By David Morgan, Associate Editor
TALLADEGA, Ala. – For the second year in a row, Kyle Larson will be attempting “The Double” in trying to run both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day during Memorial Day Weekend.
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Larson got his first chance at making some laps around the Racing Capital of the World in Indianapolis by climbing behind the wheel of his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
After passing his Indy 500 Refresher Program on Wednesday and posting a top-11 time on the day, Thursday didn’t quite go as planned as he found himself in the wall when the boost was turned up that morning to simulate qualifying.
Larson would get into the outside wall in Turn 1 before making contact again with the Turn 2 wall, bringing his test to an early end.
“I was starting my qualifying laps there and, just got really tight and just a bunch of understeer through Turn 1, and ran out of space off of Turn 1,” Larson said Thursday after the crash.
“I kind of fought the understeer feeling yesterday and, yeah, carry over to the day. So, honestly, though, I’m happy to crash my first IndyCar and, live through it. We’ll just work on it and try and get the balance more comfortable. I just didn’t quite feel like I had the feeling I needed yesterday, and then it really carried over today. I think when you’re going faster, you know, it really stood out.
“Just a bummer, but, also, you know, encouraging that it didn’t feel I know it wasn’t like a big hit or anything, but it didn’t feel anything different than what I was expecting.”
On Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway before making his qualifying run, he reiterated those comments, noting the unfortunate way his test session came to an early end.
“It was just unfortunate to get into the wall there in practice, but you know, I’d rather get it out of the way, you know, in April rather than May.”
As the Month of May looms large, Larson added that his preparation this time around hasn’t shifted much, especially as he dives back into the day job with Hendrick Motorsports before thing really get cranked up for the Indy 500 in mid-May.
He explained that between now and then, there are so many races he will compete in, he’s not looking too far ahead for now.
“I wouldn’t say it differs any from before,” Larson said of his preparation. “I think for you guys, I get asked a lot less about it than I did, you know, last year. But, for me, I mean, I don’t know, I don’t really get too far ahead of myself, like in preparation and things like that because I have so many races between now and [then]. I think I race 10 more times before I go back in May, so I don’t think it’s fair to look ahead too far.”
Before the first true Indy 500 practice begins on May 13, Larson will have Cup races starting this weekend at Talladega, followed by intermediates at Texas and Kansas, along with whatever sprint car races he will be racing in during that time period.
As for this weekend at Talladega, Larson explained that he has a love/hate relationship with this track, either finishing in the top-five or well outside the top-15. Last fall, he finished fourth, but in the spring finished back in 21st.
“I’d rather come here once for sure,” Larson said with a laugh. “I enjoy coming here. The crowd is probably the most into it here, I would say, than a lot of racetracks. So, I do enjoy that atmosphere part of it. I don’t enjoy the racing. Honestly, I don’t know if many people do, but we come here twice. We come to superspeedway races now six times a year, so, you know, you kind of learn to get into the right mindset for it. But yeah, I mean, I haven’t finished too well.
“I say the same answer every time we come to these fucking tracks, but we haven’t finished well that many times. I feel like majority of the time in the NextGen era, at least with Hendrick Motorsports, you know, we’re in position at the end, so, you know, roll the dice and see if it works out.”
Larson will start from 25th place when the green flag drops on Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega.
Be the first to comment