INDIANAPOLIS — (AP) — NASCAR star Kyle Larson crashed for the second time in the lead-up to the Indianapolis 500 on Friday when he lost control of his Arrow McLaren entry and hit the wall in the final practice session before this weekend’s qualifying runs.

The damage was relatively minor, though, and it only took Larson’s team about an hour to make repairs to the front and rear of the car. That allowed him to get in some precious laps with about 30 minutes left in the 6-hour session.

Larson, who also crashed on April 24 during an open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is taking his second shot at trying to complete “the Double” by running the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Larson finished 18th in the rain-delayed 500 last year, but he never ran a lap in the NASCAR race in Charlotte when rain there ended the race early.

“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the care center. “I don’t know. Kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my balance felt pretty close to being good.”

Larson waited until there were about 90 minutes left in Friday’s practice, which was marked by high temperatures and gusty winds that made for treacherous conditions, before trying his first qualifying simulation. He wasn’t far into the run when his No. 17 car went skittering up the track, bumped nose-first into the wall and then spun around and hit it again.

The crash came several hours after Kyffin Simpson hit the wall hard and nearly flipped his car.

Larson’s damaged car was put on a hoist and taken to Gasoline Alley, where Arrow McLaren went to work fixing it. Along with the late laps he got Friday, the team will have an hour-long practice Saturday morning before qualifying begins at 11 a.m. EDT.

“I’m sure at this point, we’ll want to get out there and shake it down,” Larson said. “If not, you still get time to make a few runs tomorrow. The track conditions will be better and I’m sure we’ll pack a little extra downforce to be safe that first run, and get a run in. Not too worried about it.”

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NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. claims that the version of the sport he once knew and grew up with has gone.

Earnhardt Jr. has noted the staggering cost behind fielding a car in the Cup Series, which he explains starts at approximately $50 million to get the charter, arguing that it has “become this place where only people with that kind of money can play.”

During an appearance on the Harvick Happy Hour podcast (below), Earnhardt Jr. explained:

“I have been around long enough to remember that if you and I just woke up one day and said, ‘Man, we’re going to enter a Cup car in any race we want,’ we can go find us a car, find us a driver, get all the parts and go do it, right?

“Now, there’s some couple hoops. You’ve got to get licensed and got to enter the car, pay the money, the entry fee, all that good stuff. But it was pretty much an understandable challenge.

“Today, to just get out there and compete, you need that $50 million charter, and that charter is going to be $100 million and $150 million and $200 million — it’s going to go to the moon over the next several years.

“It was a good time to buy it 10 years ago. I regret that I didn’t. But it’s become this place where only people with that kind of money can play.”

Claiming that it is “hard” for him to believe the changes, Earnhardt Jr. continued:

“The world, the NASCAR that I knew, in terms of just being able to field the car and go race, doesn’t exist anymore. That’s hard for me to just believe, that we’re in that — for me to go run an open car isn’t realistic. It’s not realistic for anybody to do it every single week.”

Despite this, the 50-year-old former driver acknowledges that this is a great position for the sport to be in. He concluded:

“But while that is tough for me to stomach, it is incredibly great for the current people that are involved in the sport. Great for NASCAR, great for the France family, great for the owners and teams that have those charters that are appreciating year after year, hour after hour.

“They’re just going up. But for somebody who’s trying to get in? You can’t play unless you got a big entity behind you. Somebody with real cash.”

By DAVE SKRETTA

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — NASCAR star Kyle Larson crashed for the second time in the lead-up to the Indianapolis 500 on Friday when he lost control of his Arrow McLaren entry and hit the wall in the final practice session before this weekend’s qualifying runs.

The damage was relatively minor, though, and it only took Larson’s team about an hour to make repairs to the front and rear of the car. That allowed him to get in some precious laps with about 30 minutes left in the 6-hour session.

Larson, who also crashed on April 24 during an open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is taking his second shot at trying to complete “the Double” by running the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Larson finished 18th in the rain-delayed 500 last year, but he never ran a lap in the NASCAR race in Charlotte when rain there ended the race early.

“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the care center. “I don’t know. Kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly. I know I spun but my balance felt pretty close to being good.”

Larson waited until there were about 90 minutes left in Friday’s practice, which was marked by high temperatures and gusty winds that made for treacherous conditions, before trying his first qualifying simulation. He wasn’t far into the run when his No. 17 car went skittering up the track, bumped nose-first into the wall and then spun around and hit it again.

The crash came several hours after Kyffin Simpson hit the wall hard and nearly flipped his car.

Larson’s damaged car was put on a hoist and taken to Gasoline Alley, where Arrow McLaren went to work fixing it. Along with the late laps he got Friday, the team will have an hour-long practice Saturday morning before qualifying begins at 11 a.m. EDT.

