Kyle Larson’s barnstorming begins this weekend when he undertakes a trying commute between three racetracks in two national motorsports series.

Larson is bidding to become the fifth driver to complete the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. To accomplish the feat, Larson will miss NASCAR All-Star Race preparations Friday and Saturday at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to focus on Indy 500 practice and qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After attempting to qualify for the field of 33 for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Sunday at more than 230 mph in an IndyCar, Larson will hustle to the Indianapolis airport for a flight to tiny North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, where he will race against the Cup Series’ best for $1 million in the NASCAR All-Star Race.

Larson will return to Indy for Monday practice, spend Tuesday in New York on a media tour and bounce between Indy and Charlotte Motor Speedway three times from Friday to Sunday ahead of the Coca-Cola 600.

It’s a daunting journey, but Larson is ready for the harried itinerary.

The Hendrick Motorsports star has squeezed in several dozen dirt races around his annual NASCAR schedule of 38 Cup Series weekends for the past decade.

“Yeah, I mean honestly it just feels like another week for me,” Larson said. “If anything, it’s a little easier of a week than normal.”

That’s in part because Indy 500 qualifying will end an hour later this year, so Larson will be unable to run for the pole position at North Wilkesboro, even if he were to advance to the final round of six drivers.

He already will be on the way to North Wilkesboro as a favorite, along with defending series champion Joey Logano, who led 199 of 200 laps to win last year’s NASCAR All-Star Race. Larson led 145 laps to win the 2023 All-Star Race debut at North Wilkesboro.

After the runaway wins, NASCAR has spiced up this year’s race by adding 50 laps to the distance and a random caution flag that will bunch up the field.

The format changes don’t faze Larson, who has won three of the past six All-Star Races, nor does the lack of track time. He missed practice and qualifying for last year’s All-Star Race and then drove from last to fourth on the recently repaved track.

“I think you could plug any of us in without practice, and by Lap 10 you’re going to be up to speed,” he said. “Last year was probably more of a disadvantage because I hadn’t made a single lap on that surface, but we were able to move forward right off the bat. So, hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to win like we did last year.”

Justin Allgaier will practice and qualify Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet, but the team will skip Saturday’s 75-lap heat races that set the lineup for Sunday’s main event because Larson will start from the rear for using a replacement driver Friday.

Coming off a dominant victory May 11 at Kansas Speedway, Larson leads the points standings with three wins – making him even more confident of handling his jet-setting lifestyle.

“Every year, there’s one or two weekends where it’s either late nights or cutting it close to making it to a dirt race because practice and qualifying got done later in NASCAR,” Larson said. “This week and next week feel pretty normal to me.”

But what he’s trying to do is far from normal. He crashed Friday — after wrecking last month in a test at Indy — while trying to get up to speed with the extra horsepower that he will have for Indy 500 qualifying.

“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the Indy 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.”

Last year, his attempt at the feat known as “The Double” was scuttled because the Indy 500 was delayed four hours by rain, preventing him from racing in a rain-shortened event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It’s something that not many people have gotten the opportunity to do and it’s a challenging day of racing,” he said. “I love the challenge. I’ve looked up to a lot of the guys that have done it, and you want to add your name to the record book somehow. Hopefully, it all goes well, and we can complete ‘The Double’ and live out a dream, but also try and do a good job with it.”

Fresh start

Harrison Burton will be making his All-Star Race debut Sunday, even though he last raced the Cup Series in the 2024 season finale. After three years in the No. 21 Ford, Burton lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing and dropped to the Xfinity Series.

But he was guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Race because of his victory at Daytona International Speedway last August, so Rick Ware Racing hired Burton to drive its No. 51 Ford at North Wilkesboro in a one-off deal.

“You kind of never know if an opportunity will come and having an automatic bid into the All-Star Race is such a big deal to me,” Burton said. “Especially how my story has gone with the ups and downs. This is such a cool moment for me. I really wanted to make this deal work out, and I’m really happy it did.”

