Kyle Larson qualified fifth for his Indianapolis 500 debut on Sunday, then caught a quick flight to North Carolina, where he was due to compete in the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. It&#…
INDIANAPOLIS — NASCAR star Kyle Larson looked like an Indianapolis 500 veteran Sunday, reachingand putting his No. 17 Arrow McLaren on the second row for his debut in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” next weekend.
“Qualifying went a lot better than I ever could have hoped or anticipated,” said Larson, who will try to become the second driver to complete “The Double” on May 26 by running every lap of the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Larson quickly walked through Gasoline Alley and climbed into a waiting SUV, which whisked him to a nearby helicopter. That was taking him to a nearby airfield, where Larson would climb into a private jet headed for Wilkes County Airport.
NASCAR and TV broadcaster FOX worked with Hendrick Motorsports to provide him a bit of a buffer, announcing shortly before Larson’s final qualifying run that they had pushed back the start of the All-Star Race by 16 minutes to 8:30 p.m. EDT. After rain limited his practice time early in the week, Larson had a nervy first day of qualifying Saturday. An engine issue that Chevrolet struggled with all weekend caused him to scrap his initial attempt. But he returned to the track later and laid down a 232.563 mph four-lap average, putting him sixth quickest among the 34 entries and into the pole mix.
“We were just sitting up there in the transport of the 48 and watching him run and we were like, ‘My gosh, I can’t believe he is P1.’ And I was like, ‘My goodness, how did that happen?’” Knaus said. “Very limited track time, did a couple of tests was able to go up there, and he holds a pretty good wheel. … He is a phenomenal talent.”McLaughlin ripped around Indianapolis Motor Speedway shortly after Larson’s qualifying run, breaking the four-lap record set by Alex Palou just last year.
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