Larson missed his chance at one of the postponed races and missed the other one, but he still wants to try again.
Since 1963, drivers have attempted both NASCAR’s 600-mile classic and the Indianapolis 500 in May, but the challenge became more difficult when the two races were moved to the same day due to the state’s standardized Memorial Day holiday in 1974.
Kyle Larson became the sixth driver to attempt the feat on Sunday, but he only finished in Indianapolis because of a rain delay in one race and a rain cancellation in the other, and missed the second scheduled race.
It was a unique disappointment, made worse by Larson’s 500-meter result. The NASCAR star, who drives for Arrow McLaren as part of a unique partnership with NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports, had a good start, qualifying fifth, but then made it as far as seventh after a mistake on an early restart put him outside the top 10 of the race. He dropped out.
He finished solidly and perhaps even had a chance to compete for the win among the leaders in the final stint of the day, but Larson accelerated when he pitted during the first green flag stop of the day. As a result, he fell back to the end of the lead lap and no chance of winning.
Larson finished 18th, six places behind leading rookie Christian Rasmussen. His performance before qualifying and speeding penalties was enough to earn him Rookie of the Year in the official voting.
But it was a disappointing debut for a driver who had won every other level of oval race and who at one point looked like he could win here too. He was picked up by helicopter directly from the track and arrived at Charlotte at an astonishing speed. However, he was already four hours late due to rain delays at Indianapolis.
The race was already in its final stretch. Justin Allgaier, who had been appointed NASCAR’s reserve driver, put in a great race on short notice to keep Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick on the lead lap. When Larson arrived with 150 laps to go, just before a temporary rain delay was expected, there was still a chance for the NASCAR star to win the other race of the day.
That chance disappeared when the rain never arrived, and NASCAR opted to stop the race early in the evening rather than wait until 1 a.m. to resume it because the track was slow to dry.
Larson didn’t even complete a lap in the second race, a new low for any driver trying to achieve the double. Larson was not the first driver to miss the start of a 600cc race because of rain, but he was the first to miss a 600cc race entirely because of delays. The 2021 Cup Series champion entered the race weekend with the best chance to win both races since Tony Stewart’s last attempt in 2001.
Stewart this year became the only driver to complete the 1,100 miles on the same day, finishing sixth at Indianapolis and third at Charlotte. Larson had to settle for 18th in the 500 and DNS in the 600. NASCAR’s unique playoff eligibility rules, which require drivers to get an exemption if they don’t try to run every race in the season, further complicate things. In theory, the series could have chosen to enforce the rule and end Larson’s championship hopes right now.
In practice, the series is not so vindictive, and current NASCAR leadership even seems supportive of the category’s starts trying to race in other disciplines. Larson is expected to receive a waiver and should be able to hold onto his current position of third in the series championship.
In a statement on social media, Larson apologized to stakeholders in both racing teams and said that he “felt like [he] let so many people down.” He added that the experience “up until Sunday” was “one of the greatest of his life.” In an interview with NBC before Monday’s Indianapolis 500 banquet, he added that “race day just sucked” because of the two factors and that he “didn’t really enjoy any of it.”
Larson noted in both the statement and the interview that he hopes to try the double again someday. He and his NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports initially signed a two-year deal with the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team, so if plans do not change and weather cooperates, Larson will get his shot to run the world’s biggest and world’s longest major oval races in the same day soon enough.
