INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Larson is a busy man this weekend. That’s why he said he had no real opinion on Alex Palou leaving Arrow McLaren Racing at the alter in the 11th hour. He didn’t have enough time or even in the right mind to digest what fully was going on.

That’s because he’s been off dirt racing. He’ll qualify his No. 5 Chevrolet on Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway then race in Knoxville, Iowa tonight for the prestigious sprint car race.

That’s where Larson feels his best and more in his element. It’s a big reason as to why Rick Hendrick softened his stance on allowing his Cup drivers to take part in extracurricular activities outside of their Cup cars.

See, before Larson came aboard, it was always a firm no on doing anything like that. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and everyone else only typically raced in the Cup Series and rarely moonlighted even in an Xfinity car or anything else.

Then with a shot to get Larson and give him a redemption tour in 2021, Larson maintained that it was a big part of his life in dirt racing and wherever he ended up, it would be with stipulations that he was allowed to continue doing so.

Chip Ganassi, his last employer, allowed him to do so but put limits on it. Hendrick was swayed by Jeff Gordon to allow Larson to race on dirt and it was a decision that led to immediate success.

The 2021 championship doesn’t likely come if Larson isn’t on dirt throughout the season. Now, as we head into the third to last race of the regular season, Larson will jet off this afternoon and not come back until a media availability tomorrow morning back here to unveil his 2024 Indy 500 livery.

See how crazy that sounds? Dirt race in Knoxville then showing off his Indy 500 ride next year. All before racing in his day job hours later on Sunday.

He never has any hesitation though about it. Even with Chase Elliott getting injured off track while snowboarding in Colorado or Alex Bowman missing three races due to injury from a sprint car crash in a series that Larson runs, Hendrick could have put an end back to it. He didn’t. Larson is appreciative.

By missing races, Elliott and Bowman are still below the cutline and arguably need to win in order to make the playoffs. What if Larson crashes tonight and gets injured and has to miss some playoff races?

But, this is what makes Larson click. I don’t think there’s many drivers in the world that are as well versed and an all-around talented race car driver as Larson. Racing on dirt is an art and Larson is Picasso on it.

To take him away from those opportunities doesn’t let Kyle Larson be just that, Kyle Larson. Drivers have talked over the years on how you can’t take much from a dirt car obviously to a Cup car, but what you can take over is repetition and confidence.

“Just try to raise as much as I can get as much seat time as I can,” Larson told me on Saturday morning in the media center. “I believe yes, it does help your mentality and your confidence.

The thing with racing is, it’s very much momentum based. NASCAR with this Next Gen has proven to be harder to keep that momentum with so much up and down results. Does running dirt help Larson mentally when he’s going through any rough patches?

“Well, I’ve had a great year on dirt but on the Cup season has been very up and down,” he told me. “Speed wise has been good, but results wise has been up and down. So I would say it doesn’t matter.”

It’s more personally helping him than anything else.