NASCAR star Larson indicates Bathurst interest

NASCAR superstar Kyle Larson has indicated he would one day be keen to compete in the Bathurst 1000.

The American racing star, who won the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series title, is regarded as one of the most versatile drivers in world motorsport. The 28-time Cup race winner is also a three-time Knoxville Nationals winner, and debuted in this year’s Indianapolis 500.

A favourite to win a second Cup title this year, Larson will race in Australia at the Perth Motorplex with the High Limit speedway series from December 27-29.

Larson, who recently declared himself “a better all-round driver” than three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, was recently asked on NASCAR’s Stacking Pennies podcast about a dream part-time campaign across categories.

In response, the Hendrick Motorsports driver said: “I enjoy doing what I get to do… I would run the majority of the [NASCAR] Cup schedule for sure.

"I guess there’s other series in other countries maybe I could go run. Like, a V8 Supercar would be kind of cool, getting to do Bathurst would be neat.

“But there’s just conflicts, there’s not enough days in the year. There’s big races on the same weekends.”

While Larson may have to wait for a Bathurst start, given conflicts with his NASCAR commitments, Cup Series drivers could conceivably make a cameo at the season-ending Adelaide round as early as 2025.

The 2025 Cup Series finale at Phoenix is scheduled for November 2. On Friday, the 2025 Supercars calendar was announced, with Adelaide rounding out the season on November 27-30.

Supercars drivers have recently made starts in the Cup Series, with Will Brown and Cam Waters racing at Sonoma in June. For the record, Larson won that race.

It comes after Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki made starts last year, with van Gisbergen's famous Chicago victory paving the way to NASCAR for the three-time Supercars champion.

In recent years, international stars have come to Australia to race at the Mountain. Notably, IndyCar aces Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe steered a wildcard Commodore at the 2019 Bathurst 1000.

While in Sonoma, Brown told Supercars.com that he would love to see Cup drivers turn the tables and one day race Down Under.

"I've had so many people already this weekend come up and go, ‘So cool to see you coming out. We're watching Supercars, we're using Superview and the app’. That's just awesome,” Brown said at the time.

"So hopefully more people can watch us over there, and we can keep supporting NASCAR and keep versing each other. If we could have one of the NASCAR guys come out and race in a Supercar event, that'd be awesome.”

The Repco Bathurst 1000 is the next stop of the 2024 Supercars season on October 10-13. International viewers can watch the race on Superview.