High Limit Racing is the new kid on the block, with fresh ideas, star power, and plenty of cash

Ever since the announcement of the High Limit Racing Series in 2022, Kyle Larson and his partners have been building to this moment. The NASCAR champion is about to unleash his new series on the world of sprint cars along with co-owner and racer Brad Sweet.

Well, more specifically, High Limit Racing is about to be unleashed on the World of Outlaws. For decades, WoO has been the premier sprint car series in the United States. Now, they have pressure from the outside.

Teaming up with FloRacing as the exclusive streaming partner of the series, higher purses, and other additions, High Limit is already making waves. With five-time WoO champ Brad Sweet, as well as Rico Abreu and Kyle Larson on the roster, they have the star power to attract eyes to the on-track product.

Kyle Larson has already changed the sprint car world

The biggest thing that High Limit Racing has done so far is make the World of Outlaws nervous. With richer purses and other quality-of-life additions for teams, including a potential charter system in the future, the Outlaws have had to react.

If you’re going to compete with an established product, you better have money to do it. You also have to have the star power to attract fans and make for a compelling story.

In the mind of Kyle Larson, High Limit is to sprint car racing what LIV has been to professional golf. That means more competition and a better environment for the athletes involved.

“I would compare it more to the LIV Golf Tour and the PGA kind of that split or whatever you want to call it,” Larson said in an interview with 5GOATs. “The PGA has been the leader for so many decades now, and then LIV comes in with a lot of fresh ideas and all that.”

Sometimes, the threat of a challenge is enough to make change. High Limit has definitely caught a lot of attention.

“I guess LIV coming in challenging PGA would be similar to us coming in to challenge the World of Outlaws. Now you see the PGA evolve their business model and the players are making more money. You already see the World of Outlaws after we come out and say that we’re going to have stuff like a traveling safety team, now they have a traveling safety team, their purses are bigger because they now have that competition and pressure.

“So, it’s all been good, for the sport to this point, it’s all been good. There’s more money out there, a lot more money out there now.”

Of course, Kyle Larson is likely the biggest name a new series like High Limit Racing could hope to have. With his platform as a NASCAR champion, it makes others pay attention.

Parlaying NASCAR notoriety into High Limit Racing

Motorsports in the United States have been on the rise. Everything that races seems to have had some kind of increase in attendance, viewers, and fans. For dirt racing, Larson has been a huge boon to the popularity of sprint cars and Late Models.

Larson knows that he has a huge platform now as a NASCAR champion and driver for Hendrick Motorsports. Over the years, that has helped bring more eyes to dirt racing.

“On the NASCAR side of things I think, now that I’m with a great team and all that I’ve kind of went through the last four or five years, I feel like my stardom or whatever you want to call it on the NASCAR side of things, and even outside of NASCAR with the Indy 500 and stuff like that, I think it’s kind of helped put more attention on the dirt stuff.”

That wasn’t always the case. But Larson believes his success in a stock car has led fans, and fellow drivers, to give the dirt stuff a chance.

“Now they’re [fans] coming to the race track to watch, coming to see me, and become fans of other drivers as well. It’s good I think too, not only me, but I think the way our schedules are in NASCAR now, we have a lot less practice. So a lot of drivers are now venturing out racing other dirt stuff. Whether it be a dirt Late Model, micros, sprint car stuff. So, now there’s more opportunity for NASCAR fans to go see a NASCAR driver at their dirt track.”

Perhaps the most revolutionary thing Kyle Larson’s High Limit Racing is giving value back to the teams in the series.

High Limit Racing is going all-in for its teams

While things are being batted around right now, Kyle Larson and the group that runs High Limit Racing are hoping to have chartered teams. When race fans heart charters, they think of NASCAR. Of course, there are issues with the charter system, such as the negotiations that have stalled to renew them in the Cup Series.

However, it gives teams value. Instead of folding and selling off cars and equipment, they have a charter. That charter, which gives them access to purses, races, and more, has value. Nothing is set right now in High Limit, but Larson wants teams to have options.

“I think it’s all still a work in progress a little bit, but the idea’s there and the idea is that, if you earn a charter, your team is going to hold value,” Larson explained. “Similar to what a NASCAR team does, or an NFL team, NBA franchise, their organization holds value.

“That way if you ever need to sell your charter or franchise, you’re not just selling your equipment. … The thought is that teams will own an asset and can sell it, rather than selling your equipment and getting whatever that’s worth.”

Ideally, if all goes well, High Limit Racing will be the premier sprint car series. In that case, Larson sees teams being able to buy and sell charters and get a return on their investment. He also sees the demand for those charters rising.

“That’s the goal is to, hopefully, we are the top series in a few years, and we’re going to have teams that want to race with us.”

Tonight, the High Limit Racing Series will continue its 2024 season at Golden Isles Speedway. The national series will then travel around the country from now until October. Fans can watch exclusively on FloRacing.