Source: Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment / Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Kyle Larson grew up in California racing go-karts, then sprint cars, then late models, and eventually found his way to the NASCAR circuit, eventually winning a Cup Series championship.
Larson has won in pretty much every discipline he has ever driven in and is planning to add one more to his repertoire as he plans to compete with Arrow McLaren in 2024 in the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500.
He plans to complete (or even win ) the “500” and then hop on a plane east to run the Coca-Cola 600 for his Hendrick Motorsports team in NASCAR. The ordeal is affectionately called “The Double.”
“Being able to compete in this event, I think it really more than anybody makes my Dad proud,” Larson said of how it feels to have an opportunity to compete at Indianapolis.
“There is definitely no race bigger to him than the Indy 500. I know he’s wanted me to do it for a very long time and it’s going to be pretty special to see him kind see me during driver introductions. He’s a crier so he probably won’t be able to watch the race because he’ll have tears in his eyes the whole time. That’s what’s the most special.”
Larson was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Thursday’s Indianapolis 500 practice session to observe how his future team operates in preparing for the race.
For Hendrick Motorsports vice-chairman and co-owner Jeff Gordon, who won the Brickyard 400 five times on the IMS oval as a NASCAR driver, he feels its a chance for Larson to live out a childhood dream that he never had the chance to live during his days as a driver.
“I go back to the mid-to-late 80s when I was living in Indiana and raced all around here. Every race car driver’s dream, if you race around Indianapolis, is to get here and compete at this facility,” Gordon said. “It certainly was on my radar, but NASCAR came calling and I shifted my focus to that. To me, this is equally as exciting.”
Larson now has a whole year to prepare for a race in a discipline he has never raced in.
“I prepare well for every event, but that’s usually just a couple of days to prepare,” he said. ” Knowing that I’m racing next year I’m definitely going to pay more attention to all these days than I would have in the past, kind of see how that all goes, just to be really just more prepared for how the couple weeks of on-track time goes for next year, just to not be surprised by anything.”
Larson will be the sixth driver ever to attempt “the double” next year.
Robby Gordon ran both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 within the same day five times but never went the full 1,100 miles. Tony Stewart attempted it twice and completed both races in 2001 (6th in the Indy 500 and 3rd in the Coke 600).
John Andretti was the first driver to attempt “The Double” in 1994 but did not go the distance. Davy Jones almost attempted it in 1995. He qualified for the Indy 500 but failed to make the show for the Coke 600.
Kurt Busch is the most recent driver to attempt it having completed both races in 2014.
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