Kyle Larson set for double: 'I just want to finish... but we're decent in Indy 500 race trim'

Wet weather delayed the start of the 2024 Indy 500 by four hours, so while Larson completed the race, he missed the start of the Coca-Cola 600. His car was on track, thanks to substitute driver Justin Allgaier, but Larson’s plan to swap into the No5 was thwarted when rain stopped the race before he even landed in North Carolina.

“What I thought could be one of the best days of my life quickly turned into one of the most disappointing ones I’ve ever experienced,” he posted on social media at the time.

In the run up to this year’s race, Larson’s been avidly checking his weather app. “At least two to three times [a day],” he says. “Probably more as we come closer to the weekend. It’s probably just the PTSD from last year!

“It was, you know, obviously a bummer not to run the 600 last year. But we went through the first half of the process, and I felt really good, and I thought the logistics of the travel and all that went well, and I felt ready to go for 600 miles when I got there. That gives me confidence for this year and whatnot. So yeah, just hopefully things stay on schedule and we can make it work.”

Larson’s also more confident about his competitiveness in 2025; last year’s Indy 500 having been a baptism of fire as his first IndyCar Series race.

He hardly disgraced himself and was running fifth when a pitlane speeding penalty dropped him down the running order and saw him finish 18th. He wasn’t even maximising his Arrow McLaren’s potential.

In a press conference ahead of this year’s race he explained more about how the car was so new to him that he hadn’t felt ready to use the weight-jacker system and anti-roll bars to make handling adjustments.

“I think last year I was just scared to do anything,” said Larson “I think my balance was, like, in a happy spot last year, and I was like, I don’t want to go and… I didn’t know how sensitive everything was going to be.

“This year I’ve definitely played around with it a lot more. I feel like even last year I was afraid to do things. This year I’ve gotten way more comfortable with doing those things.”

He expanded on this further, telling Motor Sport how he feels the Chevrolet-powered Arrow McLaren is better set up for this year’s Indy 500.

“I remember how the race went, and remember what I struggled with: the feel that I had in the car passing people,” Larson said. “That’s been something that we’ve been trying to work on this year — the race car, just getting it to be better [when in] closer proximity to cars in front of you. I feel like in race trim, we’ve been decent.”

He starts Sunday’s race 19th on the grid, in the middle of the 33-car pack, which he admits is a “hectic and crazy” place to be. The NASCAR superstar is no stranger to fighting his way to the front, however, and he’ll be in good company, with last year’s winner Joseph Newgarden and Penske team-mate Will Power also doing the same from further back, after grid penalties for illegal adjustments in qualifying.

When it comes to NASCAR, where Larson leads the Cup championship with three wins, he’ll be starting second at Charlotte. So while the chances are still remote (NASCAR has estimated his chances of a sensational double win at about one in 150), victory is a prospect.

“You’re trying to finish the best you can, he says. “Then you look at other goals of, you know, trying to beat what Tony Stewart did, and finishing sixth in the 500 and third in the Coke 600.

“When you’re out there, you’re not really thinking about [winning], you’re just trying to do the best job you can.

“I think everybody’s expectations for me in IndyCar are less than what they would be for NASCAR. I think if you finish top 10 in the Indy 500, people would think that’s amazing. So yeah, just honestly, those finishes are what you want.

“Between both races, it’s all similar, First you have to have a fast car, you’ve got to have good restarts, execute good pit stops, pit exchanges, and then be on the right strategy, or, you know, hope, if you’re on a different strategy the cautions fall in your favour, and whatnot.

“At least I have experience with all that and I think I can take that at Indy 500 and at least have an idea of what it takes to run towards the front.”

Larson’s schedule gives him just 12 minutes from seeing the chequered flag from taking off in a helicopter, en route to Charlotte. Perhaps cautious of tempting fate, neither Larson nor his team have detailed what would happen if he won the Indy 500, but it’s thought that there will be some contingency for NASCAR to delay the race start for the usual celebrations (he’s chosen whole milk).

However, in any other instance, Larson will need to be on the grid for the start of the race 6pm Eastern Time. If he fails to make it, he will be barred from the title-deciding Playoffs. As a result, rain delays, or even a series of exceptionally long cautions at Indianapolis, would see him pull into the pits and retire. If he leaves before the start of a delayed race, Arrow McLaren team principal and Indy veteran Tony Kanaan will take his seat.

These are eventualities that are painful even for the team to acknowledge after months of preparation work and the immense resources of Larson’s NASCAR team, Hendrick Motorsports, which is one of very few who could bankroll and support the extensive effort that a double attempt entails.

It’s already been an intensive fortnight for Larson as he’s jetted between Indianapolis and his NASCAR engagements, to say nothing of the extensive media commitments, which he mentions without even a hint of exasperation during our interview.

The following day in a press conference, he’s a little more open: “Outside the car, it’s been crazier this year logistics-wise,” he said. “It’s like three days of — don’t take this the wrong way — but answering the same questions. It kind of drains you a little bit.”

But, as he speaks to Motor Sport, sat against his trailer at Indianapolis next to a set of golf clubs (“I’d like to play but I’m too busy”), the privilege of being in his position is not lost on him, and he won’t let Sunday afternoon pass him by.

“When you’re out there and you’re doing the pace laps before the race, and you look around the grandstands and you see, you know, 350,000 people, that’s when it’s like, ‘Wow, this is pretty awesome’.

“None of us race car drivers get to race in front of another crowd that big.”