INDIANAPOLIS – Tony Kanaan has been here 22 times as a driver. He knows the unpredictability of spring weather in central Indiana and the overwhelming frustration it brings. He is well aware that his eight-hour training sessions can quickly turn into just him three or four hours in the pit lane and dozens of laps. That’s why Kanaan is used to winning in just about any car and for the latest “double” challenger, Kyle Larson, who may actually have what it takes to win his first Indianapolis 500. , is the perfect instructor.
And three days into his first week of 500 meter training, Larson’s frustration at missing course time due to rain, an engine change and a disappointing result surfaced as he made plans for Thursday’s run. It’s obvious that it’s coming out. When this week’s practice plan was first announced, open track driving time could be up to 19 hours, but Larson completed just 85 laps in the three-day 500 practice session.
Larson and his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team completed just 29 laps Thursday, with little interruption in track time due to spray, and fell short of expectations for the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion. “I thought the weather was getting better and I was going to get a lot of laps done today, but everyone was doing laps but me,” Larson, who ran just 11 laps in five hours Thursday, said on pit road.
500 hours of exercise. At this point, Larson’s best lap that morning was last among 34 cars. “It was a little boring and frustrating.
“I just honestly want to get out there and make some laps and kill some time. I just keep going back to my motorhome to relax and lay on the couch and just wait. These days are so long, but hopefully everything becomes more ‘as scheduled’ for us and our team, and we can actually get to work and get to learning stuff and allow me to learn more, too.”
Minutes after Larson finished the day 25th on the timing charts (22.805 mph) on the eve of a Fast Friday that could be plagued by rain, IndyStar asked Kanaan, Arrow McLaren’s sporting director, about Larson’s ever-present frustrations that shone through in his interview on Peacock that afternoon, immediately before the driver went and turned 11 more laps, lifting himself from the bottom of the timing charts.
Seeing and hearing Larson seething hours prior had been the least surprising part of his day, Kanaan said – having weathered watching the No. 17 crew execute a morning engine change, show up to pitlane to run in a pack with no one interested in playing, and then having to roll back to the garage to swap over to a qualifying setup instead – while Larson spent hour after hour idly waiting. Kyle Larson attempts the Double:Indianapolis 500-NASCAR Cup schedule
“We kind knew that was going to happen,” Kanaan said of Larson’s frustrations. “When you tell a driver, “We have eight hours of training,” it’s actually not eight hours. It’s raining and there have been two accidents, and then all of a sudden it’s three hours, and there’s pressure from outsiders. “Why don’t you run?” It’s actually quite common to wonder, “Why don’t you run?” “I remember my first few years here, that’s what the team stressed to me, because if you do that, you’ll get caught and you’ll crash.” During Thursday’s nearly six hours of on-track action, two drivers fell victim to small mistakes that required extensive repair work and an even bigger gap to be filled in order to get back to the top by the end of the qualifying weekend. Ta. It didn’t matter if he was a rookie like Chip Ganassi Racing’s Linus Lundqvist or a 500-meter winner like Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson. IMS didn’t care much about it.
The fact that Larson simply didn’t crash probably won’t be recorded as a notable accomplishment on a player’s daily log for the Cup opener, but at the very least, it’s a sign the 500-meter rookie is listening, Kanaan said. “I’m trying to explain to him what a ‘quality’ run is, what a run just for the head is. You don’t learn anything by doing 30 laps alone with two cars on the track,” Kanaan said. “But it’s understandable. Tomorrow is almost Friday, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I think there are more people screwing him over than just him.”
As a driver, you always think you’re behind. That’s the biggest challenge, and I’m having to explain that to him, but people don’t realize that until you experience it. Even guys with the most confidence like his, they get into, ‘Why is this place like this?’ It’s crazy how vulnerable you can become out of the blue.”
‘He can drive anything with wheels’:Arrow McLaren teammates on Kyle Larson
As the hours ticked by Thursday and Larson sat at the bottom of the timing charts with fewer than a dozen laps run over five hours – and nothing more than a scheduled engine change and an unlucky run plan to blame – social media began to feature murmurs and rumbles as to whether we had another McLaren 500 disaster (Fernando Alonso, circa 2019) on our hands.
When asked whether he thought outsiders’ worries had any merit, Kanaan didn’t scoff at the idea. There’s no two ways around it; Larson’s first three days of 500 practice haven’t exactly gone according to plan. But again, nothing actually happens. It’s about how drivers, crew chiefs, mechanics and engineers respond to the unpredictability that plays a big role in the order of the grid.
The car is the correct color. The steering wheel is fixed. So far, the team has not had any gear ratio issues or mix-ups between inches and centimeters. Kanan assures us that there is nothing to worry about in these three days. But at the same time, the fortunes of IMS can change quickly. Positivity alone can only go so far. In the next 48 hours, realism, honesty and calm will be more important than forcing a smile.
“We have two very strong cars with Pato (O’Ward) and (Alexander) Rossi and we have the data to prove it. I’m not worried. Are we living up to expectations right now for (Larson) to be in the top nine? I don’t know,” Kanan said. “I’m not worried about speed, but that’s not the point either. We’re going to increase the boost on Friday and we’ll see how it goes and maybe we’ll worry about it again and then we’ll go into qualifying, but we don’t know.
“Anything can happen, good or bad, for us and for the other 33 cars.”
