SPEEDWAY, Ind. – It was another productive full-day of work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for NASCAR star Kyle Larson and his McLaren Racing IndyCar team on Thursday. The current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader added 63 laps to his Indy resume continuing to familiarize himself with the car during a six-hour practice at the track – the third session of the week in anticipation of the May 25 Indianapolis 500.
Larson’s best lap Thursday was all deuces, 222.222 mph around the 2.5-mile speedway; 17th fastest among the 34 cars on track ultimately vying for the 33-car Indy 500 field. His fastest lap of the three days of official practice was on Tuesday when he recorded a top speed of 223.985 mph.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ has now turned 215 total laps in three days preparing for the May 25 Memorial Day “Double,” when the 32-year old Californian will race in the Indy 500 Sunday afternoon and then fly to Charlotte, N.C. to run NASCAR’s longest race of the season, the Coca-Cola 600, that same evening for his Hendrick Motorsports team.
He will join the late John Andretti, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch to run the two premier races on the same day.
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Not only has Larson truly put the work in this week to prepare for his second Indianapolis 500 start, but Thursday his McLaren Racing Team Principal, Tony Kanaan completed a Refresher Test on track too.
Most team executives don’t find themselves behind the steering wheel, but the 2013 Indy 500 champion Kanaan will jump in Larson’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com McLaren Chevrolet should the race be delayed and threaten Larson’s ability to return to his full-time job in the NASCAR Cup Series’ No. 5 Chevy in time for the green flag at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I truly didn’t think it was any different,” said Kanaan, who ran 30 laps to show series officials he was still proficient should he be called into race action in relief of Larson. They were his first laps in the new hybrid technology being used in the cars.
“I think the only answer I can give you is probably I had a two-year pause so I had time to reset a couple things,” Kanaan said of the new cars. “I truly didn’t think there was anything different. By myself, it was going to feel good. I knew we had a decent car. Honestly, it was good to feel the difference with deploying. I think it’s been a talk. Honestly, probably had to run in traffic a little bit. I truly didn’t feel anything.”
While Larson’s speed hasn’t topped the charts, he has proven to be fast and consistent. And on Thursday, he also proved to be nimble. Larson was directly behind Christian Rasmussen’s car on a lap with just under two hours remaining in practice when Rasmussen got loose, nicked the wall and spun in front of Larson.
Fortunately, Larson was able to power through with no damage.
MORE: Larson’s Day 2 Indy 500 practice recap
“Thankfully when he spun, he spun down the track,” Larson said of the near-miss.
Overall, he was pleased with the day, finishing up with pit stop practice after his laps on track.
“Practice went pretty good today,” Larson said. “I thought our car was a little bit more competitive in dirty air so I was thankful for that.”
The field has primarily been working on race pace, but Friday’s upcoming practice is called “Fast Friday” for a reason. That’s when the teams will focus more on pure qualifying speed. Indianapolis 500 qualifying is Saturday and Sunday to set the 33-car field. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin started on pole position in 2024. Larson started fifth last year and finished 18th.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was fastest overall Thursday putting Team Penske cars atop the speed chart for the second time in the three days of practice so far. The two-time defending Indy 500 winner set Thursday’s pace with a lap of 226.632 mph in the No. 2 Penske Chevrolet – his first time above the 226-mph mark and only the second driver to eclipse 226 mph. In fact, he was so confident in the car Thursday he only ran 35 laps, calling it a day 45 minutes before the checkered flag flew.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon – the 2008 Indy 500 winner – was second fastest on Thursday with a lap of 225.457 mph in the No. 9 CGR Honda. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly was third quickest, the Indianapolis-native a resounding crowd favorite.
Larson’s McLaren Racing teammate Pato O’Ward was fourth fastest in his first appearance in the top tier of the speed chart this week, followed by another former Indy winner, 2014 champ Ryan Hunter-Reay for Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou – the current NTT IndyCar Series championship leader – has set the fastest mark of the three days with a lap of 227.546 mph on Wednesday. He was sixth quickest on Thursday.
Cars return to the track Friday with practice from noon-6 p.m. ET (noon-4 p.m on FS2 and 4-6 p.m. ET on FS1). Qualification Draw will be held at 6:15 p.m. ET to set Saturday’s qualifying order.