“I don’t have any desire to do the Double again. It didn’t go well the last two years,” a dejected Kyle Larson said after the second Double attempt ended in a crash. He became just the fifth driver to attempt running the 1100 miles on a single day. After the first attempt was mired by weather and playoff waiver drama, the second one was a gut punch. Already playing catch-up at the Indy 500, Larson crashed his Arrow McLaren car and shifted his attention to the Coca-Cola 600.
He led 34 laps before he crashed out of the race. After being released from the infield care center, he took a subtle jab at NASCAR for putting a timer on his head. Due to the new rules, had he missed the start of 600, Larson would have to forfeit all the playoff points he scored in the regular season. “The window of time is too tight. So I don’t really think it’s worth it.”
It felt that the driver of the #5 HMS Chevy was done trying to draw level with Tony Stewart’s milestone achievement. Not to forget, he failed twice this year trying to sweep the NASCAR weekend and join Kyle Busch. Consecutive setbacks and heartbreak can derail a driver’s season, and something similar has happened with Larson as he’s lost his mojo, and JGR Toyotas are running up front. But does this mean he is likely to give up on his Indy 500 dream? Well, he shared an update about his future endeavor while speaking to Jimmie Johnson, and let’s just say, Larson fans can look forward to his Indy 500 bid, a third one.
Larson stated on the Never Settle podcast, “I’m glad that I did it. Obviously I wish it would have gone better, either of the years. It’s still one of the coolest experiences of my life. Being in there at Indy for those couple of weeks. Experiencing the atmosphere of the fans, the team camaraderie, how different teams work. All the pageantry that just goes along with the Indy 500. I wouldn’t take back those couple of years for anything. To have my family and friends and everybody there for it, Rick Hendrick being a part of the Indy 500 was amazing… It was still awesome and I hope I get a chance to do the Indy 500 again someday. I want to be part of that atmosphere more often, but I also don’t want to end my Indy 500 career in the care centre. It’d be awesome and I hope someday when I’m done full-time racing I can give it another go.”
Given the restrictions and the demands of Cup Series racing, Kyle Larson is going to stray away from the Double. Both IndyCar and NASCAR help the drivers embarking on this herculean effort. In fact, they had laid out rules that directly or indirectly affected the driver and the team he’s associated with. So the 1100-mile marathon isn’t the route through which Larson hopes to complete his Indy 500 dream. Perhaps, retire early with a couple of championships and run a full feature like Jimmie Johnson did.
With Cup Series racing taking priority for the time being, Larson will prepare for the EchoPark Speedway race next.
Kyle Larson and the #5 team failed tech inspection twice in Atlanta
Even before Larson could take the wheel behind the #5 Chevy in Atlanta, his team had been hit by a penalty. During the routine pre-qualifying tech inspection, the No. 5 HMS Chevy failed to clear not just once but twice. The team managed to clear the car on the third attempt, which means Larson dodged the pass through penalty and starting the race on a deficit.
However, Larson will lose his car chief Jesse Saunders and will also lose their pit stall selection. This means they will have to take whichever stall is remaining after the rest of field gets their picks. Due to short qualifying session and lightning, Larson will start the race in 36th spot and from here on he will have a mountain to climb. Not to forget, he will also play catch against Tyler Reddick for the In-season tournament, round one.
This penalty comes on the back of the Pocono jolt, where HMS and the #17 team led by Chase Elliott was penalized by NASCAR. The part-time entry was fined $40,000, docked some points, and the crew chief was suspended for three races. The engineers and the crew chiefs are trying too hard to bend the rules at HMS for the time being, and twice in a row they’ve been caught red-handed by the NASCAR officials.
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