Candy Q&A: Kyle Larson

Highlights:

• Championship Collection available until 7pm ET tonight - 3/7
• Interview on Candy’s Twitter Page
• Kyle Larson’s takes on the Next-Gen Era, Digi-Casts and Championship Collection

Candy's Q&A with Kyle Larson

Before his practice on Saturday, Kyle Larson hung out in the infield on the Las Vegas track to tune in with Matt Weaver. Just last week, Larson brought home his first win of the season at Fontana. He said it was a fun race, Fontana is a great track no matter what rule package is involved, and it's a good feeling to get a win early in the season.  

Matt Weaver started the conversation with the 2021 Kyle Larson Championship Collection. The two spoke about the three rarities of NFTs and the utility and experience that come with it. “How special was last season?” asked Weaver.

“It was definitely special,” said Larson. “It was my first year with Hendrick and my first Championship.” Larson went on to say how it was a better year than anticipated and hopefully he can do it again. He’s excited about the Candy products and thought the design and creativity behind them are really cool.

“Merchandising is important, in dirt and pavement racing, how do you feel about digital products coming into play here?” Weaver went on.

“I’m still learning about it, but I definitely think it's cool and it's where the world is trending for memorabilia,” said Larson. He said he’s glad to be a part of it; Candy is making some really cool things for people to start a collection with. Larson also mentioned the experiential components and how it's cool to add once in a lifetime opportunities.

Matt Weaver didn’t shy away from mentioning he was a Jeff Gordon guy, “I feel like I’m out of the statute of limitations saying this.” Weaver had a point in this take by going on about his diecast collection. “I had every Gordon car diecast growing up, I’m a huge racing collectibles person, are you a big collector?”

“I have spent thousands of dollars on hundreds of diecasts.” responded Larson. “As a kid, I would use all my allowance to buy more cars.” The champion said he has a ton of collector items from the sport and he collects his own cars too. “When I moved to North Carolina, I went online and bought a ton of vintage cars too. I’m a huge collector so these NFTs are intriguing to me because that's the next generation of collectibles.”

Moving back to the Next-Gen Era of racing, Weaver said, “The hardest thing to do in the Cup Series is to win a championship, an even harder thing is to win back to back. These are Next-Gen cars, everything is different, do you feel like this car suits your driving style?”

“I don’t know,” said Larson. “I have experience driving all sorts of cars, there isn’t a type that suits me better than others.” Larson said he adapts well and it's good to win early in the season to verify that for himself and his team. “It’s so early in the year, it's hard to tell. I’m confident in the race team that we can be successful.” Larson finished his answer by saying it still is a stock car and in the end, this is stock car racing.

“It’s hard to predict anything now since it is all new, do you have any idea based on Fontana what the racing should look like in Vegas?” asked Weaver.

Larson didn’t participate in testing in Charlotte, and he said Fontana is different, there's more throttle time and bigger drafts. “It’s so early in the year, once you get through the west coast wing and you can get through Phoenix, then you can judge and see how you rank and where you can improve. It’s too early to predict racing and style but it will be exciting.”

Weaver's final question targeted all that comes with what happens after winning a championship. “You’ve been a champ for several months, there’s responsibilities and obligations in the media. Now you’re an ambassador for sport - how has that been a part of your life for the last couple of months?"

“I haven't been too involved with the behind the scenes,” said Larson. “You can look at all the past champs, they all have a voice in the sport and represent it very well, I plan to do the same.” Larson said he loves racing the Cup Series and he plans to do it for a long time. He finished by saying, “I want to be the type of guy who grows the sport and connects all kinds of racing, like dirt and pavement, I enjoy it so much. Being a champ now only elevates that.”