Rain keeps Larson from Indy reps prior to double
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INDIANAPOLIS — NASCAR star Kyle Larson, the fifth driver in history to attempt to run the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, was able to turn only two laps before opening day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was halted and washed out Tuesday.
Drivers got just 23 minutes, 37 seconds of green flag time before it began to rain. The entire day was canceled some five hours later, and IndyCar has added an additional two hours of track time to Wednesday’s schedule.
Larson was part of a two-day open test in April but got only 47 laps in about two hours of track time before the session was washed out.
“This feels like a normal day for me here at Indy,” Larson joked. “Obviously, I would like to get a full day in today, but I know there’s plenty of opportunity these next handful of days to get a lot of laps. I’ll take rain every day except for qualifying day and the Indy 500, so I don’t really care.”
There are still roughly 30 hours of practice time scheduled before the May 26 race.
It will be Larson’s debut Indy 500 in a joint deal struck with Arrow McLaren, which is fielding a fourth car for Larson in conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports. He is the first driver to attempt the double since Kurt Busch in 2014, with Tony Stewart (2001) being the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles.
Larson’s final tuneup before Tuesday’s session didn’t exactly go according to plan — he rolled his sprint car five times in a crash at Kokomo Speedway on Monday night.
“Probably the worst night I think we’ve ever had sprint racing,” Larson said.
Larson, who has tested for McLaren already, is simply excited to get a few days strung together in an Indy car.
“I’m really excited to get this experience underway and get consecutive days in the car,” Larson said. “That’s been the toughest thing so far, that I go months at a time between each time I’m in the car. I’ve got to try to learn quickly here the next few days.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
