It’s Nearly Go Time for Kyle Larson
Photo Credit: Chris Owens, Penske Entertainment
After all the months of meetings, logistics, practice, qualifying and even more meetings, it’s nearly go time for Kyle Larson to race in the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.
But all the planning and preparations can be undone by Mother Nature with thunderstorms predicted for Indy on Sunday. While Larson is as chill as they come and doesn’t stress about many things, Sunday’s forecast has him concerned.
“Sure, yeah, it's stressful because weather is always unpredictable, but you just don't really know until it's like happening. So it's hard to plan for weather. You can have all these plans and backup plans and backup plans for the backup plan. But you just can't really do anything or react until it's kind of the moment.
“That's what's a little bit stressful. Yeah, it doesn't look too promising for Indy on Sunday, but I think for me where I sit, if it's going to rain, I hope it rains all day. That way it can just get pushed to Monday or something, and then Charlotte is not going to rain, I just hope it doesn't rain, and we can get it in on Sunday night and then come here Monday.
“Again, it's weather. The forecast changes kind of every day. But yeah, we'll see.”
Photo Credit: Paul Hurley, Penske Entertainment
As far as how it impacts his ability to do both races on Sunday, it’s a giant ‘we’ll see’ for Larson.
“I think that's all kind of game time decisions and maybe decisions out of my control. Yeah, I think the plan right now is hopefully everything just gets going as scheduled and we don't have to worry about that.
“Like I said, I think it's just all kind of spur of the moment decisions, and we'll see.”
Should the weather become an issue on Sunday, who makes the call as to whether Larson stays in Indy to complete the “500”, or get out of the car and head to Charlotte for the “600”? NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick has his name, and sponsorship, on both cars.
“Well, that's a tough question because we've talked about it many times,”Hendrick admitted, “and we know we need to be at Charlotte for the points. We're just going to let it play out, and then Kyle and myself and Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman), we have Jeff Andrews (Hendrick Motorsports, President and GM), we'll make that decision Sunday.”
How hard would it be for Hendrick to pull Larson out of the car should rain delay the “500” in Indy?
“It would be very hard. It would be very tough. Would be very disappointing because of all the effort that everyone has put in, from Arrow McLaren to Zak (Brown, McLaren Racing CEO) and the crowd, our marketing people. We've got a tremendous amount of folks at Indy, and he's in such a good position, it would be extremely hard.”
Other than Sunday’s weather forecast, Larson’s month of May has gone smoothly. His Arrow McLaren teammate Pato O’Ward says Larson’s schedule has been so busy that he hasn’t spent much time with him. But Larson says he hasn’t felt pulled in too many directions between team engineering meetings, media obligations and actually being on track.
“No, I mean, I have been busy. I feel like I've been in a lot of the engineering meetings -- I joked with our engineers. I was like I've gone to more meetings in one week than I have all season in NASCAR to this point.
“I feel like it's meeting after meeting.
“No, I really haven't got to spend much time with anybody. The days start pretty early, and then they end late. You get dinner, and kind of just want to relax.
“No, I haven't gotten to spend a ton of time with them, but I don't really know how their schedules vary differently to mine. I feel like I do a lot of interviews and stuff during the day, in between time in car and all that.
“Yeah, it's just a busy couple weeks of all on track, so I'm not sure when anybody gets time to hang out much.
Photo Credit: James Black, Penske Entertainment
“I've been pretty relaxed from my side,” Larson continued. “I've done a ton of interviews and all that and signed bunches of autographs and everything, but it's all been -- nothing has been like surprising or I've not felt like overwhelmed really at any point.
“It's all been smooth, and I think there's just been a lot of planning going on behind the scenes, between Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports for months. That's helped it be really smooth.”
Larson, only the fifth driver to attempt the Indy-Charlotte double, has garnered universal respect in the garage area for what he’s doing this month. A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, who starts to the outside of Larson on the second row, is rooting for him.
“Man, it's impressive, but there's very few drivers that drive everything today. He's one of them, and if anyone can do it, I think he can. I've driven some of the stock car stuff. It's very different. It's a lot of fun. You don't see INDYCAR drivers doing the double. That's what's kind of different for us because you have so many one-off entries coming to the 500. It's a little bit more feasible. I'd love to do an attempt at it. It's a completely different ballgame. For me to go jump in a stock car like I did during the COVID years it was so difficult. First time I was behind the wheel was green flag at Homestead, which is a little ridiculous, but it was a lot of fun.
“No, just the physical side of it, but Kyle is a super fit dude,” Ferrucci said. “The cars are so heavy to drive. The stock cars are really hot inside. You get a 90-degree day here and you're in the car for four-and-a-half, five hours. I mean, I get out and I'm completely depleted. So how you recover on a flight with IVs and everything and then get in another hotbox that's like 130 inside there all over again, amen to you, brother. It's cool as hell.
“I'm rooting for him because like why not? Make some history.”
Photo Credit: Chris Jones, Penske Entertainment
No stranger to big racing events, Larson has really enjoyed the lead-up to the Indy 500, his first INDYCAR race.
“This facility is -- this is like Disneyland or Disney World of racetracks. It is the nicest facility. I think all of that makes it feel even bigger, too.
“Two weeks of stuff, buildup to the race, there's so many things that make this event feel different and bigger. But yeah, there's no other event I've been a part of to this point, and I haven't even gotten to race yet, that's felt quite as big as the Indy 500.”
The way the community embraces the “500” hasn’t escaped Larson, either.
“I'm renting a house for family in Whitestown, which is 20 minutes from here, and in a nice little neighborhood. Every other house has an Indianapolis Motor Speedway flag hanging off the side of their house, which I think is really cool because they're a little bit outside of Speedway and still supporting it on their houses.
“So that's cool.”
One thing Larson has yet to experience is the atmosphere and buildup to the “500” on race morning. It’s something his Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi hasn’t forgotten from when he won the race in his rookie season in 2016.
“Man, it's as memorable for me as the end. I fell in love with this event at 9:00 a.m. that morning just because I had no idea kind of -- you go through all of the processes to get to that point and you hear about it, but you don't really realize until you open your bus door that morning, and you're like -- it is a life-changing kind of event and experience to be a part of.
“I'm excited for him. I'm excited for every rookie that gets to experience it this year because it is one of those things that will change your appreciation for this race and kind of motorsports in general.
“It's a really cool kind of three, four hours, the buildup that happens. Really hope for a lot of reasons, kind of along the same line, that there is no weather so that he and the others can experience the full kind of buildup to the event with all of the tradition and beauty that goes along with that. Fingers crossed that it all works out that way.”
Photo Credit: James Black, Penske Entertainment
Along the way, Larson has received all kinds of advice. As far as the best?
“I don't know like -- I've had so much advice throughout the last year I feel like. But I don't know, I've had lots of people just telling me to enjoy the experience, enjoy the event, and I've really tried -- I feel like I've done a good job of that. I've tried to take as much time as I can for the fans and media and all that, and I've really -- typically, like at, say, a NASCAR event you'd get kind of burned out on it but I haven't been burned out on it because this is just such a cool event. I don't know how often I'm going to run this race. I don't know if this is the only year I'm running it. Just trying to enjoy it, and I have. It's been the coolest experience for sure to this point, and we haven't even run the race yet.”