KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson isn’t quite ready to start thinking about his return to the Indianapolis 500.
That will change by Sunday night.
And he would like nothing better than to have those thoughts of “The Double” — running every lap of the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on the same Sunday of Memorial Day weekend — enter his consciousness than in victory lane at Kansas Speedway, where a year ago Larson was the winner of the closest finish in Cup Series history.
“I haven’t really thought about it much at all. Just kind of been excited about these upcoming races and tracks we can run well at,” Larson said before qualifying first to secure the pole position for Sunday’s Cup Series race. “I think once the checkered flag flies here at Kansas, I’ll be excited about Indy, because I’ll be headed to Indy.”
He has qualifying on deck at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next weekend.
Larson certainly had a memorable month of May last year, when he roared around the outside of Chris Buescher and beat him to the finish line by a millisecond, literally, to win the Cup Series race at Kansas. He headed from there to Indianapolis, where weather made for a stressful race weekend and ultimately scuttled his shot at completing all 1,100 laps.
Larson was also among the leading cars in the rain-delayed Indy 500 until a late penalty for speeding on pit lane left him 18th. He then hopped a plane to Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, where rain there kept him from making a single lap for Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series race.
“It’s been a bit busy for me here, just with a lot of racing I’ve done,” said Larson, who was involved in a hard crash in his sprint car at nearby Lakeside Speedway in the High Limit Racing series Friday night.
“With Indy, I haven’t done a whole lot (of preparation), but there’s not much you can do studying-wise. You can watch film, which I will and all that, but for Indy you have a lot of time really. So I think once you get in the car and understand the balance of the car, you can pick apart studying and you know where your strengths and where your weaknesses are.”
There don’t seem to be many weaknesses when it comes to Larson in the Hendrick No. 5 Chevrolet. He already has won Cup Series events at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway this season, and he has finished in the top five the past three races.
Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney doesn’t think there are many weaknesses when it come to Larson in any car. And he will be among the many Cup Series drivers keeping an eye on how Larson fares in both the Indy 500 and his dash to the Coca-Cola 600 this year.
Still, Blaney said he hopes Larson finishes no better than fourth on May 25 in the Indy 500 — right behind two-time reigning race winner Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power (not necessarily in that order), Penske’s three drivers in the open-wheel series.
“I thought it was really cool last year. He did a really good job there until he sped on pit road,” Blaney said. “I’m sure he will be in contention, but yeah, Penske loyalty. I want him to run fourth. But you do root for him because he’s representing us (from NASCAR).”
Larson turned a lap of 183.730 mph to earn the pole, and in quite a coincidence, Buescher will be starting alongside him after a lap of 183.374 in the RFK Racing No. 17 Ford. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing will be right behind them in the second row.
Larson at +375 is the betting favorite to win Sunday, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Blaney (+700) and Reddick (+750). The past six Cup Series races at Kansas have been won by six different drivers, while Bellhad won the past three poles before Larson ended his streak.
| May 25, 2025
| Pt. 1
(via @zackystrong.pt/TT)