By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
The Memorial Day Double began in a crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it ended in a crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Kyle Larson.
After a brief rain delay in the 109th Indianapolis 500, Larson fought his way through the field only for a driver error resulting his No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crashing entering Turn 2, collecting Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb.
A bid of joining Tony Stewart’s feat in 2001 of completing all 1,100 miles were dashed as Larson left IMS and headed to Charlotte without the fear of missing the start of the 600-mile race.
Once his driving duties at Charlotte began, all the Indy demons were put in the rearview mirror as the ever-hungry Larson wasted no time taking the lead of the race.
For a period of time, Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet looked like a car the rest of the field had to be worried about. Those concerns evaporated on Lap 43 when Larson’s day worsened after dealing with some lapped traffic. He approached Cody Ware when he spun from the lead in Turn 4, a corner that turned out to be troublesome for several racers.
Fortunately, Larson kept the car from hitting the ROVAL pit wall with the car sliding through the chicane and artificial grass.
The No. 5 goes for a slide, but @KyleLarsonRacin is able to keep it off the wall. pic.twitter.com/5o2rsoX3up
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 25, 2025
However, the pit crew had to observe the right rear tire and check under the hood for any potential damage. This resulted Larson going a lap down and had to settle for a top-30 result in Stage 1. He would ultimately get back on the lead lap at the end of Stage 2, putting him back in the mix of things but lady luck said otherwise as another wreck out of his own doing put the final nail in the coffin on a disastrous “Double.”
On Lap 245, a battle for 12th between Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Daniel Suarez went straight to hell as another crash in Turn 4 ensued.
Larson was a few spots behind the melee and went into the artificial grass, hoping to avoid the carnage.
Suarez’s car ended up going towards the left lane which then collected Justin Haley. After clipping Haley, Suarez then crashed onto the right rear of Larson, sending him around. Only this time, the damage was consequential.
Contact! 😱
Shortly after a restart, @Blaney, @Daniel_SuarezG and @KyleLarsonRacin are caught up in this crash! #CocaCola600 pic.twitter.com/LnnQTUNCwe
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 26, 2025
Larson would be checked and released from the infield care center, but the second attempt of “The Double” resulted in two damaged cars, two DNFs and a grand total of 597.5 miles to show for.
The HMS squad loaded up the wounded car onto the hauler as Larson will be classified 37th, equaling his other DNF at Darlington earlier this year. Furthermore, the double retirement resulted in Larson becoming the first driver since Robby Gordon in 1997 to DNF both races and the first to do so on the same day as Gordon’s “Double” lasted three days with the Indy 500 being postponed multiple times that year.
Despite being involved in multiple incidents, Larson hopes to one day run it back and thanked the folks at Hendrick, Arrow McLaren and other people who were a part of the second go-around on Memorial Day Weekend.
“I saw smoke and I tried to get laughter the infield and I just didn’t get far enough left,” said Larson. “I got tagged and it ended our night. So just a bummer of a day all around.
“I was super loose into (turn) 3 and caught the wall and had toe damage (on the first wreck). I thought our team did a good job getting us back to where we were somewhat comfortable in the last 100 laps. I just needed to kind of chip away from now on and I probably could still end up okay.
“Not that not the day that I wanted,” Larson continued. “But huge thanks to everyone for making the day memorable, even if it was memorable for a different reason. Just unfortunate and hopefully we can run it back someday.”
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