Early Wednesday morning, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing announced that young gun Kyle Larson will race the full 33-race Nationwide Series schedule for Turner Scott Motorsports. He will drive the No. 32 Chevrolet Camaro. For Daytona, that car will be sponsorsed by Clorox. Since the No. 32 only ran one race in 2012 (with Miguel Paludo at Road America), Larson will have to get into the race on speed.
The move is an extension of last year’s relationship between Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and then-Turner Motorsports that saw Larson drive a fourth entry (No. 4) in the Camping World Truck Series for four races. In those races, Larson ran very well, earning three top-10 finishes. He had chances to win at both Phoenix and Homestead before dropping back (at Homestead, this was due to a late crash).
Larson is very happy to be moving up to the Nationwide Series on a full-time basis.
“This is truly one of the happiest days of my life,” Larson said. “I have been thinking about something like this since my very first days of racing. I am very proud to be part of Chip Ganassi’s organization and to be running with Turner Scott Motorsports. Daytona cannot come fast enough for me.”
Chip Ganassi is happy that Larson has been placed with a strong race team for 2013.
“We are pleased we were able to get Kyle in a quality, full-time ride for the 2013 Nationwide season,” Ganassi said. “Turner Scott Motorsports runs a quality [Camping World] Truck and Nationwide program and Kyle is one of the true young talents in racing. We think it will be a good fit for both of them. We believe Kyle has a bright future ahead of him in NASCAR.”
Last year, Larson had a very busy schedule of racing. In total, Larson competed in 123 races in various forms of motorsport, winning 30 times in machinery such as a K&N Pro Series car, a sprint car (winged and wingless), a Midget, a Silver Crown car, and a super late model. He walked away with the K&N Pro Series East Championship despite having never driven a stock car prior to last year.
Even with all of that prior success, including five wins already in 2013 in open-wheel racing, Larson will be making his Nationwide Series debut in Daytona. In addition, he will also compete in the Inaugural UNOH Battle at the Beach, the combination K&N Pro Series East and West showdown on a temporary oval on Daytona International Speedway’s backstretch measuring 2/5ths of mile prior to the Nationwide Series rolling out.