Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who recently compared his skills to triple F1 World Champion Max Verstappen, could get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car himself in the near-future.
Speaking on Harvick's 'Happy Hour' podcast on Fox Sports, Zak Brown revealed that "we've been chatting about it. Kyle, as you can imagine, definitely wants to do it in-between our schedule, which goes from February to December, and NASCAR's schedule, which is February to November. Finding that window -- we did that with Jimmie Johnson and Fernando [Alonso] in Bahrain with Hendrick Motorsports. That must have been about four, five years ago and that was a lot of fun. I'd love to see Kyle in an F1 car. It is something that we've discussed and something I think will happen down the road."
Larson already has ties to McLaren after making his Indianapolis 500 debut earlier this year in a joint effort between Hendrick and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team. He qualified fifth and was running solidly inside the top-ten until a speeding penalty on the final stop derailed his efforts. It's since been announced that he will return to the Indy 500 with McLaren in 2025.
As Brown noted, it wouldn't be the first time a NASCAR champion tested a McLaren F1 car. Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time champion of the sport, swapped rides with Fernando Alonso in November, 2018. He drove the 2013 MP4-28 in a shakedown at Bahrain while Alonso piloted Johnson's No. 48 Gen-6 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
On Harvick's podcast, the McLaren team boss also discussed the possibility of McLaren attempting the Daytona 500 one day. "Doing something around the Daytona 500, kind of like what we're doing with Hendrick Motorsports around the Indy 500. That would be kind of cool, seeing a papaya NASCAR going around Daytona. So it's got me thinking, and I do think it's really cool to see these crossovers."
As for any future NASCAR endeavors or a ride swap involving Larson, what driver would be involved from the McLaren side of things? Brown quickly named Oscar Piastri, who earned his maiden F1 victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.
"Oscar knocked on my door a little bit about his excitement around NASCAR, so I think if we were to do something with Kyle in one of our Formula 1 drivers, it would probably most likely be Oscar," said Brown.
