The Sequel: Why Kyle Larson’s second ‘Double’ attempt was worse

For the second consecutive year, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson indulged in all the attention and chaos that came with attempting “The Double.”

This 1,100-mile odyssey involves a driver competing in the NTT IndyCar Series’ premier event, the Indianapolis 500, before flying to Charlotte Motor Speedway to drive in the longest race on the Cup Series schedule, the Coca-Cola 600.

Before 1974, drivers could pull off a variation of “The Double” if the schedule permitted. This meant that if the Indy 500 was held on Memorial Day, it led to drivers such as Cale Yarborough, Jerry Grant, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Donnie Allison all attempting to race at both Indy and Charlotte.

Yarbrough and Allison both won the Coca-Cola 600 in 1969 and 1970, respectively. Then, competed at Indy, with Allison putting up the best combined performance of all those drivers, scoring a fourth-place result in the 1970 Indy 500.

When the Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect in the 1970s, it lined the two races up against each other, thus eliminating any possibility that a driver could race in both events.

This feat of strength used to be discarded as a mere fantasy as both races overlapped in time, but in 1992, Charlotte Motor Speedway track promoter, Humpy Wheeler, collaborated with Musco Lighting to allow for night races to be held for their Memorial Day event.

Since then, the likes of John Andretti, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch stand out amongst the crowd as the only drivers to attempt the feat. Stewart put on the best showing in 2001, finishing sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte, becoming the first and only driver to accomplish “The Double” by completing all 1,100 miles.

Before Larson’s most recent stabs at “The Double,” Busch proved that NASCAR drivers could still compete at the Speedway, putting his Andretti entry into the top 10, with a sixth-place finish in 2014.

Unfortunately, the Indy 500 start time keeps getting pushed further and further back, shrinking the time available between the end of the 500-miler and the start of the 600-miler in North Carolina.

Due to circumstances completely out of his control last year, Larson’s first “Double” attempt got washed away by storms that pelted Indy into the mid-afternoon, while Charlotte saw clear skies until night. Then, the skies opened up and poured to end the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 before Larson could even run a single lap.

Last year’s attempt found itself tossed into the “what could have been” category of motorsports talk. It only generated more hype this season when Larson, Hendrick Motorsports and Arrow McLaren put in a year’s worth of resources and energy, hoping for better weather in Year 2 of this program.

Instead, Mother Nature intervened once again in 2025, putting Larson on an even tighter schedule than normal. Everyone watching IndyCar on FOX coverage saw the 2021 Cup Series champion peeking at his watch before the start of the race.

Not only that, a clip started to circulate on social media showing a frustrated Larson giving a hand gesture to Scott McLaughlin, who crashed out on the pace laps before the race.

After this, McLaughlin took a shot at Larson on social media. Since then, McLaughlin confirmed that Larson reached out to apologize and does not hold this gesture against the NASCAR regular.

Before climbing into his Cup car for practice at Nashville, Larson spoke to the media about the incident.

The day refused to improve for the driver of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com/Amazon Prime Video Chevrolet at Indy as Larson failed to advance from his 19th-place starting spot. During the first pit cycle, he stalled his car before leaving his box, plummeting his name down the running order.

On Lap 92, Larson’s day went from bad to worse, downshifting in the short chute between Turns 1 and 2 on a restart and sliding into the wall, collecting Sting Ray Robb and Kyffin Simpson.

Just like that, his Indy 500 was over, with a 24th-place finish. As IndyCar on FOX broadcaster Will Buxton said, “The Double, done and dusted.”

The dream of completing all 1,100 miles like Stewart went up in smoke.

Unlike Stewart, Larson made it back to North Carolina in time to make the pre-race drivers meeting for the Coca-Cola 600 and had plenty of time to spare.

The versatile star driver made his presence felt as early as he could, leading the first lap of NASCAR’s longest race, fighting off teammate William Byron to take the advantage for the first stint.

Before the first round of green-flag pit stops, Larson found himself in a familiar position — in the wall at an intermediate track. For most, this rings as a death knell for their race car, but for Larson, this is old hat and nothing more than a temporary setback.

As the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet rounded Turn 4 on Lap 42, the rear end came around on corner exit, sending Larson sliding through the infield for the second time in the last few hours.

Though he kept the car out of the wall and relatively unscathed, Larson struggled for speed as his team hammered away at the battered Camaro to get it back to the front.

Just as it seemed the Hendrick’s pit crew fixed the car enough to pass cars again, his second attempt at “The Double” ended in a shower of sparks. He was collected in a crash that included Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Justin Haley and Daniel Suárez.

While much has been made of Larson’s pre-race antics at Indy, little coverage has been paid to contextualizing the NASCAR champion’s disappointing sequel to his first “Double” attempt.

