With the no renovation of Juan Pablo Montoya for the 2014 NASCAR Season with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing there’s a open door with so many names to fill in the Target Cheverolet #42 car. From Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, AJ.Allmendinger and Kyle Larson.
But…who is Kyle Larson?
A Japanese-American NASCAR Driver and Member of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, he is a development driver for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, and competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving the No. 32 Chevrolet Camaro for Turner Scott Motorsports.
He has the talent but can get stand against the pressure?
Kyle has been racing with NASCAR heavy weights in the Dirt Tracks in fact he ran at Iowa the past week, in that race Tony Stewart had that enormous crash which broke on of his legs. he finished 2nd in that race.
But racing in Sprint Car with Sprint Cup Drivers is very different than race them in a Sprint Cup Car during a Sprint Cup race.
Is he’s ready to race with big guys in their territory?
From my point of view, no, he’s too young for a full season in Sprint Cup (21 Years old) but NASCAR 4 time champion, Jeff Gordon made his debut at the same age, However, during the 1993 season, many doubted Gordon’s ability to compete at such a level at such a young age because of his tendency to push the cars too hard and crash. His last-place finish at the 1993 First Union 400 was a firm example of this theory.
Might happen with Larson? He never drove a Cup Car so far.
It would be a huge mistake for EGR to throw Larson into the deep end of the Sprint Cup Series pool at this point in his career. Look no further than such cautionary tales as Casey Atwood, Joey Logano and, yes, Danica Patrick as reasons why it’s a bad idea, all three cases had their Cup careers warped by being robbed of valuable time in the Nationwide Series and being moved to the top level of the sport before they were ready.
After those cases, might be afraid that if Larson’s Cup career goes wrong he’d disappear from the map as Atwood. or struggle like Danica as she’s struggling in her first full time season, the medium point in these three cases would be Logano. Consistent, fast but barely wins or have a good shoot for the win.