When Kurt Busch got out of the No. 1 Andretti Autosport Chevy at Ryan Hunter Rey nearly 10 years ago, the 2004 NASCAR Cup Champion did so with a smile, a Michael Andretti handshake and a stomach full of uncertainty.
After doing 83 laps around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, Busch admitted he had fun in his first IndyCar test before a potential Indianapolis 500 round, but he wasn’t impressed enough to commit.
“I’m not going to be able to do it this year, just with stamina and not being able to give my all for the team in Charlotte,” Busch said that day. “I need to feel more comfortable in the Indy car. A day like today, I’m macho. My hands were tense and steady, and it was only 10 laps in.”
It was 10 months before Bush committed. For these two months in the lead up to 98y Running the Indy 500, Busch became a leading title. with a run to 6y— Busch took his place as leading lap finisher and eventual rookie of the year, grabbing the moment at IMS, but nothing more than a faint grumble about coming back.
Kyle Larson wants to do it differently.
If the next 16 months go according to plan, the 2021 Cup champ will be spending plenty of time in the IndyCar simulator at GM’s new technical center — easily down the road from Hendrick Motorsports’ home base of Larson in Concord, NC — carving out a chunk of racing in A weekend to sit in the Arrow McLaren deductions, stand on the timing podium for on-track activity and hop into an open-wheel car for an oval test before 2023 closes. With such a long runway ahead of what he calls “The biggest race of my life,” Larson Racing CEO Zak Brown and Larson NASCAR president Rick Hendrick say plans are in store for a “maximum readiness” that could give the 30-year-old a legitimate chance at winning his Indianapolis 500 debut in 2024.
more:Kyle Larson runs 2024 Indy 500, ‘The Double’ with Arrow McLaren, Hendrick
And if Larson can’t become the fifth rookie to win the most spectacle of racing since the end of World War II, don’t expect that to be the case. All this preparation is not a three-hour roster experience that is checked off the roster and then forgotten about, said the short-track legend.
“I think if you look at all kinds of things that I’ve done, recently with late models now, when I’m involved in something I don’t like it being one thing and done,” Larson said Thursday after the joint announcement with Arrow McLaren that will include Hendrick as Larson co-owner. Chevy Indy 500 one-off next year. “I want to take it seriously. I want to keep competing in it and learning the craft.
“I want to win (the Indy 500) one day down the road. I’m still 30 years old now, early in my career, and while you’re at it, you need to take advantage of that and compete in as many events as you can win,” he said.
After speaking to the trio who, along with HMS Vice President Geoff Gordon, helped make Thursday’s news a reality, it looks like the runway for something more long-term than Busch’s solo attempt at the 500 might be set. The deal gives Hendrick, whose company, HendrickCars.com, to appear as Larson’s primary sponsor, a much larger role than simply being the person giving Larson the nod. That hurdle was cleared, the driver explained, for the first time about a year ago around Christmas 2021 when Larson really planted the seed during a phone call.
“I told him, ‘I really want to do the Indy 500 someday,’” Larson said, “and he was like, ‘Okay, let’s do that then! As the months went by last year while he defended his Cup title, Larson kept Gordon’s ear hoping that the idea would “not lose any momentum”.
“I didn’t want Rick to forget about it,” he continued. “And fortunately, he didn’t.”
The deal with Brown gives Hendrick his first entry into the 500 which, despite being the owner of a winning NASCAR team, will make him feel the same as he did when he arrived as IMSA’s rookie team boss in the mid-1980s.
“I thought, ‘Man, I shouldn’t be here,’” Hendrick recalled. “Zach and I have been friends for 25 years, and I never dreamed of us being partners to run the Indy 500, but I always wanted to be involved with a major team if we made it out. Before. It’s going to be really exciting for our organization and for our fans.”
But those who have followed Larson’s career know that wherever the fierce competition is on any given weekend, Larson is often not far behind. An annual 100-race schedule that includes 36 Cup races a year is what maintains it.
Eighteen months ago, Larson had just won what was, at the time, one of the biggest races of life at the Knoxville Nationals, the number one date on the USAC National Sprint Car calendar. Instead of sipping a few beers until the sun came up, as is customary on the track, Larson shared a quick, hurried toast with his fans outside the media center before he was transferred to a private jet that took him to Indianapolis.
“I didn’t really enjoy it. Everything is like a blur so far, and it makes winning a bit bittersweet,” Larson told the media in Indianapolis that morning after four hours of sleep. “But I think running all these races helps me a lot with my confidence.” However, momentum comes. I think this is the most important thing. I’m new when I’m riding a race car. I think my body just got used to it.”
will take 3Research and development in the Cup race that day. Four days later on a quarter-mile dirt track built into Turn 3 of the IMS Oval, Larson returned to his roots and claimed the BC39 crown in a performance that led track owner Roger Penske to riling the crowd, saying, “Maybe I can find a 500 driver here tonight,” What do you think? Give me a good name, right?”
Although Larson’s childhood dream will take nearly three years from that night, he believes he is ready for this moment. If the Coca-Cola 600 starts at the 500 and Cup race later that day in Charlotte, Larson will become the fifth driver in racing history—and the first since Busch a decade earlier—to attempt “The Double,” a feat first completed by John Andretti in 1994.
double:Who are the drivers that have raced in the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 races? The list is short
The best an Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart or Busch could manage in an Indy 500 stop from today was 6ywith Stewart recording 4y and 3Research and development-place finishes of 600 in 1999 and 2001, respectively. But only once – Stewart’s 2001 ride – did a driver complete all 1,100 miles and 600 laps.
IMS President Doug Boles believes Kyle Larson may just be the driver to handle this feat in a way no one else has — and he may be able to do it for years to come.
“He’s as well-positioned to succeed in the ‘Double’ as anyone, except Tony Stewart, just because Tony started in Indy cars,” Bowles told IndyStar. “And I would argue that he is definitely talented.
This isn’t, ‘Hey, I’ve always wanted to do this my whole life, and now that I’m done with my other stuff, I’m going to come try this. This is the guy who, in theory, will be in the hunt for the NASCAR title in 2024, and he’s coming in there to try and win the Indy 500.”