"I fly commercial a lot" - HMS' Kyle Larson addresses myth about NASCAR drivers always flying private

Kyle Larson recently shed light on a common misconception about himself. In a recent video from Hendrick Motorsports, Larson explained that he often flies commercially.

The No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver lost the Regular Season Championship by just one point last weekend. Larson had a strong race at Darlington and finished in 4th place. However, he lost the championship to Tyler Reddick, who finished 10th at Darlington but won the regular season title.

In a recent media interaction, Larson talked about flying commercial for dirt races. When asked about the biggest myth around being a race car driver, Larson said:

"I fly commercial a lot. I feel like every time you know I go to a dirt race or something and I do fly private you know here and there but I feel like fans think that we just fly private all the time.”

He also noted that fans are often surprised to see him at a regular airport.

"Yeah, so like when I get to a dirt race, ‘Oh, what airport do you fly to?’ I’m like, ‘Uh, you know, Sacramento.’ They’re like, ‘What? You didn’t fly private?’” he added.

Kyle Larson previously said he prefers to save money and avoid private jets.

"Yeah, I fly commercial as much as I can and fly with the team. That’s a lot of money to be private flying, especially to the West Coast. Yeah, I’m cheap with my money when it comes to flying. And, I like to rack up the miles so I can maybe get some free trips,” Larson said in 2017.

Many NASCAR teams and drivers use private jets for travel. Some of the biggest teams even have their own planes for short trips or long flights across the country.

Teams like Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Stewart-Haas Racing all have separate companies that manage their planes. Each company usually has about two planes with fewer than 100 seats.

Hendrick Motorsports uses two Embraer ERJ-145s and previously had Saab 2000 planes.

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"I would have liked to have been there" - Kyle Larson on missing races

Kyle Larson finished 4th in the Southern 500 but missed out on the regular season championship, which Tyler Reddick won, by just one point.

Larson, with four wins this season, might have lost the regular season title partly due to his schedule. He attempted to race the Indy 500 the same weekend as the Coca-Cola 600. However, rain delays prevented him from racing at Charlotte.

Larson mentioned in an interview after the race that not racing in Charlotte was a significant loss and he pointed out other missed opportunities at tracks like Iowa, Michigan, and Chicago. He said:

"Yeah, I mean, it's easy to look back at that, but as well as everybody—I’m sure Reddick has a handful that he feels have gotten away—but, yeah, I mean, Iowa, Michigan, Chicago, that’s just a few. Charlotte, if I could have just gotten a race there… yeah, I mean, so for us to come up a point short and a spot in the field of the race, I’m proud of that, but, yeah, I would have liked to have been, you know, had won it.” (1:21)