Kyle Larson is going from NASCAR Champion to marathon rookie

gettyimages-230446255 — MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 10: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet speaks to the Media during NASCAR Championship Driver Media Availability at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on November 10, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

It took Kyle Larson 3 hours, 7 minutes, 54 seconds to win a 500-mile race at Talladega Superspeedway during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase.

That race proved pivotal in his run for a third championship.

The driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet likely will spend more time than that covering 26 miles, 385 yards when he runs his first marathon on Dec. 6.

“What brought it about… I’ve never been into running, and running frustrated me, but I had a couple of friends getting into it and just tried to commit myself to it,” said Larson, who will compete in the California International Marathon from Folsom to Sacramento.

“Once your body stops hurting all the time, and you learn to enjoy it and enjoy the process when you’re training, you want to go compete in a race. For me, getting to compete in Sacramento, where I was born and raised, is special, and to get to do it with my friends is going to be fun.”

The longest training run Larson has done so far measures 16 miles.

“On that training day, it was 12 miles of an easy pace for me in good weather,” Larson said on the morning of the end-of-season NASCAR Awards at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. “It was about a nine-minute (per mile) pace, so your heart rate’s low. And then the final four miles, you crank it up to marathon pace.

So, for me, that’s probably—like I said, in good weather—around like a 7:30 to 7:40 pace. So, yeah, it wasn’t too bad, but doing that pace for three-and-a-half hours is going to be challenging.”

Larson, whose previous off seasons have featured a plentiful dose of dirt racing in sprint cars and midgets, said he hopes to complete the marathon under 3 hours, 30 minutes.

And, of course, he’ll continue to race cars during the winter months, with plans to drive in both the Tulsa Shootout in late December and Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in January.