SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was a weather-shortened, dust-the-rust-off kind of opening day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Kyle Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the series’ most recent race winner, as he turned his first official laps Tuesday in opening practice for the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
After waiting out a light but persistent morning rain, the 34 cars vying for the 33-car grid in the May 25 race took to the 2.5-mile Speedway to see where they stand as they begin preparation for this weekend’s qualifying and next weekend’s race.
The 32-year-old Californian Larson joins an elite five-driver group to compete in racing’s Memorial Day “Double” — racing in the Indianapolis 500 in the afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway the same night. Last year, Larson finished 18th in a rain-delayed Indy 500 only to arrive in Charlotte and never get a chance to race his stock car as the 600 was called early due to bad weather.
MORE: Larson’s schedule for May
A lightning alert ultimately stopped Tuesday’s scheduled four-hour session at Indianapolis about a half hour early, but all 34 cars entered in the race turned laps on the day.
Larson ran 45 laps total in the No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet — his best lap of 221.207 mph was 24th-fastest in the field. He spent the end of the session running in traffic and said he mostly used the day to re-familiarize himself with the car.
“I was more so just trying to hit my marks today than worry about adjusting things [in the cockpit], but it was a good day,” Larson said at the end of practice.
Last year, Larson made his Indy debut qualifying fifth in the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet IndyCar — the sponsorship coming from the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR team for whom he drives the No. 5 Chevrolet full-time.
With a victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion leads the series’ points standings by 35 points over Hendrick teammate William Byron with three wins and nine top-10 finishes through the opening 12 races.
It’s a confidence-builder heading into his pursuit to run the 1,100 miles of the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600.
“Our day was good, kinda took it easy to start in clean air and made sure our balance was comfortable — which it was — so I was happy with that,” Larson said. “There at the end finally got in some traffic and as normal had some understeer. Happy with the first day, nice smooth day. Good place to start from.”
Five cars topped the 225-mph mark on Tuesday led by 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power who turned a lap of 227.026 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet — the only car to eclipse 227 mph. Power’s Penske teammate Josef Newgarden was second quickest (226.971 mph) in his pursuit to become the first driver in the storied race’s history to win three consecutive Indy 500s.
Three-time and reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was third fastest with a lap of 226.672 mph in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10 Honda.
Larson conceded it’s going to be a busy two weeks, balancing Indy 500 qualifying this weekend along with competing in NASCAR’s All-Star Race in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, on Sunday night. Fellow Chevrolet driver, reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier will help by qualifying Larson’s All-Star car Friday due to time conflicts this weekend, Hendrick Motorsports confirmed Tuesday.
Larson said he feels fortunate for the opportunity to compete at both Indianapolis and Charlotte and that his first day at Indianapolis felt very comfortable.
“It doesn’t seem any different, it’s just practice, not a huge deal,” Larson said. “Last year was just practice as well, you’ve got plenty of time to make some laps.”
And he added, “Focused on Indy now. Before I left Kansas, [NASCAR crew chief] Cliff [Daniels] and I talked that maybe if there’s time on Saturday we could get together and talk about how their practice went and stuff like that and get prepared for the race on Sunday. It’s nice we are so well-organized over there.”
Practice continues every day this week, on Wednesday scheduled from noon-6 p.m. ET. The first session from noon-4 p.m. will be televised on FS2 and then the final two hours from 4-6 p.m. ET on FS1.