Kyle Larson's Indy 500, Coca-Cola 600 rides debut at Brickyard

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — A dream and a deal for Kyle Larson to run the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day in 2024 came to light with an announcement back in January. “Right now it’s so far away, it still doesn’t quite seem real,” Larson said Sunday, with Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famed pagoda as a backdrop and working on limited sleep after his victory last night in the Knoxville Nationals.

The plan for Larson and Hendrick Motorsports to run both crown-jewel races on Memorial Day weekend is indeed still 287 days away. But Sunday, another significant step in the partnership with the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team inched the initiative closer to reality.

The cars that Larson will drive on May 26, 2024 were unveiled Sunday at the Brickyard, just hours before Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App) for the NASCAR Cup Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Both racers had liberal use of Hendrick’s blue with splashes of McLaren orange — his Indy 500 ride carrying No. 17 alongside his traditional NASCAR No. 5.

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Kurt Busch was the last NASCAR driver to compete in what’s been called “The Double” in 2014. Larson’s team has dubbed this attempt as the “Hendrick 1,100.”

“It’s been on my mind to do for a long time,” Larson said at Sunday’s reveal. “I just never felt like the timing was right. When I was younger, racing for Chip (Ganassi), I knew the opportunity was there. I just, I wanted to be able to fully commit to it and take the time that it needed to prep for it. And I feel like now I do have a lot of success in the NASCAR stuff, being with a team that’s consistently up front and making the playoffs. I feel like now I can maybe take a little bit of focus away from that and try and compete in the world’s biggest race.”

Several representatives from both series were on hand for Sunday’s presentation, and the group pictures and handshakes among those dignitaries illustrated a sense of renewed diplomacy between the two motorsports realms. NASCAR president Steve Phelps smiled for the camera alongside IndyCar president Jay Frye, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles shared the stage to welcome Charlotte Motor Speedway executive Greg Walter. Bridging both worlds was Roger Penske, who has long kept ownership interests in both stock cars and Indy’s open-wheeled racers, and who has the keys to the building at the historic IMS track.

The state of affairs seems ripe for a crossover, and team founder Rick Hendrick now has an ownership stake in both of Larson’s Memorial Day efforts next year. He said with enthusiasm Sunday that he plans to be along for the ride with Larson between Indy and Charlotte for both legs of the double attempt.

“It’s something that’s on the bucket list,” Hendrick said, “and to be able to just come participate in the Indy 500, that’s a dream. So Kyle’s got an awesome amount of talent. We’ve got Arrow McLaren, a great team to help us actually put the car together and do those things. So we’re excited.”

Preparations have been ongoing, and Larson has remarked how smoothly things have gone thus far, that including a seat fitting that took far less time than he envisioned. He’s already spent time in driving simulation, getting the feel of an Indy car on road courses and gaining a newfound respect for the talent and technique required to reach competitive speed. “That was very eye-opening,” he said, noting how far under the limit he was on applying brake pressure. “It is insane how good those guys are.”

The next phase will be a mandatory rookie orientation test in October, when Larson will try to work his way up to speed on the 2.5-mile oval. In his corner, he’ll have a former Indy 500 winner — 2013 champ Tony Kanaan, who signed on as a special advisor with Arrow McLaren six weeks ago.

“I’m not molding him or anything. He’s going to drive first and ask me questions later,” Kanaan said. “I don’t want to overwhelm him with any information that he might be anticipating something that I told him, that I don’t think that’s good. So, he doesn’t need teaching. He needs just time in the car, and what I want him to do is to feel comfortable. And if he has a question, I’m there.”