Kyle Larson Says Doing ‘The Double’ Isn’t Worth It
Kyle Larson’s quest to finish the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day ended with two wrecked cars.
Larson crashed out of the Indy 500 just before the halfway mark and then got caught up in a multi-car accident in Charlotte on lap 246.
Even if he hadn’t retired from the Indy 500, he might not have been able to finish as several rain delays pushed the end close to the time he needed to leave to make it to Charlotte for the start of the Coca-Cola 600. If that had happened, Tony Kanaan was standing by to take over his Arrow McLaren IndyCar car.
“The Double is just a tough undertaking,” Larson said after leaving the infield care center at Charlotte, NASCAR.com reported. “I think the window of time is too tight. Even if I didn’t wreck [at Indy], I don’t think I would have made it here in time and probably would have had to end that race short anyway.”
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Larson’s attempt last year was similarly foiled by rain. The Indy 500 was delayed, which made him late to get to Charlotte, and the same storm front ended the Coca-Cola 600 before he was able to take over his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which had started the race with Justin Allgaier driving.
“I just don’t really think it’s worth it, but I would love to run the Indy 500 again. Just doing the Double, I think, is just logistically too tough.”
Larson was able to take some consolation by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis later in the year.
Larson is just the fifth driver to successfully compete in both races on the same day, while Tony Stewart is the only driver who was able to finish all 1,100 miles, when he did it in 2001. Robby Gordon came up one lap short in Charlotte during his try the following year.
Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain went on to win the Coca-Cola 600 and his team owner, Justin Marks, said he thinks the motorsports world should be collaborating more to make big moments like The Double happen.
“I’m a believer that I don’t think motorsports should be in competition with each other. I don’t think the industry is big enough for us to be trying to make things difficult on each other. I think there’s strength in collaboration between the two,” Marks said during his post-race press conference.
“I think in the way the world is right now, live events, especially live sporting events, are becoming more and more powerful and valuable in an increasingly digital and detached world. I think we have an amazing product, and cars going around a racetrack at 200 miles an hour is an incredibly visceral, authentic, raw, amazing experience, and there’s power in that. I think certainly the tide that raises all ships is a real thing. If I was running everything, I would do everything in my power to make sure things like that double can happen because I think it’s an amazing opportunity for NASCAR fans that want to watch their favorite NASCAR driver maybe watch the Indy 500 for the first time, learn about IndyCar, learn new stories and all that and vice versa.”