Before heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Round of 16 elimination race in the Cup Series Playoffs (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, NBC Sports App, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Kyle Larson watched his 7-year-old daughter Audrey grab her first career victory on Tuesday at Millbridge Speedway.
The dirt track in Salisbury, North Carolina, plays host to the beginnings of many racing careers and has been the go-to venue for the children of retired and active NASCAR drivers.
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“It was really cool,” Larson said Wednesday during a Zoom teleconference. “Obviously, you don’t ever forget a first win. I remember being at Millbridge for (son) Owen’s first win, and then lucky enough to be able to be there for Audrey’s first-ever win as well last night. It was really neat. She’s been doing a really good job. She’s only been racing for about a year and she’s really competitive, and she’s driven and works at it. It was a cool moment for sure. You could see she was happy and she was getting choked up a little bit in her interviews, so it was cool.”
Last night, Audrey Larson — daughter of @KyleLarsonRacin — earned her career-first win at @MillbridgeRacinpic.twitter.com/kZjhhiabUn
— Steve Post (@ThePostman68) September 10, 2025
While Larson said he didn’t get emotional immediately after Audrey’s win, he said he had a moment with her that almost got the waterworks going.
“I had moments, and then when she told me that she was getting ready to cry afterwards in the trailer, that’s probably when I mostly got choked up,” Larson said. “I was the video-taping dad on my phone. So maybe if I’d had my phone down and I really was absorbing the moment, I probably would have cried. It was awesome. She’s my only daughter, so she’s got a soft spot in my heart.”
Larson said both Audrey and Owen race at a consistent level, but isn’t committed for now to putting in the time that fellow racing dads Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are currently investing into their own children, but did note that Audrey has the more competitive edge compared to her older brother.
“We don’t take it quite yet as serious as Kyle or Kevin do,” Larson said. “I would say Owen’s pretty laid back with it, and I think racing is just kind of fun for him and a way to hang with his friends, and get a little competitive. Audrey, I would say, (has) more got the competitive mindset. (She) wants to watch video, run on the simulator, go to the go-kart track and practice, go testing at Millbridge, race as much as she can. I have fun with that because she’s more similar to me in that aspect. But I also want to just keep it fun for them, not burn them out at a young age, which is, I think, easy to do.
“I think Audrey is going to run like 30 races this year, and Owen’s like in the mid-50s. It sounds like a lot, but it’s not that crazy when you factor in Brexton’s probably running 400 races this year. But it’s fun and I just enjoy seeing them have a good time and building memories.”
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