Ex-NASCAR Team Owner Reveals Origin Story Of Kyle Larson’s Maiden Daytona Victory

Kyle Larson is one of the most popular names amongst the active drivers in Motorsports. Apart from him claiming to be the best all-round driver in the world, he’s actually one of the most successful drivers when it comes to versatility. The 2021 Cup Series champion has 29 Cup wins. Other than being successful in the top-tier stock racing series, Larson has also been victorious in Dirt racing and midgets. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has been impressive everywhere except for Superspeedways.

Especially at the Daytona International Speedway! The winner of the 2021 Coco-Cola 600 six hundred is yet to conquer Daytona in the Cup Series. While Larson’s Xfinity win on the track is regarded as his first at the venue, that is not entirely correct. Recently, Ex NASCAR team owner Mike Curb was in conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr, who shared the story of Larson’s first Daytona victory.

Do you know about Kyle Larson’s first Daytona win?

This was a time after Larson was crowned the 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion. And was running races in open-wheel sprint and midget cars on dirt. He was driving for Curb Racing in the Late Model division of the Whelen All-American Series. Curb Racing was owned by Mike Curb, former Lieutenant Governor of California. Curb, after his political tenure was completed, wanted to foray into the world of Motorsports.

Mike Curb, along with renowned motorsport lawyer Cary Agajanian, started Curb Agajanian Performance Group (Also known as Curb Racing), a team that had NASCAR legend Richard Petty piloting their #43 car in the 1984 Winston Cup Series. Petty also gave Curb Racing their only two wins in the Cup in their tenure starting from 1984 to 2011. However, the team was started to nurture young talent in Motorsports and Kyle Larson happens to be their prized find. With the team, Larson won the inaugural Battle at the Beach All-American Late Model race in 2013 at Daytona International Speedway. Which Curb claims is the #5 driver’s first win.

Recently Mike Curb was on the Dale Jr Download podcast and shared the story of Larson’s victory. He said, “It was Cary’s idea, started a Curb Elite program years ago to take Young Drivers who’ve never had a chance and the first five drivers that Carrie came up with were Christopher Bell, Kevin Swindell, Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu and when we went to Daytona for the battle of the beach in 2013, we had a curb records car and we put Kyle Larson who’d never been in a stock car. And he won there, he won the All-American late model division of the Battle at the Beach in a Curb Reccords car. And that was his first victory at Daytona.”

According to Curb, many regard Larson’s 2018 Xfinity series win as his first in Daytona, but it’s actually this one. And it’s one of the most memorable races for him. “Now if you say to a historian, what was Kyle Larson’s first victory at Daytona, well they would they would probably say when he won the Busch race (He only won in the Xfinity in 2018)… But his first race at the speedway actually was Battle at the Beach. No one wants to hear that statistic but it was fun for me. Because it was fun to work and Kyle drove our midget and our USAC and won 30 races,” Curb added.

Post this, Larson ran his first full season in the Cup Series for Chip Ganassi Racing before joining HMS in 2021. While Larson’s 2013 Daytona win is long forgotten, it would still be special for the California native. After all, it was his first race in a stock car. And It kind of set the tone for what he achieved in the world of stock racing.

The 2013 ‘Battle at the Beach’ All-American Late Model race

Larson, then 20 years old, was hell-bent on winning the race and chose to take a page out of Kyle Busch’s book. Larson began the main event from the front row. He maintained a cautious approach, staying within the top five throughout most of the race. Despite a setback caused by contact with Ben Rhodes that damaged his car’s front end, he managed to recover and make a late push for the lead. Chasing down the lead car. However, his move to take the lead was rather dirty, as admitted by the 20-year-old after the race.

In the final lap of the 150-lap race, Larson spun the race leader, C.E. Falk, to take the checkered flag. Post the race, Larson, delighted with winning at the iconic venue said, “I did dirty him up there. I got into him once, got into him twice and then got him around. It’s the last lap. You have to slow down so much in the center of the corner, I got a run on him and got into the back of him. I got underneath him and then got him around. I feel bad for him, but like I said, I wanted to win.”

Larson is not known for racing this hard, but the adrenaline-filled youngster could not control his nerves. “It’s the first race I’ve ever won in that manner, but this was a pretty big race. I wanted to win it. It was a cool race. My adrenaline was really going… My heart was pounding. When I got the checkered, I was just really excited and glad I could win. It was a good win for the team,” Larson added.

Do you remember this race of Larson? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.