DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Larson is many things — a NASCAR champion, a Coca-Cola 600 winner, and a future Indy 500 competitor. But he doesn’t consider himself to be a “Swiftie.”
Larson faced questions Saturday at Darlington Raceeway about his appreciation of Taylor Swift’s music and whether he was a member of Swift’s vocal fanbase. The reason is that he flew to Paris with his wife, Katelyn, and daughter, Audrey, before this weekend.
The purpose? To see Swift perform on her Eras Tour.
“I had never gone to Europe before and it just lined up nice where we had a smaller window to make it there and it was my daughter’s birthday,” Larson said.
“She’s been wanting to go see Taylor Swift, and I’ve been wanting to go to Europe and it worked out. And so I kind of crashed that party because originally it was supposed to be like a girls trip. And I wanted to go.”
Larson showed up to the concert dressed for the occasion. He had on some friendship bracelets that his wife gave him, and he had a Swift T-shirt. Though he actually considered himself a bit underdressed.
“I feel like (as) a Swiftie, you’ve gotta wear the bedazzled everything,” Larson said. “So no, I don’t feel like I’m a Swiftie at all.
“I do appreciate her music and how hard she works. But no, I’m not a Swiftie.”
Larson may not be a Swiftie, but he enjoyed the experience. He saw Swift perform with his wife and daughter. He also enjoyed watching the processes at work.
“The show is cool, but I get intrigued on — I was telling Katelyn (Friday) they had that Eras Tour movie or whatever, which kind of really got me excited about wanting to go see something like that.”
Now that Larson has experienced his first Swift concert in Europe, he prepares for another important milestone. He seeks to become the first driver in more than a decade to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 (May 26 at 11 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock) and the Coca-Cola 600 (May 26 at 6 p.m. ET on Fox) on the same day.