Kyle Larson comes home to drive against World of Outlaws at Placerville

NASCAR’s Kyle Larson loves sprint car racing. So much so, the Elk Grove native is making a special trip home to Northern California to compete at Placerville Speedway next Wednesday.

Larson, the current points leader after three consecutive second-place finishes in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, will race against World of Outlaws sprint car regulars in the Placerville Short Track Outlaw Showdown. The race’s promoter is Grass Valley’s Brad Sweet, a 21-time winner in the World of Outlaws series and the brother of Larson’s fiancée, Katelyn.

Sweet also is expected to drive in the Outlaw Showdown along with such popular Outlaws stars as eight-time series champion Donny Schatz, Jason Johnson, Daryn Pittman, Paul McMahan, Shane Stewart and Joey Saldana, as well as Placerville regulars Kyle Hirst, Rico Abreu and Andy Forsberg.

Worth $10,000 to the winner, this special midweek race follows Larson’s appearance in this Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Fontana. (By contrast, the winner of Sunday’s NASCAR race will earn more than $357,000.) The 24-year-old Larson started his racing career at local tracks including Placerville, where he earned his first sprint car victory.

“I am excited to race in front of a lot of familiar fans at Placerville Speedway and to also get the chance to compete against the best sprint car drivers in the world,” Larson said in a statement.

Reserved tickets ($45) are available at dirtcar.ticketforce.com or at the event. The speedway’s ticket office opens at 2 p.m., gates open at 4 p.m. Sprint car qualifying starts at 6:30 p.m.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Kyle Larson comes home to drive against World of Outlaws at Placerville."