Larson: 2025 could be final Indy 500 "for the time being"
- Dan Jones
- Apr 24
- 6 min read
Written by Dan Jones
Kyle Larson has stated that May's 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 could be his last for "the time being," as he prepares for his second attempt at the 'Greatest Spectacle in Racing,' as well as his second attempt at 'the Double.'
Speaking to media after the first day of running of the Open Test, where Larson finished 12th in the speed charts with a best speed of 223.430 mph, the 32-year-old stated that "I'm going into this thinking it's at least for the time being, in the near future, the final Indy 500."
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion looks to re-attempt 'the Double' in 2025 - the feat of competing in the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR's Charlotte 600 on the same day, a challenge only attempted 11 times, with the full 1100 miles only ever being completed once.
Larson's attempts at the feat were cut short last year due to inclement weather delaying the start of the '500.' Once Larson had arrived mid-way through the action at Charlotte, the weather had arrived with him, resulting in the race not being restarted and Larson not competing.
NASCAR took a dim view of this, and reluctantly handed Larson a waiver to maintain his playoff eligibility. The series amended their regulations in the off-season, meaning that if Larson, or any other driver, were to miss a race due to non-medical reasons, they would forfeit all their playoff points earned heading into the NASCAR post-season.
When Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports announced that Larson would attempt the Double in early 2023, the Californian's mind seemed fairly set on competing in the Indianapolis 500 twice. Although he is yet to have his second run at the race, Larson remains non-committal on whether he will be back in 2026.
"I don't know. I haven't really had a sit-down discussion with anybody about that. So I don't know. I can't really fully answer that.
"But I am still young, and 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 and want to come back. It's hard to fully answer that right now."
Larson is at Indianapolis for the series' annual 'Open Test,' which provides drivers an early opportunity to get a feel for their cars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), ahead of practice formally commencing in mid-May.
This marks Larson's first time in an Indy car since the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The build-up to that race had Larson spending several hours in the simulator, in addition to a test at Phoenix Raceway. However, Larson hasn't been putting in any work toward his IndyCar program in this year's preparations.
"Yeah, nothing really. Yeah, nothing at all. I didn't do any sim stuff. They have a new steering wheel, so I got molded for that. That's about all that I've done Indy related.
"You have so much track time here that you kind of can build into it anyway. Maybe if I got in the sim, buttons and all that would have been a little bit easier to kind of set up the way I wanted, but like I said, you have enough time here that I don't really feel like it's that necessary, and then the overall -- like sim, car balance I think for oval staff, it doesn't relate to real life.
"I think a lot of times you can just trick yourself in there. Even on the NASCAR side of things, I don't really use the sim. Yeah, I didn't do anything. But there's going to be plenty of track time to figure it out."
This year's Indianapolis 500 will mark the first with the hybrid package being in use. The system was first used at Mid-Ohio last year, and several other of the Indy 500-only entries have tested it at some point. However, today's running marked the first opportunity for Larson to use the hybrid.
One of the key talking points of the system is it's adjustment in the car's balance, as well as the additional weight, and Larson's still trying to get to grips with the hybrid unit.
"Still just trying to get the hang of it. I haven't talked to any of the teammates yet, but I feel like it feels a little different handling-wise this year. I don't know if that's the hybrid stuff and the weight of that or what I'm feeling, but it feels a little different, so not quite the same balance that I had last year, so just got to kind of think through that and how you want to adjust to it, if you want to get it to a point like we were last year or not."
It's a system that Larson does not have to encounter on the NASCAR side of racing, and it marked a huge amount of learning for the Californian to do early on in the day.
"Hearing them [the team] describe it to me was a little bit confusing, but once I got out there and all that, it was okay. I didn't really feel like it does much of anything to help you. It definitely helps; it doesn't hurt.
"But it's not like you get this massive boost down the straightaway or anything like that. I feel like whenever I would hit it, I'd get like an initial kind of handful of horsepower and then it just flattens out to normal. You get kind of close and then you just kind of stall out.
"Like I mentioned about the balance stuff, I don't know if what I'm feeling there is due to the hybrid stuff. I think it's a fair bit heavier than last year and rearward, as well. I feel like that's what I might be feeling. But I just would like to talk to my teammates, see what they felt to see if it's similar."
Larson's maiden Indianapolis 500 last year was de-railed by a late pit speed violation, as well as a poor restart early on, which ultimately left him in 18th position. Both factors were two elements of the race that Larson was unable to control in practice, but his experience from 2024 gives him more confidence into what to expect in 2025.
"I think just a little less anxiety probably of the unknown of what to expect. I still think there was definitely things I didn't fully know what to expect on. It is a little different car with the hybrid system, so there was things that I didn't know.
"I feel like for the month of May when you come here, everybody builds into bigger pack running and stuff, where like today, it was like everybody was out there in a pack, so you kind of got to get your mindset up to speed a little quicker than I guess I was expecting. But it's still all good to get there. Still a bit rusty, I felt, out there. But it's good to sleep on it tonight."
The Indianapolis 500 was Larson's latest 'bucket list' motorsport event, with the Elk Grove native also previously competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona, Turkey Night Grand Prix, Kings Royal, Knoxville Nationals, the Chilli Bowl and several more crown jewel events in the motorsport calendar.
When asked what he'd like to do next, Larson had something immediately in mind:
"I'd like to run a Supercar, in particular in Adelaide. It's their finale. They have a sprint car track in the city, as well, so I could do both.
"I would like to do that. There's been some conversations. We'll see where it kind of goes. For right now, it's hard to look that far ahead because I've got Indy, which is a big deal right now, and we're pretty engrained in the Cup season, as well."
Although it's not the biggest event in the Supercars calendar, that crown belongs to the Bathurst 1000, which the likes of Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe have competed in, Adelaide is one of the most prestigious events of the Australian Supercars season.
The race takes place in late November, after the Cup Series season has finished, but as Larson stated: "It's really tough to run big races because I'm racing 54 weekends of the year pretty much," before maintaining that his primary target is to complete the Double.
McLaughlin won the event twice whilst racing in Supercars, in 2019 and 2020, whilst Larson could also take advice from fellow Cup Series driver, Shane van Gisbergen, who won the race in 2013, 2017 and 2018.
It was a day of "knocking off the rust" for Larson, who will return tomorrow for more testing at Indianapolis, which will see 'the boost,' in use, where the engine modes will be turned up to those that Larson and the other 33 drivers attempting to qualify, will experience come qualifying day on May 18th.
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