Did You Notice? … Kyle Larson made the wrong type of Double Duty history Sunday (May 25) in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600?
Among the half-dozen drivers who’ve attempted the 1,100-mile crossover, he’s the only one to crash twice on the same day, failing to finish both races.
In fact, Larson wrecked three times: once in Indy and twice during the 600. It’s easily one of the worst 24-hour stretches in the racing career of a driver who will likely end up one of the best of his generation.
It also lays bare a reality this 32-year-old may not want to face: even legends have their limits. Indeed, the 2025 Indy 500 makes a pretty strong case that the torch of double-duty completion should now be passed onto somebody else. I’m far from the only one who thinks so: Kevin Harvick expanded on the topic during his Happy Hour podcast this week, focusing on Larson’s wavering confidence.
I’ve got a far different take. To me, there’s a number of other, stronger reasons why 2025 was such a failure for Larson the second time around. After missing the NASCAR race the year before, officials didn’t make it easy on him. And they shouldn’t have! Drivers and owners justifiably complained about a playoff waiver in a system where you’re supposed to attempt every race if healthy.
Letting Larson off again under the current format could have caused all sorts of dominoes to fall. What if Denny Hamlin gets bored during the summer and wants to take a month off helping run 23XI Racing behind the scenes? Or if a dominant Christopher Bell just wants to run dirt in August, knowing his postseason bid is already secured? Letting Larson off the hook again would have opened up a serious can of worms, points made by key stakeholders the second he failed to show up for last year’s 600 in time.
The compromises made in 2025 (NASCAR would have let Larson skip driver introductions, for example, without penalty for the 600) were reasonable. They just weren’t enough to turn down the pressure.
It showed.
During the rain delay in Sunday’s Indy 500, FOX cameras literally caught Larson appearing to check his watch as drivers sat waiting in their cars. Just a week earlier, Larson insinuated he’d skip a shot at the pole if he made the Firestone Fast Six final round. The NASCAR All-Star Race was a clear priority. Although in the end, Larson struggled with both: he qualified 19th at Indy, then struggled to 21st in the race at North Wilkesboro the following day.
In the end, it just felt like Larson wasn’t able to dedicate the proper energy to either series. He crashed three times driving the IndyCar: once during the open test in April, once in practice and then during the race itself. Compare that to the NASCAR side, where let’s not forget Larson dominated at Kansas Speedway earlier this month. He led 221 of 267 laps from the pole in a race that wrapped up the day before Indy 500 practice began.
Larson entered those cars at the top of his game in stock car racing. Two weeks later, he leaves them digging out of a ditch after a number of self-inflicted wounds. Despite a crazy racing schedule, he looked and sounded like a man who was burned out.
In reflecting on Larson’s experience with the double, I was also struck by what he told FOX’s Jamie Little during the Indy 500 pre-race show. Little asked about how the idea of running both races came about.
“When I was probably really young, honestly, I recognized at an early age how much [the Indy 500] meant to my dad,” Larson explained. “As I grew up, I started racing a lot of different types of cars and was a huge fan of Tony Stewart and wanted to be in the caliber of Tony or AJ [Foyt], Parnelli [Jones], Mario [Andretti], guys like that. I felt you have to run the Indy 500.”
Later on, Larson expanded on how much his Indy 500 start meant to his parents.
“It was really cool and gratifying for me last year, my dad getting to see his kid run around the speedway in [an] IndyCar,” Larson said. “… It made me proud to see him proud. Those are memories I’ll never forget.”
All of that is wonderful. It’s Larson and his family coming together to experience something only a handful of drivers will ever get to do.
But it also doesn’t feel like his own dream to keep living.
Tony Stewart was born just an hour south of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was clear from the time he first got behind the wheel that winning a race there, whether the Indy 500 or Brickyard 400, was one of the most important goals of his life. For John Andretti, the driver who started The Double in 1994, IndyCar ran through the family bloodline even though NASCAR became the long-term career choice.
You just wonder, in private, 40 years from now, what Larson would value more: his face on an Indianapolis trophy, a NASCAR Cup Series championship or all those Knoxville Nationals he’ll rack up (three so far). I just don’t know if his quest to be on the Borg-Warner Trophy is number one on the list. He’s making it seem like more of a checklist item.
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the month of May this year, it’s that winning at Indy can’t be a checklist item. It’s got to be in your blood, with every second and fiber of your being focused on what you need to do to win this race. I’ll never forget the shot of Scott McLaughlin after his car crashed on the pace laps. One of the sport’s more easygoing drivers was devastated in a way no one had ever seen him.
Larson was upset after his own crash, sure. His focus on redeeming himself may have led to some overdriving during the 600 — we’ll never know. But I just don’t see him ever displaying the same type of emotion over winning or losing Indy. It’s just another race on his busy calendar.
Two tries for someone like that feels like more than enough.
Did You Notice? … Quick hits before taking off …
- If not Larson, then who? I think about AJ Allmendinger before he wraps up his racing career, perhaps after scaling back to part-time in NASCAR. Indiana native Chase Briscoe is hesitant to ever do it, worried about the danger with a family and kids, but you wonder if he could be convinced. And I think Ross Chastain has the crossover skill set to do phenomenal in both cars. That said… if Larson says no for 2026, you get the sense it could be a while. Ten years passed between Kurt Busch’s Indy/Charlotte attempt before Larson tried it in 2024.
- We’ve got eight winners at the halfway point of NASCAR’s regular season. The biggest surprises not among them? 2023 Cup champion Ryan Blaney, 2024 Championship 4 participant Tyler Reddick and NASCAR Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott. Those are three big names who remain in strong postseason position but with the way these wacky summer races can go? You want a win, just to be safe.
Follow Tom Bowles on X at @NASCARBowles
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.