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Kyle Larson made it through Day One of a two-day Indianapolis 500 Open Test and indicated he is approaching his second attempt at the Indy 500 as his last, at least until his NASCAR Cup Series career winds down.
“I don’t know, I haven’t really had a sit-down discussion with anybody about that, so I don’t know,” Larson said after the long day of testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 23 concluded. “I can’t really fully answer that.
“In my head, yeah, I’m going into this thinking it’s at least for the time being, in the near future, the final Indy 500. But I am still young, and I mentioned on Dale (Earnhardt) Jr.’s Download thing (podcast) that maybe someday when I’m not full-time Cup and I can really devote all my mind to Indy, I’d like to do it again.
“But we’ll see. If I happen to win the Indy 500, I’d probably just ride off into the sunset, too.
“I don’t know, it’s such a cool event. I think once you run it enough, I think, and you don’t, you probably have a lot of FOMO (fear of missing out) and want to come back. It’s hard to fully answer that right now.”
Larson returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first day of a two-day Indy 500 Open Test, but the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion didn’t breeze through his Refresher Test.
In fact, he was the last of the five drivers that had to take the Refresher to pass the mandated program designed for rookies and non-regular drivers before they are allowed to compete in high-speed runs in practice.
When the refresher session ended, Larson still had to complete eight more laps in Phase 3. Because he was through Phase 2, he could run in the full testing session that included 33 other cars and driver on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
Larson was able to complete Phase 3 and cleared to run at speed in the full 3-hour session against the IndyCar veterans.
He finished 11th out of 34 drivers on the speed chart with a fast lap of 223.430 miles per hour in the No. 17 Hendrickcars.com Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“It was good to get back behind the wheel,” Larson said. “It doesn’t seem like that long ago and figured it would feel normal when I got back in, but it took some getting accustomed to.
“It was good to go through ROP because it would be hard to commit to wide-open any ways for the first couple of laps. It feels a little different handling wise because of the Hybrid and the weight of that. It feels different. Not the same balance I felt last year.
“I felt comfortable but was a little rusty on things – hitting buttons and getting the dash set up to where it processes quick on the dash and my brain. It was good to work on that today.”
Larson indicated he had issues with his radio communication between himself and the pit box and had some engine issues.
“Those were all things you would expect on the first day,” Larson said.
It was another element in a somewhat goofy day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as five minutes into the first session, a connectivity failure brought out the Red Flag.
The session was delayed for nearly three hours because of a track-wide communication system IT failure. On an otherwise sunny and warm day in Indianapolis, the track was silent because Race Control could not communicate with race teams and the AMR Safety Crews.
Because it was a safety issue, IMS and IndyCar officials kept the race course close until the issue was resolved.
The session that was supposed to begin at 10 a.m. Eastern Time finally got underway at 12:45 p.m.
The veterans ran for the next 1 hour, 15 minutes, followed by the Rookie Orientation Program and Refresher session until 4 p.m.
Afterward was a three-hour session for all 34 cars.
Because Larson’s Arrow McLaren Chevrolet is an extra entry for the team in this year’s Indianapolis 500, the team worked through some issues on the car that hampered Larson’s refresher laps.
But 27 minutes into the final session, Larson completed the remainder of Phase 3 and began the actual testing that he hopes will give him a competitive car when teams return for Indianapolis 500 practice in May.
This is the second-straight year the NASCAR Cup Series star from Hendrick Motorsports is attempting to compete in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race in the same day.
His efforts to complete all 1,100 miles in both races in 2024 was adversely impacted by rain. The start of the 108th Indianapolis 500 was delayed by four hours, which meant he would miss the start of the 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson started fifth and finished 18th in last year’s Indianapolis 500, but by the time he arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway to take over the No. 5 Chevrolet from backup driver Justin Allgaier, it began to rain.
The 600 was past the halfway mark and after a lengthy rain delay, NASCAR flagged the race and ruled it complete.
That put Larson’s attempt at competing for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship in jeopardy because every driver competing for the title must start each race on the schedule. NASCAR eventually granted Larson a waiver for missing the 600 and was able to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
This Year’s Plan
Larson was allowed to make another effort in this year’s Indianapolis 500, but the Coca-Cola 600 will take priority if the start of this year’s race is delayed by rain. Hendrick Motorsport assured NASCAR that Larson would be at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the full 600-mile race in 2025.
Larson will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the full two-day test session before returning to the NASCAR Cup Series for Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
“I just hope and pray you miss a wreck and can get to the front and stay up front,” Larson said of Talladega. “Talladega is a place where I haven’t had a whole bunch of luck, but out of the superspeedways we have, it’s probably the one that I finish okay at the most.
“We’ll see. Our car is really fast at those places, and I feel like we have a good understanding of it, we’ve just got to execute.”
The Fast Guys Up Front
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden is a two-time and back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner and was the fastest driver for most of the final session at 225.125 miles per hour in the No. 2 Shell Chevrolet. But 2008 Indianapolis 500 Scott Dixon knocked him off in the final hour with a lap at 225.182 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“Today was really solid to start out,” Newgarden said. “The big thing for us is that you come here with what for us is a new car. Even when you’re using an existing car, you’re taking it apart and rebuilding it. So, for most everybody here, it’s putting a new car on the track for the first time and hope it goes relatively quick. When the car is fast, basically everything else can be fixed. It’s the car speed that fixes everything. I think for us; it’s been a really good start. It doesn’t mean it will all be smooth sailing, but I hope we can come out of this and be prepared for the ‘Month of May.’
“How can you not love being here?” Newgarden said of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I certainly love it more after the last two years, but I’ve always loved being in Indiana. It’s where I grew up karting and dreaming of being a race car driver. I’m excited for the “Month of May.’”
With 12 minutes left in the session, veteran driver Graham Rahal got into the dust in Turn 2 but kept it off the wall. But when he got into Turn 3, the car brushed the Turn 3 wall. Rahal was able to save it, but with contact to the wall, IndyCar Race Control issued a caution very late in the session.
The green flag waved with 8 minutes; 45 seconds left in the session and ran until the checkered flag waved.
The test continues on Thursday, April 24 with something new – a 2-1/2-hour qualification simulation as each car gets the additional boost they will receive during qualification weekend in May. After a two-hour break to return the cars to race trim, the test will conclude with a three-hour, full-field session from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
