Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson secured his fourth victory of the ongoing Cup Series season at Indianapolis last Sunday. He not only reclaimed his spot at the top of the points table by doing so but also completed a redemption arc that began with a subpar run in his debut Indianapolis 500 in May. In a recent conversation on Kevin Harvick’s podcast, he broke down his experience racing in the two disciplines.
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Being one of the few drivers who can ably comment on the topic, he said that racing a stock car and an IndyCar at the Brickyard was largely similar. His words went, “They are very similar. Like, exactly the same. Very hard to pass. The aero effect that you feel, very similar. If it wasn’t for the visuals of looking out a windshield versus looking at two front tires and stuff like that. Or looking at the back of any car, I couldn’t tell the difference between the two of them.”
Larson’s Indy 500 run finished in 18th place after a rain delay and a pit road speeding penalty. Things worsened even still when he failed to race in the scheduled Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Getting to win at the 2.5-mile oval that let him down not long ago was a sweet moment for Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team.
He continued to note to Harvick that the stock car felt faster when compared to the IndyCar since it had less grip than its counterpart. He concluded, “But yeah, all the in-traffic stuff in the race and the race strategy and all that felt very very similar to the 500.”
Will Kyle Larson run in the Indianapolis 500 once again?
Following the dejection on Memorial Day Weekend, Larson wasn’t very sure that he would be returning to the Brickyard to attempt the Indianapolis 500. But victory in the Brickyard 400 appears to have rekindled his interest. He revealed during Sunday’s press conference that he has been in talks about running the Double again and hoped that it would happen.
“Obviously, I’d love to do it,” he quipped. “I think everybody knows that I would love to do it because, in my mind, I did not get to do it this year. I hope that the pieces can fall into place and we can hopefully get things put together and announce something and get excited about doing the double next year.” Larson’s next race will be at Richmond following the two-week break that NASCAR is currently under.
