Kyle Larson might not have any furniture in his Huntersville, N.C., apartment yet, but the 19-year-old driver from Elk Grove does have a seat in a Rev Racing Team Late Model race car competing in the 2012 K&N Pro Series East tour.

Larson joins five others on the Rev Racing team. The move has him living alone in a sparse apartment in the Charlotte suburb as he travels to tracks in Iowa, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina, where most NASCAR teams are based.

"I don't have any furniture yet," Larson said of his one-bedroom place. "I've been staying with a good friend (Kevin Swindell), so I'm all right. But I don't cook, though. I'm too lazy."

Rev Racing, formerly known as Revolution Racing, is owned by Max Siegel and will field four teams in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and two teams in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

Rev Racing is coming off the most successful season in the nine-year history of NASCAR Drive for Diversity, the organization's No. 1 feeder program that finds and develops young talent from underrepresented groups.

Larson's mother, Janet, is of Japanese heritage and his father, Mike, is part American Indian.

Rev Racing collected six wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2011 and had three drivers finish in the top 10 in the series points chase last year.

Larson's teammates include Jorge Artega, Mackenna Bell, Trey Gibson, Bryan Ortiz and Ryan Gifford. Gifford is in his third K&N season and in 2010 became the first African American in series history to win a pole. He's finished in the top 10 in the points standing in each of his two seasons.

Larson and Bell, who hails from Carson City, Nev., are the only drivers from the West.

Larson competed in a combine late in 2011, and in his first experience in a NASCAR-type vehicle he turned the second-fastest time of the group. During the 2011 open-wheel season, he won several United States Auto Club events and won the 58th Gold Cup Race of Champions at Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway against World of Outlaws sprint car drivers.

But NASCAR is still the pinnacle for most American drivers, and the opportunity to compete for a well-funded team against some of the best drivers in NASCAR's minor leagues was an opportunity Larson couldn't pass up.

The K&N Pro Series East tour has 14 stops beginning March 17 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., and ends Nov. 3 at Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, N.C. So there will be plenty of opportunities for Larson to drive a sprint car, although he's currently not under contract.

"We'll be all right, and I really haven't been asking around (about driving jobs)," Larson said. "I may drive again for (Rich) Stadelhofer Racing (his main 2011 sprint car ride), but we're waiting to hear about funding."

Between Late Model testing in Florida for Tim Russell Racing and competing in New Zealand in late December and January alongside fellow Elk Grove native Paul McMahan, Larson has been anything but lazy.

In his first international start, Larson won the Boxing Night Classic at Western Springs and had a third and a sixth place in the other two races he competed in down under.

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Mark Billingsley covers local motor sports for The Bee. Reach him at editorwriter@att.net.

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