A few factors stand out more than others, so here are three reasons why Kyle Larson’s second “Double” was worse than the first.

The Hybrid

Shortly after the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500, the NTT IndyCar Series implemented the hybrid supercapacitor for competition, starting at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The remaining nine races of IndyCar’s 2024 schedule became marred by questions about competition as it appeared the hybrid unit’s introduction led to a stark drop in passing through the field.

Compared to the last race run with an internal combustion engine at each track, the hybrid units have reduced positional passing in a significant way, losing 1,155 overtakes over this 12-race sample that includes all IndyCar ovals and various road and street courses.

This includes this year’s Indy 500, where it lost 202 positional passes compared to last year’s 500-miler, which saw 596 overtakes.

It is easy to point to the new item added to the IndyCar formula and demonize it like this; let’s look at how the addition of this new component affects the car from a mechanical perspective.

The hybrid supercapacitor added 100 pounds (~45kg) to the rear of the Dallara DW12 chassis that’s been in use since 2012, meaning the careers of practically every driver on the grid (minus Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato, Ed Carpenter, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Ryan Hunter-Reay) have been behind the wheel of a DW12.

As a result, those 100 pounds reduce the ability for the rear of the car to rotate through a corner like it once did, putting some of the more tenured drivers in the series in an unenviable spot.

This weekend, the NTT IndyCar Series arrives in downtown Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the site of Dixon’s most recent victory in last year’s event.

Since the hybrid engine entered the series, Dixon has faded from the title picture and race contention, not exhibiting his usual steady, wicked pace that has pushed him to the top step of the podium 58 times over the last quarter century.

Newgarden appears to also be impacted by the change as his oval prowess has been blunted in this new era, only winning at Gateway last year, which came under scrutiny for an awkward late-race restart.

Certainly, these two legends could be struggling due to factors outside of their cars, but their lack of on-track performance looks more and more like it emanates from the additional weight on the rear of their cars.

Insert: Kyle Larson.

Larson’s background resides on dirt ovals all across the United States, where he pilots different open-wheel and modified race cars on the edge of control to this day.

As he made the move to asphalt and took on the NASCAR Cup Series, the young driver became notorious for liking a loose race car, which is also known as oversteer.

When that preference for a loose race car meets a race car that he had pretty much mastered last year, fans saw Larson fly around the Brickyard and land in the Firestone Fast Six and compete for the first 60 percent of the event before his pit-road speeding penalty.

Better yet, Larson compared the DW12 to NASCAR’s Next Gen car after completing last year’s Indy 500, and those core similarities translated when he returned in the summer for the Brickyard 400, which he went on to win after flying through the field.

The absence of rear-suspension travel due to the hybrid unit could have made the car more difficult for Larson to find the right balance, just as it has for some of IndyCar’s best drivers.

It is no secret that Larson struggled mightily this year at Indy compared to last year, including two practice crashes and the final nail in the coffin during the race. All of this adversity came after a successful first trip to Indy, so let’s look at another difference between 2024 and 2025.

Arrow McLaren Personnel

There is an old saying that goes like this, “A rookie is only as good as their teammates.”

Kyle Larson ran the Indianapolis 500 last year and earned Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, but realistically, this year’s 500 attempt was just his second career start in IndyCar.

Larson came into Indy last year as a rookie with significant experience, having run six races there in the NASCAR Cup Series as recently as 2019, but even with the comparisons Larson made between the two cars, they still have major differences.

In learning moments, rookies like Larson require a great lineup of teammates that will get them up to speed, and last season, his No. 17 team had that in spades.

Pato O’Ward missed his first Indy 500 attempt in 2019. Since then, O’Ward has qualified in the top 15 every race, with three Fast 12 visits as well as a trio of top-six finishes, including in 2022, where he finished runner-up to Marcus Ericsson.

Alexander Rossi knew exactly what it would take for a rookie to go out and win the world’s biggest race since he went out and did it himself in 2016 with Andretti Global.

In his eight starts coming into 2024, Rossi never wound up worse than seventh in the six races he finished, with five of those results seeing him end the race in the top five. Of anyone in the field, Rossi stands out as one of the best to lean on for advice and data.

Last year, Arrow McLaren lost the driver of the No. 6 Chevrolet, David Malukas, to injury before the 2024 season, so they replaced him with Callum Ilott for the Indy 500.

The British driver’s poor qualifying effort in 2023 allowed him to flex his muscles, taking his Juncos Hollinger Racing entry from 27th to 12th at the checkered flag.

Not only that, Ilott piloted his No. 77 Chevy to a top 10 at Texas in the same year and showed significant pace in this year’s 500 before his ninth-place effort was wiped away by a post-race disqualification.

Now, let’s take a look at this year’s lineup.

