Kyle Larson Returns To Indianapolis 500 After NASCAR All-Star Race

INDIANAPOLIS – It was just about 12 noon and Kyle Larson was ready to go as the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500 full field practice session on Monday.

He flew back from Sunday night’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina and was ready to continue his quest for a second-straight Indianapolis 500.

As Larson was walking down pit lane, he was reminded that he had a nice, leisurely Sunday without the pressure of rushing from Indianapolis to North Wilkesboro in a limited amount of time.

That would have happened if Larson had made the Fast 12 Qualifying and advance into the Fast 6 run for the pole, that didn’t conclude until 6:55 p.m. Eastern Time.

Larson said he would have rather been rushed.

“I like hectic,” Larson told me as he walked down pit lane. “I race all the time, so I’m used to hectic.

“Yesterday was very, very relaxed.”

Larson had to start last in the All-Star Race because his Indy 500 effort kept him out of the qualifying races but was assured of a starting position in the All-Star Race.

Larson raced his way to third place after a two-tire stop on Lap 178. While running third, he hit the wall on Lap 214 and finished 21^st, three laps down.

“It was a really fun race,” Larson said. “I really enjoyed it. That’s by far the best short track we have in NASCAR. It’s really racy. We have grip, can run multiple lines. Yeah, it was fun.

“We were running third after taking two tires. Was just starting to rip the top really fast and got loose in and smashed the wall, ended our race.”

Monday meant back to work for his second Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren. Larson qualified 21^st fastest on Saturday and did not advance into the Fast 12, so his weekend ended early.

But he has already moved up two positions because IndyCar penalized Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Will Power for unapproved modifications to the rear attenuator of their race cars, sending them to the back of the 33-car starting lineup.

Those two drivers were qualified to start alongside teammate Scott McLaughlin in Row 4. By penalizing Newgarden and Power, everyone who qualified behind them moves up two positions.

“I really don’t have, like, an opinion on it,” Larson said of the penalties. “I don’t. Even in the NASCAR side of it, Chris Buescher got hit with his penalty, but I don’t even know what it was and don’t really care.

“It doesn’t affect me in our team, so I don’t really get too involved when it’s other teams.”

When asked if he thought the Team Penske cars would remain a threat in the race, Larson laughed.

“Did you guys see Josef out there today? He’ll be just fine,” Larson said, referring to Newgarden’s speed of 225.597 mph in the No. 2 Shell Chevrolet. That was the eighth-fastest speed in the two-hour practice session.

IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou was the fastest at 226.764 mph in the No. 10 DHL Honda. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves was second at 226.441 mph in the No. 06 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing followed by Takuma Sato, Jack Harvey and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Larson was 11^th, with a best lap of 225.056 mph.

All 33 cars were on the track and ran a total of 2,067 laps in the two-hour session.

“I thought it was decent,” Larson said of his car. “I feel like when you’re out there, everybody kind of looks pretty similar. Yeah, just try to get a little racy at times to learn a little bit for the race.

“But it’s so different in practice. I feel like there’s more accordion and all that that opens up passing, where the race is a little bit more difficult to pass so…

“Balance definitely feels a little different than last year. There’s more of a balance shift throughout the run that I remember having.”

Instead of starting near the front as he did last year, Larson is starting mid-pack and will have to contend with traffic at the start of the race. It will be a difficult time to advance toward the front, but the NASCAR Cup Series points leader for Hendrick Motorsports loves a good challenge.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It seems more challenging. It definitely presents challenges. I had that horrendous restart last year. I think I fell back to close to where I’m starting. We were able to get closer to the front by the three-quarter point of the race.

“I think if you do just normal kind of race stuff, execute good restarts and pit stops and things, you can work your way forward without having to work too hard.

“Hopefully myself and our team can do a good job on Sunday and just chip away at it.”

After Monday’s full-field practice, Larson flew to New York City for an Indy 500 Media Tour on Tuesday. After that concludes, he flies back to Indianapolis and will attend Tuesday night’s Indiana Fever WNBA game against the Atlanta Dream at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.