by CONCORD, N.C. — Hendrick Motorsports and Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team announced Tuesday that Kyle Larson will attempt a second Memorial Day Weekend double in 2025, paving the way for the former NASCAR Cup Series champion to once again compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
The two racing organizations that will field Larson’s entries announced the plan during a joint news conference Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, home of NASCAR’s longest race and the second leg of Larson’s 1,100-mile goal on May 25, 2025.
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Larson, who won the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year title this season, will team up with permanent Arrow McLaren drivers Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard for next year’s race.
This race attempt will serve as redemption from this season’s attempt, dubbed the “Hendrick 1,100” by organizers. Larson impressed as a rookie at the Indy 500, but his efforts to go the full distance in both events were marred by rain on May 26 at both venues.
Larson started fifth and finished 18th after thunderstorms delayed the green flag at Indianapolis, then flew to the 1.5-mile Charlotte circuit to try to rejoin the Coca-Cola 600 in progress. Rain halted the 600-mile race before it was scheduled to finish, and Larson never replaced substitute driver Justin Allgaier in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Representatives from both teams used the phrase “unfinished business” to launch a second one-two punch, stressing that Larson’s goal next year would be to arrive in Charlotte in time for the green flag of the 600-mile race. Team owner Rick Hendrick dismissed a number of speculations about what might cause Larson to pull out of the Indianapolis event, and team officials said Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren’s sporting director and the 2013 Indy 500 winner, would be available if needed.
“I think this year has played out the way it has, and I haven’t been able to be in two places at the same time, as much as I would have loved to,” Larson said, “but I think I also owe it to my NASCAR team to get here in time to try to win one of the biggest races of the season, and a race that also has the most implications for this season. So, yeah, right now, I’m good.”
Nine days after the 600th race of this season, NASCAR officials granted Larson a waiver to retain his eligibility for the Cup Series playoffs. Hendrick said the uncertainty over the star driver’s playoff fate was a factor in the team’s priorities for next year.
“I think they were in a box,” Hendrick said. “There were so many people complaining that we shouldn’t get a waiver, that we should get a waiver, comparing what happened to him to someone getting hurt, and I don’t want to go through that again. So that’s part of the decision. Hey, if we’re going to do this, we’re not going to put them in a box, and we’re not going to be late. We’re going to be there and we’re going to run that race. That’s a priority. But no, I mean, they were damned if they did, damned if they didn’t, so I think they saw the benefit of it.”
Larson found some solace at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, winning the Cup Series Brickyard 400 in a blue and orange No. 5 Chevrolet sporting the same design as his Memorial Day rides. After that victory, Larson expressed a desire to try for the double again. “I think everybody knows I would love to do it because, in my mind, I didn’t get to do it this year,” he said.
Kanaan said he and Larson would have to take a refresher course to compete, and that Larson made his life easier in his role as coach and driver consultant last May. As for expectations for Round 2, both teams already have high hopes.
“Don’t give Kyle Larson a second chance at something he’s already done well in,” said Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports vice president and five-time Brickyard 400 winner. “I think he’s going to do it big. He’s done it before, but I know how much of a perfectionist he is and the few things he’s learned or things that haven’t worked out, I know he wants that second chance to make up for it. I’ve been very impressed with what he’s done, but I’ve also been impressed with what Arrow McLaren has done, so obviously that raises expectations.”
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Larson is seeking his second Cup Series championship in this year’s playoffs. He opened the playoffs with a crash in the first stage of Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, dropping him to 37th out of 38 cars. The crash dropped him from the top of the Cup Series playoff standings to 10th, just 15 points from the elimination line. Larson will look to rebound in the second round of 16 at Watkins Glen International on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
