The High Limit Sprint Car Series, owned by Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet, provided some perspective over how it plans to challenge World of Outlaws on the national touring scene on Tuesday morning with a partial schedule and championship fund announcement.
First, High Limit will expand to 50 races from coast-to-coast, something that had been reported but not made official until Tuesday. It will do so using the infrastructure from the recently acquired All Stars Circuit of Champions series most recently owned by Tony Stewart.
The ASCoC was the second largest Sprint Car series in the country but most of the races took place in Ohio and Pennsylvania with High Limit now scheduling races in Texas and California with a $1 million championship fund that will pay $250,000 to the eventual champion.
Sweet has told Sportsnaut that the popular Ohio Sprint Week slate is expected to remain as part of the schedule but the details are still be ironed out. Effectively, the expanded High Limit Sprint Car Series is the All-Stars but with additional trips out west.
The High Limit Series debuted in 2023 as a dozen-race mid-week series that eventually saw Larson crowned champion over Rico Abreu. That will return in 2024 as a season within the season with a $100,000 point fund available for teams that race the midweek series.
The season within a season also allows for Larson to race for another championship, recognizing the star power for both steaming and attendance figures.
Regarding the schedule, here is what the series press release detailed about marquee events, races that coincide with the NASCAR Cup Series, and companion events with the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series that now has a strategic partnership with the High Limit Series.
Former All Star Circuit of Champions events including, but not limited to, the Bob Weikert Memorial and Tuscarora 50 events at Port Royal (Penn.) Speedway, the Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth (Ohio) Speedway, and the annual Rayce Rudeen Foundation race will also be on the schedule in 2024.
High Limit Sprint Car Series press release
The prestigious Eldora Speedway will host High Limit Racing twice with a two-day midweek event in July and a return appearance in September for the 4-Crown Nationals. Eagle (Neb.) Raceway will return with the biggest Midweek Money Series purse at the Eagle Nationals.
High Limit Racing will also have two events in conjunction with NASCAR, one at Texas Motor Speedway in April, and another at Lakeside Speedway, roughly eight miles from Kansas Speedway, in May.
The series will make its West Coast debut in 2024, with events including the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. and the Skagit Nationals at Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Wash.
The release also confirmed, to no surprise, that Sweet will compete full-time on the High Limit Series after winning five consecutive World of Outlaws championships. FloRacing was also confirmed as a minority stakeholder in the series alongside Sweet and Larson.
Meanwhile, World of Outlaws intends to strengthen its commitment to teams by raising the purse for all events by roughly 20 percent while doubling the tow money for the full-time platinum agreement teams. The purse money increases will come from the tracks in the form of sanctioning agreements but the increased tow money will come from the series itself.
A standard single event World of Outlaws purse is roughly $58,500 but the increases will bump that number up to around $70,000. Platinum agreement teams earn around $400 to $500 per night in tow money from standalone shows and that number will now be around $1000 next season for returning teams. New teams will receive the 2023 platinum agreement tow money but will be bumped up to the 2024 figure if they remain in good standing through July.
Those figures come from Jeremy Elliott’s Sprint Car Unlimited, who also reports the the exclusivity agreement will remain the same in 2024 with no more than four races outside of the World of Outlaws during the course of the season to remain eligible for the full championship fund.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car championship fund itself remains the same for the 2024 season.
| Championship Points Fund (Split between driver & team) | Exclusivity Bonus (Split between driver & team) | Combined Total (Split between driver & team) |
| 1. $200,000 | 1. $150,000 | 1. $350,000 |
| 2. $120,000 | 2. $90,000 | 2. $210,000 |
| 3. $80,000 | 3. $60,000 | 3. $140,000 |
| 4. $70,000 | 4. $52,500 | 4. $122,500 |
| 5. $65,000 | 5. $48,750 | 5. $113,750 |
| 6. $62,500 | 6. $46,875 | 6. $109,375 |
| 7. $60,000 | 7. $45,000 | 7. $105,000 |
| 8. $57,500 | 8. $43,125 | 8. $100,625 |
| 9. $55,000 | 9. $41,250 | 9. $96,250 |
| 10. $50,000 | 10. $37,500 | 10. $87,500 |
| 11. $40,000 | 11. $30,000 | 11. $70,000 |
| 12. $30,000 | 12. $22,500 | 12. $52,500 |
| 13. $25,000 | 13. $18,750 | 13. $43,750 |
| 14. $20,000 | 14. $15,000 | 14. $35,000 |
| 15. $18,000 | 15. $13,500 | 15. $31,500 |
| 16. $16,000 | 16. $12,000 | 16. $28,000 |
| 17. $14,000 | 17. $10,500 | 17. $24,500 |
| 18. $14,000 | 18. $10,500 | 18. $24,500 |
| 19. $14,000 | 19. $10,500 | 19. $24,500 |
| 20. $14,000 | 20. $10,500 | 20. $24,500 |
| TOTAL: $1,025,000 | TOTAL: $768,750 | TOTAL: $1,793,750 |
On the World Finals broadcast from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, series announcer Johnny Gibson stated there will be four races on the World of Outlaws schedule that will pay six figures to the winner.
The obvious ones are the Knoxville Nationals, High Bank Nationals at Huset’s Speedway and Kings Royal at Eldora.
The High Limit Sprint Car Series press release did not unveil its package for full-time teams, a program that will be called the ‘High Rollers,’ so that will be the focus of a future announcement. Sweet has been actively lobbying to entice either full-time World of Outlaws teams to make the switch with him while also making similar pitches to All Stars teams or true outlaw teams.
Tuesday’s press release also said series sponsorship announcements would be forthcoming as well.
In the release, Sweet said the economics of the sport was front and center to their decision making while also expressing gratitude for Kasey Kahne Racing and NAPA Auto Parts in taking this leap with him. Kasey Kahne will also run full-time on the High Limit Series next year.
“We’re working on a diverse and efficient schedule that will maximize the travel time for our teams,” Sweet said in a press release. “With increased purses and the availability for teams to also compete in the sport’s crown jewels that may not be High Limit-sanctioned, High Limit drivers and teams have the highest revenue opportunity in sprint car history, barring The Million in 2023. We’re proud of that and see it as a launching pad for the future of sprint car racing.
“The support of Kasey, NAPA, and everyone at Kasey Kahne Racing means a lot to me. We’ve accomplished a lot together and now we’ll go on a new adventure and try to add a High Limit championship to our resume. They’re taking this jump with me and that shows how strong and committed this team is.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.