Kyle Larson seals $100,000 AUD victory, outdueling James McFadden in High Limit International

2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson got his first win in Australia at the High Limit Racing International Series finale, the highest-paying sprint car race in the country's history.

The event marked the first international race for the series co-owned by Larson, who beat Australia's leading sprint car driver, James McFadden, and his brother-in-law Brad Sweet. The three-day 35-lap feature attracted a big crowd to Western Australia’s Perth Motorplex in Kwinana Beach.

Larson celebrated the win in the final race on Monday, December 30, with his signature wing dance celebration. He also took home an AUD 100,000 prize (USD 62,000) as the race winner.

"The donuts, the wing dance, the crowd. @KyleLarsonRacin is pumped up to FINALLY win on Australian soil, and he saves it for the richest race in this nation’s history!"

McFadden, who had won on the previous two nights, led the first 26 laps but could not hold off Larson’s charge and finished second, 3.148 seconds behind. Callum Williamson, who started on pole, finished third. Brad Sweet and Australian racer Dayne Kingshott rounded out the top five.

Sportsnaut's Matt Weaver also spoke of Larson's victory Down Under and complemented the race. He wrote on X:

"Kyle Larson gets his first win in Australian, outdueling James McFadden in the High Limit International, the richest race in country history $100,000AUS win. Turned into a dang good race once it got going long enough to reach traffic."

Larson lost the lead to James McFadden in the second round of the International Series on Sunday, December 29. Larson spun while trying to pass slower cars with 22 laps left which allowed McFadden to take the lead and win his second race in a row.

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"We wanted to allow more teams, more drivers, and more tracks to make money and give the fans more racing" - Kyle Larson on his sprint car series expansion

Kyle Larson started the High Limit Racing Series just two years ago and it has already expanded to 16 full-time teams. The series has planned 61 races across 36 locations in the US next year.

The 32-year-old talked about the origin of the series in an interview last week and said:

"A couple of years ago, we just did some midweek racing. I think we got 11 races in, and I think that really opened our eyes to how we could grow the sport a lot...We really wanted to allow more teams, more drivers, and more tracks to make money and also give the fans even more racing. From there, we went from 11 races to, I think, 61 races nationally – quite a big jump" (01:46 onwards).

Larson will next fly to Los Angeles and Tulsa, Oklahoma, to race in all four adult divisions of the Tulsa Shootout.