Kyle Larson believes he can beat Formula One ace Max Verstappen in every motorsport discipline that doesn’t involve a pavement open wheel car.
Quote him.
After winning his third Knoxville Nationals over the weekend, Larson responded to a question from FloRacing about his place on the all-time international greats list and the frequent comparisons made to the three-time World Drivers Champion.
“I know in my mind I am better than him as an all-around driver,” Larson said. “There’s no way (Verstappen) can get into a Sprint Car and win the Knoxville Nationals. There’s no way he can go win the Chili Bowl. There’s no way he can go win a Cup race at Bristol.
“There’s probably no way I can go win a Formula 1 race at Monaco, but I think I’d have a better shot at him (doing what he does than him doing what I do) just because of the car element. That’s what gives me ease and confidence that, like, I know I’m better than him. Maybe not in an open-wheel IndyCar or Formula 1 car, but that’s one discipline. I think I would beat him in everything else. You can quote that.”
To his point, Verstappen has been honed to do this one thing great from childhood, graduating from karts to formula ladder cars all the way up to Formula 1. He races pavement road courses. In comparison, Larson is a modern AJ Foyt in that he competes on pavement and dirt in a variety of categories and has won on virtually each of them. He made his Indianapolis 500 debut this season too.
Larson was also asked about the Race of Champions event and said he would love to be able to compete against Verstappen in that setting in a variety of different race cars within an arena setting.