recently opened up about his future, saying he doesn’t see himself “going to 40.”

“I mean, it’s hard to say when you’re in it,” Larson said. “I don’t, like sitting here right now, I don’t see myself going to 40. But that’s not me retiring from racing. That’s, I think I’m different than others. Kevin, I mean, he’s retiring, not from full-time racing, but he’s got a plan to go in the booth and all of that. A lot of these drivers too, I don’t think they meant to be done at 42 I think they just got pushed out of the sport a little bit with young drivers coming up, who could be paid a lot less than what they’re making, stuff like that.

“But then, for me, there’s a lot of stuff I want to accomplish while I’m still in my prime. I’m 31 right now, I’m going into my 11th season in the Cup Series, I’ve already been in it for a while. So, in my eyes if I can race another seven or eight years, I can earn a lot of money, I can set myself up really well and I can go still be in my prime, hopefully, and go compete for a premier dirt series championship.”