High Limit Racing – the sprint car series co-owned by five-time World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet and 2021 NASCAR champion Kyle Larson – has announced extensive details for its 2024 season – we break it all down here:
The makeup of the series
Formerly branded as the High Limit Sprint Car Series, the organization is now being referred to as ‘High Limit Racing.’
FloSports has purchased a minority equity stake in the organization – making it a priority for the growing streaming service. That comes along with a multi-year agreement to be the streaming provider for the series. There’s a large amount of backing for the startup series.
The tour will take on a national schedule with a midweek series within the national tour. This is not indifferent from the ARCA Menards Series’ Sioux Chief Showdown that has operated in each of the past four seasons.
The midweek portion of the schedule will be tabbed as the “Midweek Money Series,” and Kyle Larson’s 2023 championship is being kept through that banner. The 2024 national schedule is being categorized as the inaugural tour for the expanding series. That’s just semantics at the end of the day.
“FloRacing is the go-to destination for motorsports fans delivering premium event coverage and original content to viewers across the globe,” Mark Floreani, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FloSports said in the release. “The expansion of High Limit Racing and our investment in it reinforces our commitment to the growth of motorsports and delivering it authentically to audiences everywhere.”
The 2024 High Limit Racing schedule
For the 2024 season, the series is expanding from its All Star Circuit of Champions roots and moving to a national schedule with trips from the West Coast to Florida throughout the season.
“We’re working on a diverse and efficient schedule that will maximize the travel time for our teams,” Sweet said the release. “With increased purses and the availability for teams to also compete in the sport’s crown jewels that may not be High Limit-sanctioned, High Limit drivers and teams have the highest revenue opportunity in sprint car history, barring The Million in 2023. We’re proud of that and see it as a launching pad for the future of sprint car racing.”
The series will kick off its season at East Bay Raceway Park in February. A past flyer on its website has dates held for Monday, February 12 (the day after the Super Bowl) and Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
High Limit Racing will also kick off Kings Royal week with a two-day event at Eldora prior to the World of Outlaws-sanctioned crown jewel event. The tour will again race at Eldora as part of the 4 Crown Nationals in September.
The tour will host midweek races in conjunction with NASCAR Cup Series weekends at Texas Motor Speedway in April and Kansas Speedway in May.
It is expected the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be partnered in some way with joint shows featuring both tours at different times this year.
Eagle Raceway in Cass County, Nebraska will hold the highest paying race of the Midweek Money Series as part of the ‘Eagle Nationals.’
The tour’s trip out west includes the addition of the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California and the Skagit Nationals at Skagit Speedway in Burlington, Washington.
The Bob Weikert Memorial and Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal will return to the slate, as will a pair of Ohio races. Ohio Sprint Speedweek, a staple on the ASCoC schedules throughout the years, will be back on, as will the Dean Knittel Memorial at Porstmouth Speedway and the annual Rayce Rudeen Foundation race.
The series will conclude its inaugural national tour at The Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway in October.
The purse structure
High Limit Racing will award a total points championship purse of $1 million, with its champion taking home $250,000 for earning first place in the standings.
The Midweek Money Series will have a total purse of $100,000 for its points championship, separately.
Each of the tour’s one-day shows will have a minimum of a $12,000-to-win and prelim nights to multi-day events will pay a minimum of $10,000-to-win.
Brad Sweet will race full-time
The five-time and reigning World of Outlaws champion, Brad Sweet, will race full-time with the series in his Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49 entry. NAPA Auto Parts will return as a partner with Sweet.
“The support of Kasey (Kahne), NAPA, and everyone at Kasey Kahne Racing means a lot to me,” Sweet said. “We’ve accomplished a lot together and now we’ll go on a new adventure and try to add a High Limit championship to our resume. They’re taking this jump with me and that shows how strong and committed this team is.”
Larson’s participation is said to be, by the release, in select events with the tour. He raced the full midweek slate in 2023, and may chase the Midweek Money Series title again in 2024, although that is not confirmed.
Racing restrictions
The World of Outlaws implemented its four-race, exclusivity-bonus rule following the 2022 season in wake of the High Limit midweek startup series – a rule which will return in 2023.
High Limit Racing has decided that it will not be restricting its drivers to anything outside of its own tour, and will also have dedicated off-weekend’s to allow its drivers to race in major events.
Merchandise Trailers
High Limit Racing will welcome any and all merchandise haulers to its events in 2024, opposite to the World of Outlaws rule that allows only for its platinum, full-time drivers to have their haulers in the midway at its events.
Is it a war or can both co-exist?
From the start, Sweet and Larson’s comments on his venture into race promotion and owning a series have surrounded the ideal that High Limit wants to grow the sport of sprint car racing.
The question on if both series can coexist can only be answered with time, but the theme remained the same from both of the High Limit Racing co-owners.
“Brad (Sweet) and I literally grew up in this sport and our passion for sprint car racing runs deep,” Larson said in the release. “The 2023 High Limit season went well, but we saw room for growth and more opportunities that were out there to make this division of racing stronger. Not only are we going to continue to run tight, highly-entertaining races for the fans, but we’re going to do it while raising purses and making the sport more financially viable for drivers and teams. On top of that, the partnership with FloSports will bring more eyeballs to our events and grow the sport overall. I can’t think of a much better situation for all involved.”
