February 26, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

A new "Prelude" would be a dream come true for Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson is living the dream. 

The NASCAR Cup champion has raced in just about every marquee dirt race in North America and Down Under—but he never had the opportunity to experience the Prelude to the Dream. 

Larson’s first year in NASCAR was the final year of the charity late model race organized by Tony Stewart at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. 

A decade later, recreating an event similar to the Prelude tops Larson’s bucket list. His introduction to promoting a dirt late model race will come on April 14 with Kyle Larson Presents: FloRacing Late Model Challenge Powered by Tezos at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee. 

“It kind of came together late, just through my relationship with FloRacing,” Larson said from Auto Club Speedway on Saturday. “Initially, the idea of it started because I want to someday, somehow, bring back something similar to the Prelude to the Dream.

Larson’s latest venture will run three days prior to the Bristol Dirt Race. Stewart held the Prelude at the “Big E” —a half-mile dirt track from 2005 to 2012. The benefit preceded the Dream Dirt Late Model at Eldora and featured superstars from NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar and dirt disciplines.

With the Bristol Bash—a combined World of Outlaws show featuring both sprint cars and late models—moving to April 28-30, there was a void leading into the NASCAR Cup race weekend.
 
“I got talking with (FloSports vice president of motorsports) Michael Rigsby about that,” Larson added. “That kind of turned into—well, there’s no (late model) race at Bristol leading up to the Cup race like they had last year where a lot of the Cup guys went and ran. 

“So then, Bulls Gap kind of got thrown around and we ended up putting on that event. It should be a lot of fun.”

Volunteer Speedway features a .4-mile, 32-degree banked track in Bulls Gap, approximately an hour southwest of Bristol Motor Speedway.

“For me, I just hope people pay attention to it; a lot of fans come out and experience a new style of racing that maybe they’ve never seen in person,” Larson said. “It’s the night before we’re on track there. So hopefully, we get a lot of fans there.   But then, in the future, I would love to get an event going like Tony (Stewart) and Eldora (Speedway) had with the Prelude. 

“There’s obviously a totally new generation of drivers out there. I never got to compete in the Prelude to the Dream. It ended right when I got to NASCAR, so I would love to do that and would love to bring it back someday. To me, this is kind of the beginning of that or moving towards that. Like I said, hopefully someday we can do it.”

The Late Model Challenge isn’t Larson’s first experience as a race promoter. In November, Larson partnered with his brother-in-law—three-time WoO champ Brad Sweet and regional racer Colby Copeland to form SLC Promotions to oversee the management of Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. 

This weekend, however, Larson will focus on his day job—driving the No. 5 HendrickCars.com at Auto Club Speedway. Larson won from the pole at Fontana in 2017. He qualified 13th in the Next Gen car on Saturday. 

“I don’t know what to expect,” Larson said of the new car in the Wise Power 400. “I didn’t have much experience in the car this off-season, so I was learning a lot when I got to the Clash and even Daytona. I thought it was a fairly similar feeling to the other cars. It has its little bit of differences, but those tracks are so unique that I don’t think we’re really getting an idea of what the differences are and what stands out until we get out on track…and really through this west coast swing. 

“I think it’s a good test for what we’ll feel and what it’ll be like throughout the rest of the year. We’re at a 2-mile track this week, 1.5-mile next and a short track following that. So, once we get through the west coast swing, I think we’ll have a good idea of the differences and who’s learning quickly and who’s not.”