'We'll revisit this': Why Indianapolis 500 may be Kyle Larson's last double attempt, but not last
- Kyle Larson is attempting to qualify for his second Indianapolis 500 while also making a second run at completing the double by also running NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 the same day.
- Due to weather delays, Larson had to choose between the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 last year, but he's said he's committed to running the NASCAR race no matter what in 2025.
If you want to watch Kyle Larson racing for the Borg-Warner Trophy, you better get your tickets now and start your anti-rain dance, because after next month, the NASCAR star may not be back at the Indianapolis 500 for 15 years.
In the midst of a second year of a two-year deal to attempt the double, running the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Cup series’ Coca-Cola 600 both on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (dubbed the Hendrick 1,100), Larson says no sides have any plans to run this plan back for a third consecutive year in 2026. Though the 2021 NASCAR Cup series champion says he would love to one day make an Indy 500 return, he only sees it happening later in his career when he can “fully commit” to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, rather than having to split his brain, his time and his energy during the Month of May and shuttle back and forth between Indianapolis and North Carolina first for the qualifying weekend/All-Star Race clash and then again for the double.
“If last year had gone smooth, maybe I wouldn’t be doing this year, but last year didn’t go exactly how we all planned, so it made me want to do this year,” Larson said earlier this month on an episode of the "Dale Jr. Download" with legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Arrow McLaren team principal and 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan.
Larson’s first attempt at the double last year, the first attempt at the feat the sport had seen in a decade, was mired in weather-related disruption with severe storms delaying the start of last year’s 500 by four hours. Already with such a tight window to leave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway under normal conditions and get to Charlotte, North Carolina on time for his NASCAR duties, the delay forced Larson and Hendrick Motorsports decisionmakers to pick between the two. Famously, they opted to stay and wait out the rain at the 500, eventually allowing Larson to make his maiden start in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
The 600 began without him, and it stopped just past the halfway point with Justin Allgaier starting the race in the No. 5 Chevy and sitting 13th when storms encroached upon Charlotte Motor Speedway. Just as Larson touched down at the track, the race was initially paused but eventually called after 249 of 400 laps. Because he missed the start, full-season NASCAR Cup drivers are required to start every race in order to be eligible for that season’s playoffs, he and Hendrick Motorsports were forced to apply for a waiver, which NASCAR officials took more than a week to mull over before reluctantly approving.
In announcing Larson’s plans to make his second 500 start and take another go at the double last fall, Larson and Hendrick Motorsports have made clear their priority is the 600, should weather force them to choose, with NASCAR instituting a new playoff rule that would strip drivers of all their playoff points entering the postseason if they were forced to apply for a waiver for reasons other than medical issues.
“I would like to do (the Indy 500) again someday where I’m fully committed mentally. I can’t fully commit to Indy in the middle of our NASCAR Cup series schedule,” said Larson, to which Kanaan interjected, reminding his driver that he raced until he was 48, finished third in the 500 at 47 and won the race at 38.
“So I have time, I guess!” Larson replied. “So we’ll revisit this in 15 years, maybe. I don’t think there’s plans for next year currently, so we’ll make it good this time.”
Last week during Indy 500 open testing, where he finished Day 1 11th on the speed charts but crashed just a single corner into Day 2 under high boost — his first-ever crash in an Indy car — Larson told reporters he hadn’t had any IndyCar-related discussions with team owner Rick Hendrick or vice chairman Jeff Gordon beyond May 25.
“In my head, yeah, I’m going into this thinking it’s, at least for the time being in the near future, my final Indy 500,” Larson said. “But I’m still young … and I’d like to do it again. But we’ll see.
“If I happen to win the Indy 500 (this year), I’d probably just ride off into the sunset, too. I don’t know. It’s such a cool event. I think once you run it enough, and then you don’t, you probably have a lot of (fear of missing out) and want to come back.”
Though he hated tearing up his No. 17 Chevy by pancaking the outside SAFER barrier in the exit of Turn 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Larson told reporters outside the infield care center he was almost glad to get his first IndyCar crash out of the way, an incident he believed was largely due to balance issues he’d struggled with on Day 1, combined with the more than 5 mph boost in speeds he was carrying into the turn compared to the day prior.
In the wake of a 500 debut that saw Larson conduct multiple tests, sit in the simulator and watch race tape to get his bearings, the 2024 Brickyard 400 winner said last week he’d done virtually zero 500-specific prep work heading into Year 2. In his Indy 500 debut, Larson qualified an impressive fifth and ran up toward the front for much of the day before a pit lane speeding penalty on his final stop dropped him back to an 18th-place finish, where he still managed to grab Rookie of the Year honors.
“Good to get back behind the wheel. It doesn’t seem like that long ago, and I figured it would feel normal when I got back in (an Indy car), but it definitely took some getting accustomed to,” Larson said after Day 1 of testing. “I feel like it feels a little different handling-wise this year. I don’t know if it’s the hybrid stuff and the weight of that or what I’m feeling.
“But it feels a little different, so not quite the same balance I had last year, so I’ve just got to think through that and how you want to adjust it if we want to get it to the point like we were last year or not. Overall, I felt comfortable. Still a little rusty on things, small detail things, hitting buttons and trying to really get the dash setup to where it processes quick to my eyes and brain and little details like that.”