Kyle Larson set to live Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch’s Indy 500 dream with McLaren
Kyle Larson will drive in the 2024 Indy 500 with McLaren with Rick Hendrick’s support.
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Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson, and Kyle Busch
The 2021 NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Larson will drive in the iconic Indianapolis 500 for the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team in 2024. A deal has been signed between Larson’s team Hendrick Motorsports and McLaren to make the debut a reality. The Cup driver will drive in the Indy 500 and Coco-Cola 600 on the same weekend.
Only a handful of NASCAR and IndyCar drivers have attempted the double duty. Larson will join the elite list that many before and after his dreams. The HMS vice-chairman Jeff Gordon is one of the dreamers. The four times Cup champion’s junior career is closely associated with open-wheel racing. But he never had the opportunity to pull off the double duty due to lack of sponsorship, but his prodigy Larson will have the opportunity next season.
During the confirmation announcement of his McLaren Indy 500 deal, Larson said , “Jeff kind of told me that I get to live out a dream of his. That’s really special also to me,”. The legendary driver confirmed that Larson was telling the truth as he dreamed of one-day racing here because of his junior career being around the Brickyard.
“Like Kyle said, it’s true. I did say to him he’s going to be able to live out a dream of mine. I go back to the mid- to late-’80s when I was living here in Indiana, raced all around here. Every race car driver’s dream, if you race around Indianapolis, is to get here, to compete at this facility,” Gordon said.
It’s not just Gordon who had the dream. The two times Cup Champion Kyle Busch also has similar aims. He always wanted to do it, and the move to RCR this year provided him with the right opportunity. Busch was also looking for the McLaren seat which Larson has now. Kurt Busch, Kyle’s brother, is one of the drivers to pull off the double duty.
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Kyle Larson has also dreamed of an Indy 500 drive
Larson pointed out that he has always been a fan of participating in the iconic race and was waiting for the right opportunity. He said, “It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I wanted to be patient and kind of wait for the timing to feel right. It feels right,”.
He has already started training for the debut. Larson said, “I went to their race shop a couple of weeks ago to get the first initial kind of seat insert formed to me. Still, have to finish that whole process,”. McClaren has also given him a study kit for the event with data, videos..etc.
Larson later pointed out that it wasn’t just his dream, as it was his dad’s biggest dream to see him race in the Indy 500. He pointed out that for his father there is no race bigger than indy500. Larson added that his father would be in tears seeing him race.
“Being able to compete in this event, I think it really more than anybody makes my dad really proud. That’s something that’s special to me. There’s definitely no bigger race to him than Indy 500. He’s a crier, so he’ll probably not even be able to watch the race because he’ll have tears in his eyes the whole time,” Larson added.
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Justin P Joy
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