In a few weeks from now, the world will witness Kyle Larson attempt the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. While the latter is a race that he has experience participating in, the Indy 500 will mark his debut in the IndyCar Series. This newness is bound to present a formidable challenge. However, Larson doesn’t see a point in spending every second on the clock behind an Indy Car.
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Speaking to reporters ahead of the race at Dover, he mentioned that his focus was on the ongoing NASCAR season and that he will be emphasizing sustaining the good work that he’s done in it so far. He said, “Everybody thinks that I should be preparing for Indy every single day but we’re in the middle of our Cup Season. So, it’s important for me to focus on that.”
With 1 win and four top-5s, Larson currently leads the points table. He has led 531 laps in 10 starts and secured 5 stage wins. He continued, “I will have to take some focus off of the NASCAR stuff once I get to Indy. But for right now, I feel like I’ve done as much as I can.” He justified his thought by pointing out that racing in different disciplines wasn’t a foreign concept to him.
Larson is highly regarded as one of the most versatile drivers of the current age. While Indy Cars are different from anything he has piloted before, it is reasonable to expect him to hold his own in them. If there were any doubts about that, he cleared it all up after the open tests that were held in Indianapolis earlier this month.
Is Larson ready for his IndyCar Series debut in May?
Larson had been the second-quickest driver (226.384 mph) on the track during the open tests in Indianapolis. Despite his ability to handle the car at such a high speed and post a number that was best only by a two-time IndyCar champion, Josef Newgarden, he doesn’t believe that he has learned all there is to excel in the Indy500.
He admitted during the weekend in Texas, “I don’t think that I could take the green flag tomorrow and feel like I’m ready after running 40ish laps the other day. So, no, I still feel like there’s a ton left to learn. Although I learned some [at the test], I don’t know how it’s going to represent itself to racing conditions.”
As he said in Dover, alternating between IndyCar and NASCAR is a “tough balance”. Hopefully, he will be able to figure out the best possible formula to achieve a feat that no race car driver has before by winning both events on May 26.