Title barometer

The All-Star Race winner has gone on to win the Cup championship in three of the past five years (Chase Elliott in 2020, Larson in ’21, Logano last year), which adds another layer to the race’s prestige. The select field will feature 23 drivers (20 qualified with wins, two transfer from a warmup race and the final slot is a fan vote winner).

“Just being a part of the race against some of the biggest names in the series is big and important,” said Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who missed last year’s main event. “It’s not a points race but there’s a lot of cash on the line and definitely a cool title to go with it.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — 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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It’s easy to get caught up in horsepower and cool looks when building a car, but safety gear like a fire extinguisher is a must-have as well — even to display at some car shows. Having that extinguisher bracket mounted securely and easy to grab in a hurry matters, and Eddie Motorsports offers a CNC-machined aluminum bracket for one-pound extinguishers that aims to do exactly that.Eddie Motorsports says its bracket stands out thanks to its clever design. The company CNC-machines each bracket from tough, 6061-T6 aluminum for strength and a precise fit. A neat feature is that builders can mount it anywhere they need it, providing lots of installation flexibility.

Here’s how it works: one part of the bracket clamps tightly and permanently around a compatible, 1-pound extinguisher (which Eddie Motorsports sells separately). That assembly then snaps into a base that bolts to the vehicle with four fasteners. If an emergency arises, a quick-release pin allows the driver or passenger to yank the extinguisher free in a second.To match different styles, Eddie Motorsports offers the bracket in a machined-aluminum finish, a highly polished version, or in a range of durable, Fusion-coated colors. Units specifically designed for roll bar mounting are on the way soon.

A well-made CNC aluminum part, like this Eddie Motorsports extinguisher bracket, isn’t just for looks; it’s about having that important piece of equipment held securely but still ready to grab instantly when accidents happen. It adds real protection and a bit more peace of mind when you’re out there driving.

Hendrick Motorsports said Thursday that Kyle Larson’s No. 5 team will not compete in Saturday’s heat race at North Wilkesboro Speedway due to Larson’s Indianapolis 500 commitments.

Larson will drive in Sunday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race. He will have to start at the rear for missing his heat race.

Larson also will miss Friday’s All-Star practice and qualifying sessions at North Wilkesboro. He will remain in Indianapolis to prepare for Indy 500 qualifying this weekend.

Several challenges, including a new NASCAR rule, make the feat of running in those signature races in the same day much more difficult.

Justin Allgaier will drive Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet in practice and qualifying Friday at North Wilkesboro. Qualifying sets the lineup for the two heat races. The pit crew challenge, which is a part of qualifying, will determine the order teams pick their pit stalls.

There’s little benefit to Larson’s team to run in the heat race with a different driver. A driver change will force Larson to start at the rear for the All-Star Race.

The North Carolina short track will play host to the All-Star Race for the third consecutive season.

Larson started from the rear in last year’s All-Star Race after skipping the preliminary events to remain in Indianapolis and finished fourth. He won the All-Star Race in 2023 at North Wilkesboro.

Larson is making his second attempt to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day later this month. Rain thwarted his attempt last year.

They would prefer to blend in. This is what their decades in law enforcement have ingrained in them. Strangers asking for a selfie is supposed to be a foreign concept; people shouldn’t know who they are.

But NASCAR fans have come to recognize Allen Taylor and Stan Ruffin, whose job titles are simply “NASCAR security,” though this underplays their importance. Through no fault of their own, they’ve found themselves in the middle of some of NASCAR’s most well-known driver confrontations in recent years.

Remember that post-race scrum at Kansas in 2023, when Ross Chastain clocked Noah Gragson with a right cross? It was Ruffin who grabbed Gragson’s arm in mid-swing before he could land a retaliatory punch that surely would’ve triggered a bigger melee. Ruffin was also in the middle of a brawl last year at North Wilkesboro — where NASCAR returns this weekend for its annual All-Star Race — between Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with Ruffin forcefully pulling Stenhouse away after he punched Busch post-race.

Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into an altercation following the NASCAR All-Star Race

@Jordan_Bianchi pic.twitter.com/86EA503lCw

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 20, 2024

And last fall, Taylor defused a potential powder keg when he walked with an irate driver down Martinsville’s pit road who seemed hellbent on expressing his anger with a Truck Series competitor following a key playoff race, only for the confrontation to never go beyond an exchange of words.

“A lot of times you can tell by their posture when they get out of the car; they’re slamming things,” said Taylor, who heads NASCAR’s security team. “It’s all about anticipating and seeing how they’re reacting. Because sometimes drivers are nice and calm and they go to the other driver, and then that’s when they blow up. Sometimes the blow-up doesn’t happen until the other person says something. It’s not always immediately that the fighting occurs. You just have to be aware.”

Although there is no overarching protocol on how Taylor, Ruffin and others within NASCAR’s security corps handle post-race confrontations, they try to apply a consistent methodology. They end up as part-bodyguard, part-referee and part-mediator.

“It’s just a natural thing for me,” Ruffin said. “I seem to always be around, and stuff gravitates towards me. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not.”

When races finish, Taylor and Ruffin will make their way over to any driver they feel may be inclined to confront another, either by their own instincts or with some direction from NASCAR officials in the scoring tower. And should that driver decide to start a confrontation, security will quickly move in.

These exchanges between drivers are often mild, with no one starring in a viral fight video. But occasionally, a flare-up occurs.

When this happens, Taylor and Ruffin’s extensive law enforcement background — each totaling nearly 30 years — proves invaluable. Taylor worked for the U.S. Secret Service, where his duties included a lengthy stint serving on the detail assigned to protecting the Obamas. There, he forged a tight bond with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. When Taylor was seeking a career shift in 2020 and curious about potentially working for NASCAR, Barack Obama made a personal call to then-NASCAR president Steve Phelps to encourage the league to hire his friend.

Ruffin worked as an FBI agent, where he worked on several high-profile cases ranging from 9/11 to white-collar crimes to kidnappings.

The preferred protocol with post-race fights is to allow the drivers to speak toe-to-toe without any crew members interjecting. Since many crew members are former college athletes and often significantly bigger than drivers, such a size discrepancy can lead to injuries, making it paramount to keep them on the periphery. NASCAR security also doesn’t want any law enforcement to become directly involved unless absolutely necessary, lest an overzealous driver or crew member accidentally strike them and potentially be subject to criminal charges.

Ideally, once drivers begin to jaw, they’ll say whatever needs to be said and then disperse. Of course, sometimes it can go in a much different direction. And it’s when things get physical that Taylor and Ruffin make their presence known.

“You can’t let the drivers get hurt,” Ruffin said. “Because if you go too far and a driver gets hurt, then it becomes, ‘Why didn’t you stop them?’

“Those drivers, especially the younger ones, are similar to my own kids where I was always breaking up fights. The younger ones often make me laugh as I’m trying to break them up. I jokingly tell (drivers) they get one move (be it a shove, a grab or punch) and that’s it.”

Punches thrown between Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson after Kansas! pic.twitter.com/vzojr7Jn7H

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 7, 2023

Leaning on their vast training, Taylor and Ruffin prefer to de-escalate any situation before it rises to punches being thrown and drivers needing to be physically restrained.

Last fall at Martinsville, Taylor walked nearly the entire length of pit road with driver Taylor Gray, who was upset with Christian Eckes after late contact cost Gray a win in a pivotal Truck Series playoff race. During that walk, Taylor repeatedly told Gray to maintain a level head. This is exactly what happened.

“I kept saying, ‘Think about what you are going to say, don’t do anything that you’re going to regret later. Just have a conversation,” Taylor said. “I kept repeating the same thing over and over. He wasn’t acknowledging it, but I was hoping that he was hearing me.

