Without a doubt, Kyle Larson is one of the most talented drivers in motorsport across the entire continent of North America.
Not only is he a NASCAR Cup Series champion, be he also dipped his toes into IndyCar when he competed at, and was competitive in, the Indianapolis 500.
Starting fifth and finishing 18th, he earned Rookie of the Year honours for the Indianapolis 500 following the impressive showing.
But, dubbed as one of the most adaptable drivers in the world, he has now become part of a debate surrounding Formula 1’s Max Verstappen.
Kevin Harvick declares who he thinks is better between Max Verstappen and Kyle Larson
The Dutchman is the undisputed king and one of the best drivers in the world at the moment, having won three consecutive championships in the pinnacle of motorsport.
But, 2020 regular season Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick believes that Larson is the more talented driver across all forms of motorsport.
“The thing that I can tell you. That if Kyle Larson went to drive Max Verstappen’s car, it wouldn’t be but one or two days and he would be damn close to being as fast as Max Verstappen,” he said on the Harvick Happy Hour podcast.
“But there is no way that Max Verstappen comes up over here and does that in a stock car. He’s extremely talented and very very good at what he does for his discipline.
“I heard him talk about drivers being specialized in their discipline. That’s not Kyle Larson. Kyle Larson can go out and drive anything, he’s very good at his discipline, but he’s got multiple disciplines,” he continued.
“We saw what he did in an IndyCar and I truly believe that Max would do OK, but he but he’s not going to do anything anywhere close to what Kyle Larson does.”
Larson’s chase for a second NASCAR title
Larson has both the most amount of wins (four) and pole positions (four) so far in 2024, but sits only fourth in the Cup Series standings.
That’s due to his participation in the Indianapolis 500, where a four rain delay had the knock-on effect of making him miss the Coca Cola 600 Cup Series race that evening.
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Despite that, he is somehow still only 32 points behind championship leader Tyler Reddick in the race for his second NASCAR crown.
Larson also said that he believes he is a better ‘all-round driver’ than Verstappen and doesn’t believe that he could win a NASCAR race.
Max Verstappen on the other hand, leads the Formula 1 world championship by 78 points and looks set to claim a fourth consecutive drivers’ title for just the third time in the sport’s history.
While a race between Larson and Verstappen would be fascinating, it’s unlikely that it will ever happen under fair circumstances and we will never know who is the more adaptable driver on an even playing ground.