Star driver Kyle Larson’s barnstorming begins this weekend, when he starts a trying commute between three race tracks in two national motorsports series.
Larson is bidding to become the fifth driver to complete the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. To accomplish the feat, Larson will miss NASCAR All-Star Race preparations Friday and Saturday at North Carolina’s North Wilkesboro Speedway to focus on Indy 500 practice and qualifying weekend 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 the Tar Heel State, where the Hendrick Motorsports driver will race against the top-tier Cup Series’ best for $1 million in the NASCAR All-Star Race.
Larson will return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Monday practice, spend Tuesday in New York on a media tour, then bounce between Indy and Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, 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 2021 Cup Series champion has squeezed in several dozen dirt races around his annual NASCAR schedule of 38 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 attempt to earn 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 the tiny track as a favorite, along with reigning Cup 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, the first time it was held at North Wilkesboro, which was once a regular stop for NASCAR but had fallen into disrepair for a revival.
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 on the 0.625-mile track.
The format changes don’t faze Larson, who has won three of the past six NASCAR All-Star Races, nor does the lack of track time. He missed practice and qualifying for last year’s event 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.”
Justin Allgaier will be behind the wheel of Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet for practice and qualifying, 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 at Kansas Speedway last Sunday, Larson leads the Cup Series points standings with three wins this season, making him even more confident of handling his jet-setting lifestyle.
What Larson is 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 in his open-wheel ride for Indy 500 qualifying.
“Obviously it’s tricky. I spun,” Larson said after leaving the care center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “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 the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600.
“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.”
Meanwhile in North Wilkesboro
Brad Keselowski rebounded from a dismal season to win his first NASCAR All-Star Race pole position. The RFK Racing co-owner and driver of the team’s No. 6 Ford beat Christopher Bell by nearly a second to earn the top starting spot in Sunday’s main event and in the first of two 75-lap heat races Saturday that will determine the rest of the starting lineup.
“It’s pretty freaking cool, man,” said Keselowski, the 2012 Cup Series champion who is 33rd in the points standings with a best finish of 11th this year. “It’s one of the things I’ve never done in my career, and to do it by so much — but a total team effort.”
Keselowkis has three runner-up finishes in the All-Star Race, tying him with Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader for the most second-place showings without a win in the event.
Shane van Gisbergen captured the pole position for the All-Star Open, a 100-lap warmup race Sunday, while Carson Hocevar qualified second. The top two finishers in the All-Star Open, plus the winner of an online fan vote, will transfer into the 250-lap main event.
The All-Star Race winner has gone on to win the Cup Series championship three of the past five years (Chase Elliott in 2020, Larson in 2021 and Logano last year), which adds another layer to the race’s prestige. The select field will feature 23 drivers.
“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.”
Burton’s back (sort of)
Harrison Burton will be making his All-Star Race debut, even though he hasn’t competed in the Cup Series since the 2024 season finale. After three years in the No. 21 Ford, Burton lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing and dropped to the second-tier Xfinity Series.
However, he was guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Race because of his Cup Series win 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.”
Boeck part of team victory
Michael McDowell’s team won Friday’s Pit Crew Challenge and a $100,00 bonus with a four-tire stop in 12.587 seconds. According to a NASCAR release, the winning crew members were Brandon Chapman (fueler), Dax Hollifield III (jackman), Luke Bussel (tire carrier), Max Marsh (front changer) and Ty Boeck (rear changer).
Boeck was a football standout at Soddy Daisy High School and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he was an All-Southern Conference linebacker as a senior in 2022.
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