“I’m sure at this point, we’ll want to get out there and shake it down,” Larson said. “If not, you still get time to make a few runs tomorrow. The track conditions will be better and I’m sure we’ll pack a little extra downforce to be safe that first run, and get a run in. Not too worried about it.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — Kyle Larson went into the wall on Turn 3 on Fast Friday.

Larson had both left tires below the white line of the track. He spun and the front of his car hit into the wall.

Larson said he is OK after the crash.

“Just got loose in 3,” Larson said. “Just kind of had a lot of front grip and just kind of swung the back around on me. Ended up spinning and getting into the wall a couple times. Yeah, bummer, but I think it didn’t look like too major damage I think as we quickly drove by the car. I’m sure we’ll be fine tomorrow.”

Larson was asked how he mentally resets after crashing.

“I race so often and I honestly crash a lot,” Larson said. “I feel like I get over things pretty quickly. I was happy right there that the speed didn’t really bother me. When you go from race trim to qualifying trim here, the boost feels like way more power and I was a bit nervous about that. It didn’t feel crazy to me. I like that the speed aspect didn’t scare me. You can deal with the crash.”

Larson was able to get back on the track before the end of practice on Fast Friday.

Larson is attempting to do “The Double,” racing in both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. This is his second attempt. Larson qualified fifth for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 and finished in 18th.

Larson won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2021. He leads NASCAR in points in the 2025 season.

Qualification for the Indy 500 is on Saturday and Pole Day is on Sunday. The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 25.

Editors Note: This is a multi-part series looking back on historical events at North Wilkesboro Speedway as the 2025 NASCAR All Star Race approaches

NORTH WILKESBORO, NC – The North Wilkesboro Speedway was poised to host the 1979 Holly Farms 400, a key event in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series, but an unusual natural phenomenon brought the weekend to a halt. Heavy rainfall soaked the track, canceling qualifying and threatening the race. Yet, it wasn’t just the rain that stopped the show—millions of earthworms and nightcrawlers invaded the speedway, creating a slippery, chaotic scene that delayed the event.

The newly sponsored Holly Farms 400, set for the 0.625-mile oval in Wilkes County, drew thousands of fans eager to watch stars like Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, and Cale Yarborough compete. Persistent downpours left the infield waterlogged, driving countless worms to the surface as they fled flooded soil. The worms blanketed pit road, clogged drainpipes, and littered the racing surface, making it treacherous for drivers. During practice runs, tires lost grip on the worm-covered asphalt, raising safety concerns.

Crews worked tirelessly to clear the track, but the sheer number of worms overwhelmed their efforts. With qualifying already scrapped and conditions deemed unsafe, NASCAR officials postponed the race to October 14, a rare decision that disappointed teams and spectators but prioritized safety.

Two weeks later, under clear skies, the race went off without a hitch. Benny Parsons dominated, leading 167 of the 400 laps to secure his 19th career victory, edging out Cale Yarborough by half a second in a dramatic finish. Richard Petty took third, as over 20,000 fans filled the stands, undaunted by the earlier setback.

The 1979 Holly Farms 400, forever dubbed “The Worm Race,” stands as a bizarre chapter in NASCAR history, where tiny creatures upstaged high-powered machines and reminded everyone that nature can still call the shots.

After Shane van Gisbergen earned a shock pole for the Open race, it was time for the 20 All-Stars to go out and qualify for NASCAR’s annual exhibition race. Made up of two laps including a four-tire pit stop in the middle of it all, It takes every part of the team to go P1 at North Wilkesboro Speedway this weekend.

Several drivers sped on pit road, derailing their entire runs. This included SVG’s Trackhouse Racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain, as well as Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Blaney.

But the No. 6 RFK Racing crew and driver Brad Keselowski were perfect. After what has been the worst start to a season ever for the former Cup Series champion, Friday provided some relief as he secured pole position with a wildly impressive lap, almost one full second quicker than the nearest competition. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty freaking cool man,” said Keselowski. “To win the pole for the All-Star Race — I’ve never done that. It’s one of the things I’ve never done in my career, and to do it by so much — like nine tenths — it’s a total team effort. The pit crew and [crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and the team gave me a rock solid car and said here you go, here’s the ball. I nailed the lap, and just really proud. Really happy for everybody.”

Beyond Keselowski, the No. 71 Spire Motorsports pit crew also had reason to celebrate. While driver Michael McDowell is in the Open, his pit crew had the fastest stop of any team, which earned them the honor of winning the Pit Crew Challenge. As a result, they will be awarded $100,00 and a pretty cool trophy. They beat the No. 99 Trackhouse pit crew by just 0.013s for the big prize.

Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

Christopher Bell qualified second, Alex Bowman third, Chase Briscoe fourth, and William Byron fifth. Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and Chase Elliott filled out the remainder of the top ten.

These drivers will be split into two heat races tomorrow, which will officially set the full lineup for the main event on Sunday, but no matter where he finishes in his heat race, Keselowski will still start from pole position for the All-Star Race.

Photos from All-Star Race – Practice