Kyle Larson probably could have understandably chosen much stronger language, but he summed up his Sunday in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in three short sentences.
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“A bummer of a day all around. I’m just bummed out. I’m just very disappointed,” Larson told FOX Sports.
As if his mistake in the Indianapolis 500 on Lap 92 wasn’t enough — he spun, hit the wall and collected two other drivers, ending the day for all three — Larson was in the lead when he clipped the wall early in the Coca-Cola 600 nightcap, and then had another spin after leading 34 laps.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Larson was then caught up in a multi-car wreck on Lap 246 of the 600, ending his night prematurely just like earlier in the day. The end result Sunday night was a 37th-place finish in the 600 to go along with his 27th-place finish in the 500.
Larson’s total Sunday laps barely qualified for a single, let alone a double
To extrapolate that a bit more, Larson was hoping to finish all 1,100 miles on Sunday between the 500 in Indy and the 600 in Charlotte. He wound up finishing a grand total of just 336 laps — or 56 percent of both races combined.
Shortly before leaving Indianapolis, Larson tried to put the 500 failure behind him and anticipated better times a few hours later in the 600. “The best therapy is to get back behind the wheel,” Larson said. “So thankfully, I only have a few hours until I’ll be back behind the wheel. Once we crank the engines up there, I’ll forget about it.”
While the 34 laps led in the Coke 600 promised a potentially stellar rebound for Larson, his nightcap unfortunately ended in the same manner as his effort in the daylight: a crash.
A third attempt at The Double appears unlikely for Larson
Sunday’s dual failure will likely bring an end to Larson’s hopes of joining Tony Stewart as only the second driver in motorsports history to complete both halves of The Double. Stewart did the rare feat in 2001.
Right now, it appears there will not be a third Double attempt in Larson’s future. “It’s a large investment and to have it go not good two years in a row, I just don’t think it’s really worth it at this point,” Larson added.
He then was a bit more explanatory to NBC Sports. “The Double is just a tough undertaking,” he said. “The window of time is too tight. Even if I didn’t wreck (at Indy), I don’t think I would have made it here on time and probably would have had to end that race short anyways.
“So I don’t really think it’s worth it. But I would love to run the Indy 500 again. Just doing the Double, I think, is just logistically too tough.”
Larson then concluded by trying to put the overall day in total perspective, saying, “I hate the way that the day went. I wish I could just hit reset and try again tomorrow, but reality is that’s not going to happen.”
