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September 10, 2024

Kyle Larson set for second attempt at Indy-Charlotte double in 2025


CONCORD, N.C. — Hendrick Motorsports and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team announced Tuesday that Kyle Larson will make a second attempt at a Memorial Day Weekend double in 2025, charting a course for the former NASCAR Cup Series champion to compete again in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day.

The two racing organizations that will field Larson’s entries announced the plan at a joint news conference Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, home of NASCAR’s longest race and the second leg of Larson’s 1,100-mile goal on May 25, 2025.

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Larson, who secured Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors this season, will team with Arrow McLaren full-time drivers Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard for next year’s race.

The bid will serve as an attempt at redemption from this season’s try, dubbed the “Hendrick 1,100” by organizers. Larson impressed as an Indy 500 rookie, but his effort to complete the full distance in the two events was marred by rain May 26 at both venues.

A general view of the No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (L) and No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (R) in front of the media center entrance at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Zack Albert | NASCAR Digital Media

Larson started fifth and finished 18th after storms delayed the green flag at Indianapolis, then flew to the 1.5-mile Charlotte track to try to join the Coca-Cola 600 in progress. Rain halted the 600-miler short of its scheduled end, and Larson never replaced fill-in driver Justin Allgaier in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Representatives from both teams used the phrase “unfinished business” in launching a second attempt at the double, stressing that Larson’s emphasis next year would be to arrive in Charlotte in time for the 600-miler’s green flag. Team owner Rick Hendrick deflected a number of hypotheticals about which circumstances might prompt Larson to exit the Indianapolis event, and team officials said that Tony Kanaan — Arrow McLaren’s sporting director and the 2013 Indy 500 winner — would be on standby if needed.

“I think this year went the way it did, and I couldn’t be in two places one time, although I would have loved to,” Larson said, “but I think I owe it to my NASCAR team as well, to get here in time to try and win one of the biggest races of the season, and a race that has the most implication to this season as well. So, yeah, right now I’m OK with that.”

Nine days after this year’s 600, NASCAR officials granted Larson a waiver to retain his eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs. Hendrick said that the uncertainty about the star driver’s postseason fate was a determining factor in aligning the team’s priorities next year.

“I think they were in a box,” Hendrick said. “You had so many people bitching about it that we shouldn’t get a waiver, should get a waiver, comparing what happened with him to someone getting hurt, and I don’t want to go through that again. So that’s part of the decision. Hey, if we’re going to do this, we’re not going to put them in a box, and we’re not going to be late. We’re going to be here and run this race. That’s priority. But no, I mean, they were damned if they do, damned if they don’t, so I think they saw the benefit.”

Larson gained a measure of solace at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, winning the Cup Series’ Brickyard 400 in a blue-and-orange No. 5 Chevy bearing the same design as his Memorial Day rides. After that victory, Larson expressed a desire to attempt the double again. “I think everybody knows that I would love to do it because, in my mind, I did not get to do it this year,” he said.

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Kanaan indicated that both he and Larson would need to pass a refresher course to participate, and that Larson made his life easier in his role as a driver coach and consultant last May. In terms of expectations for the second go-round, both teams are already carrying high hopes.

“Don’t give Kyle Larson a second shot at something that he already did well at,” said Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman and a five-time Brickyard 400 winner. “I mean, I think he’s going to knock it out of the park. He already did, but I know what a perfectionist he is and the few things that he learned or couple of things that didn’t go well, I know he wants that second chance to clean that up. I was so impressed with what he did, but I was also impressed with what Arrow McLaren did, so obviously that does raise expectations.”

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Larson is chasing his second Cup Series championship as part of this year’s playoffs. He opened the postseason with a Stage 1 crash in Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leaving him 37th in the 38-car field. That mishap dropped him from the top of the Cup Series Playoffs standings to 10th place, just 15 points above the elimination line. Larson will attempt to rebound in the second Round of 16 contest at Watkins Glen International on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

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