O’Ward returned to the Speedway hungrier than ever after having his last-lap maneuver from 2024 erased by Josef Newgarden passing him back on the outside of Turn 3 to take the victory away.

Christian Lundgaard replaced Rossi in the No. 7 Chevrolet, and to this point in the season, Lundgaard produced some great results and entered the Indy 500, second in points.

Outside of that, the Danish driver has traditionally struggled on the ovals. However, Lundgaard earned a top-10 finish in this year’s race, which was just his third top 10 on an oval, with the others coming at the second Iowa race in 2022 and the first Milwaukee race in 2024.

Rounding out Arrow McLaren’s 2025 lineup is Nolan Siegel. Since joining the team in the summer of 2024, Siegel impressed at Gateway, where he placed seventh, his only top-10 finish of his rookie season.

Importantly, though, Siegel’s first attempt to enter “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” concluded with him crashing on his final Bump Day qualifying run, meaning he came to Indianapolis this season with even less time on the track than Larson.

All three current McLaren drivers are extremely talented racers. Still, when it comes to Indy, they lack the success and experience at the Speedway to help Larson along compared to last year’s lineup that included a former Indy 500 winner.

Larson Bit Off More Than He Could Chew

Part of the allure of Kyle Larson resides in his globetrotting nature, participating in many regional and national dirt racing promotions on top of his gruelling 38-week schedule in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Not only does Larson participate in other racing series around the country, but he also often wins in whatever vehicle he pilots.

In addition to his Cup Series title and inclusion in the list of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers, he is a three-time Chili Bowl Nationals champion, a three-time Knoxville Nationals champion and a winner of the Kings Royal in 2021.

Hot off his Rookie of the Year campaign in the Cup Series, Larson took some time in the offseason to join then-car owner Chip Ganassi’s prototype team for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Larson entered the day as the least accomplished of his fellow co-drivers. Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan had already attained legendary status in IndyCar.

Meanwhile, his NASCAR teammate Jamie McMurray already made history at Daytona with Ganassi, winning the 2010 Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.

The group eked out a victory over Action Express Racing’s No. 5 entry, taking the checkered flag a little over a second ahead of their closest competition.

Most important for his pursuit of “The Double” was his dominant performance in the 2021 Coca-Cola 600, where he swept all three stages on his way to his first Crown-Jewel triumph.

Larson’s winding and weaving racing schedule never relents; the man is always on the road, behind the wheel of a unique racing machine and pushing it to the limit.

FloRacing’s Brandon Paul gave a documented Larson’s schedule at the beginning of the month of May, so let’s dive into it.

First and foremost were his three Cup Series races at Texas, Kansas and North Wilkesboro. At Texas, Larson accepted an offer from JR Motorsports to drive the No. 88 Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series to replace the injured Connor Zilisch, a race Larson eventually dominated and won.

In his leisure, he currently owns Kubota High Limit Racing, a dirt promotion he founded with his brother-in-law and five-time World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet.

When he is not making decisions for the series, Larson gets behind the wheel, and throughout this past month, he ran six High Limit races across Texas, Kansas and Indiana before strapping in for “The Double” on May 25.

Over those 24 days, Larson found himself in a race car for 12 of those days. In those 12 days, he competed in 22 unique on-track events, including an 11-day stretch from May 9-19 where his already-condensed schedule crammed in 12 of a scheduled 14 events.

Larson exited the infield care center at Indianapolis after his race-ending crash in the Indy 500, and in that interview with FOX Sports, he looked visibly fatigued.

All those hours of travel on top of his day job of running a racing series, being a father of three, being a husband and making it out to sponsor appearances alongside other commitments all showed up on Larson’s face after his early exit from the Indy 500.

Larson experienced a similar schedule last year and put on a better performance at Indy while his dreams of completing “The Double” were dashed by weather getting in the way on both legs of his 1,100-mile quest.

At a certain point, the human body can only take so much wear and tear without recovery time. While motorsports remains far different from the injury risks present in traditional sports, the grind of a long motorsports calendar can weigh on a driver’s body and hinder performance.

Whenever his Amazon Prime Video documentary for “The Double” premieres, it will be important to note how his demeanor changes throughout the production to see if there is any truth to fatigue getting in the way of Larson’s performance.

In the end, it seems that Larson is done with the idea of “The Double” for the time being, discarding the task as a “logistical nightmare.” That said, he did leave the door open to return to the Speedway for another Indy 500 attempt after he retires from NASCAR competition.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of Larson’s 2025 Cup Series campaign unfolds after his run at “The Double” went awry. To this point, he’s locked into the playoffs with three wins and 23 playoff points through the first half of the regular season.

If the sting of this defeat rings out like his two embarrassing gaffes in this year’s Darlington spring race, the Cup Series field should be on alert for a dominant effort from the No. 5 team at Nashville this weekend.