Larson on Indy 500 return: "I'm probably done but you never know"
- Dan Jones
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
How does a sporting star accept failure?
When your reputation is on the line, it can be difficult. Take Kyle Larson, a generational motorsport talent with a knack to be quick in any car that he steps into. Take your superstar driver and place him in two organisations that know about winning in motorsport, Hendrick Motorsports and McLaren.
Take your superstar driver, your superpower organisations and combine that with the toughest challenge in motorsport - 'The Double'. 1100 miles in one day, 500 in an Indy car in the 'Greatest Spectacle in Racing' and 600 in a stock car at NASCAR's longest race of the year.
The stars were aligned for the fairytale story, history to be made and the best set of circumstances for this feat to ever be completed.
And then it goes wrong. Twice.
After all the anticipation, the 18 months of preparation and the sky high expectation, it ended up being a rather underwhelming affair. Whatever the story was, Amazon Prime's cameras followed Larson's double attempts in both 2024 and 2025 and although it maybe was not the story filmmakers wanted, it became a story of how a sporting star can accept failure.
"Yeah, I'm happy and grateful that I got the experience," said Larson prior to the Indianapolis premier of Kyle Larson vs the Double, "It obviously didn't go in and finish the way that I had hoped, but I'm still grateful for the opportunity. It's super cool to be a part of the Indy 500, in my opinion, the biggest race in the world and also get to do the the Coke 600 later that night."
"I wish obviously things could have gone differently with weather and my execution behind the wheel, but you can't change that now," added Larson. "I'm happy I did it and here's definitely good memories."
Larson's first attempt at 'the Double' was announced in 2023 ahead of racing the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren and Coca-Cola 600 with Hendrick Motorsports in 2024. Larson made an impression from the get-go, being second in the timing charts at the Open Test before qualifying fifth for his maiden Indianapolis 500.
Race day however turned out to be the worst-case scenario. The rain hit Indianapolis with the race start delayed meaning Larson would miss the start of the Coca-Cola 600, making the completion of all 1100 impossible. Larson's race saw him make an error on his first restart and speed in pitlane before finishing 18th. He made the trip to Charlotte but once he got there, the rain came with him.
"The first year was just a lot of stress," Larson reflected of his first double attempt. "Trying to decide what to do in the moment. That was hard decision of like, 'Do we stay? Do we leave? What do we do?' Ultimately, we stayed. And then all the drama came along with it, on not getting to run the 600, the weather kind of got in the middle of that one. So it was just a lot of stress that I lived through then."
It was not the Indianapolis debut Larson was hoping for, but when he next returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway he would kiss the bricks after winning NASCAR's Brickyard 400, and although it was not the Indianapolis victory that he had maybe hoped for, it had made up for some of the heartbreak in May.
After an underwhelming first attempt with 'unfinished business,' it was inevitable that Larson, Hendrick and McLaren would have a second go and on September 10th 2024, the second double attempt was confirmed.
This had a different factor to deal with though. After Larson was controversially given a waiver for missing the 2024 Coke 600 to maintain his playoff eligibility, going forward any driver who skipped a regular season NASCAR race for a non-medical reason would forfeit all their playoff points. The '600' became Larson's number one priority.
Come May 25th, 2025, the typical May Indiana weather struck again. Larson has started the race but his day ended early after his third crash of the month at Indianapolis before he would find the barriers again in Charlotte.
"You like sign up to do it again. You're like, okay, there's no possible way that it's going to go so poorly as race day did the year before and then in a lot of ways it goes worse with me crashing in both races. It emotionally just drained me and I was not expecting that so that was the toughest part to deal with."
But weather aside, how did Larson reflect of the experience?
"Everything outside of race day throughout those two weeks of both of the years was amazing, all the practice days the crowd, the atmosphere was great. Qualifying day is awesome. Carb Day is amazing. Everything of that was really, really cool."
When Larson's double attempt had been confirmed for 2024, it had marked a decade since a NASCAR driver had last attempted the feat. It would be simple to assume that after Larson's failed attempts that it would be unlikely for anybody to follow in his footsteps, but 2026 sees Katherine Legge become the first female and non-American driver to attempt the 1100 miles.
Legge is in a very different position to Larson in that she does not need to prioritise the Coca-Cola 600 as an open entry and that she has no full-time racing programme, but Larson can still provide plenty of his own personal experience.
"I did talk to her. I was on her podcast a few weeks ago, and we talked about the double. For me the hydration, the physical side and nutrition side of it wasn't as like big of a deal as I was expecting it to be. I felt really good after the 500 in both times, ready to go for 600 more miles. That's a lot of the stuff that you overthink.
"I think just doing your normal thing, really. Don't venture too far off of that. I just pray that the weather is good for her. I think it's awesome that she's doing it. I'm a huge fan of hers. I think she's an amazing ambassador for motorsports and especially women in racing. I was really excited to hear that she was going to do it. I think it's going to move the needle for the event more so than it even was for me."
There's no denying that Larson was a fan favourite at Indianapolis. Not only that, but the profile of the race is only raised further when you have a global superstar like Larson or Fernando Alonso amongst the field of 33. The double took an emotional toll on Larson, whether that was the delays, the frustration and the difficult of accepting failure. But would he ever make a return to 'the Greatest Spectacle in Racing?'
"I would say emotionally I don't think I could do it again. I think if you could promise me that it was going to be zero percent chance of rain at both places I would sign up right now. But that's not the case, so it's just a lot to commit to you know time wise for myself, for everybody else involved. There's so many people outside of just me that do the double with me. So for it to come down to just a 30 minute rain delay, that could just wipe it out. That's just a lot to commit to."
"So no, I would say I definitely won't ever do the double again. But I think about maybe the Indy 500 again someday. But I can't do that while I'm full-time NASCAR racing. That's probably going to put me into my 40s, and that's just a lot to commit to at that stage of my life. So, I'm probably done, but you never know."
