It’s always exciting when a driver from another competition takes part in the Indy 500 but the hype around Kyle Larson has been unreal. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is one of NASCAR’s biggest stars and a Cup Series champion. The 32-year-old seems to have taken the attention completely away from the IndyCar superstars but teammate Pato O’Ward believes that it’s good for the sport.
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It’s no secret that the open-wheel motorsports competition has been suffering of late in viewership but that won’t be the case in the Indy 500 thanks to Larson. O’Ward, who is arguably the competition’s biggest star today, is going to be the HMS driver’s teammate in Arrow McLaren this weekend and hopefully can work together to get a good result for the team.
“I guess he‘s a pretty big deal right? I think it’s cool what he’s doing. I would love to do that in the future and run the Coke 600 after the Indy 500). I want to get a win here first, then I can think of doing that. But I think it’s cool. I haven’t gone to the trailer, but I wouldn’t be shocked. I know they made a big deal out of it, and I think they’re just capitalizing on the opportunity, right,” O’Ward said as per NASCAR.
One busy man during the Month of May.
📺: #Indy500 practice on Peacock pic.twitter.com/ZfKYtY4uuX
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 14, 2024
As far as Larson is concerned, he has been pretty overwhelmed with the hype. So much so that even his parents believe that it must suck to be his teammate.
Kyle Larson’s parents paint gleeless picture of IndyCar teammates
Larson’s merchandise sales have gone through the roof and the Indy 500 has not even taken place yet. As per NASCAR, merch that suggests that the Hendrick Motorsports star will win both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 have been selling out. Not that the former Cup Series champion is complaining.
“I haven’t been out there yet to see it, but my parents, just (seeing) the exterior of it, they were like, ‘Man, if I was your teammates, I’d be pretty pissed because it’s basically all you.’ It seems my merchandise has been going strong in the NASCAR stuff, so I’m excited to kind of see how it is here at Indy because especially as a one-off thing,” he said.
Yung Money is one of the biggest stars in the world of motorsports who will take part in the Indy 500, so the hype is understandable. It will be interesting to see if he manages to win the whole thing.