“You’re de-escalating, but it’s also more about communicating. My communication skills are honed in on and based on having to deal with audiences, having to talk to people and give them direction. Communication is the key in all these situations.”

Taylor Gray walked down Martinsville’s pit road to confront Christian Eckes in victory lane after the Truck Series race. After the two exchanged words, Gray walked away. pic.twitter.com/zzKgub9I6k

— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) November 2, 2024

Looking back months later, Gray says he doesn’t recall what Taylor said to him that frustrating night. Still, it’s hard to think that Taylor’s message didn’t resonate to some degree.

“He was trying to talk me off the ledge, for sure,” Gray said.

Following a rough-and-tumble Xfinity Series race this past spring at Martinsville, Ruffin found himself in a similar situation. Livid with Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton sought Smith out in the infield care center. With this environment considered a hospital, no misbehavior is tolerated, especially fighting. So Ruffin placed himself between the two drivers, then calmly explained to Burton that this was not the place for this and he needed to leave. Burton listened. And on his own accord, he later apologized to the care center staff.

“They did a good job of talking me off the ledge,” Burton said. “That’s not the guy I am, but I’m fired up and passionate about what I do.”

Tense situations can extend beyond the track, sometimes not even involving drivers — and it may require being mindful of a muffin whizzing by their head.

He laughs about it now, and so do Ruffin’s colleagues, who now affectionately refer to him as the “Muffin Man,” but at the moment, it was no joke.

Among NASCAR security’s many duties is having a presence at various events that go on during the week. This includes NASCAR playoff media day, as was the case last September at the Charlotte Convention Center. At some point, as Ruffin recalled, an uncredentialed man entered a private area NASCAR had sequestered off and refused to leave when asked.

After Ruffin was alerted, he began following the individual while maintaining a healthy distance, as he didn’t want to provoke him. The unwanted visitor eventually made his way into a hospitality room where he proceeded to grab various food items. It was then Ruffin intervened, instructing the individual to leave as he had overstayed his welcome. Ignoring the directive, the individual continued to wander around only to suddenly throw a muffin at the back of Ruffin’s head, missing him.

In this instance, Ruffin would’ve had justification to act forcefully. Yet, Ruffin maintained his composure.

“I picked up the muffin, handed it to him and said, ‘Sir, I believe you dropped your muffin,’” Ruffin said, shaking his head as he retells the story.

“It’s just a matter of trying to stay calm and calm the other person and not make the situation worse by giving them an opportunity to do what they came there to do. And I think he came there to fight. … You do everything you can to bring the tension down.”

Stan Ruffin accompanies Joey Logano to a Los Angeles Clippers game in 2022. Logano is one of many drivers who rely on Ruffin and Allen Taylor. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

Many within the industry swear by Taylor and Ruffin. Defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano is adamant they are the first people he reaches out to whenever a potential security issue arises that falls within their realm, as was the case last year. Chastain is one of several drivers who says he owes them for jumping in to break up a fight before things went completely haywire.

“I’ve had a couple of moments where I’ve been very thankful,” Chastain said. “The way that group works, you don’t see them until you see him. They just have a way to navigate their garage silently, but they’re always there. They’re always around.”

Then there are fans, many of whom have come to recognize Taylor and Ruffin. The two are now regularly spotted at the track and approached to chat or take a selfie — or to bust their chops for prematurely breaking up a fight the fan wanted to see unfold.

“Obviously we know it’s good advertising, good TV,” Taylor said of driver skirmishes. “And, obviously, people like to see disagreements and, unfortunately, the fight. But I think the drama behind it and having the discussion, I think can be just as entertaining as not having an actual fight.”

Said Ruffin: “It’s kind of weird. This weekend alone, I’ve already taken six selfies. Some tell me I need to handle (fights) like hockey, but I don’t know anything about what the hockey rules are.”

(Top photo of the altercation between Taylor Gray and Christian Eckes at Martinsville last year; Stan Ruffin has sunglasses on his head, and Allen Taylor is next to him in the dark blue NASCAR jacket: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)