With 500 days to go till the 2024 Indianapolis 500—sure, you learn that proper, 2024—now the 108th working of the Best Spectacle in Racing’s one-off driver’s first entry, it’d very nicely steal the present.
2021 NASCAR Cup champ and legendary dirt-track racer Kyle Larson has linked up with Arrow McLaren, with the assist of his NASCAR boss Rick Hendrick, to run the 2024 Indy 500 on Could 26. 2023 entries) grew to become solely the fifth driver to run The Double throughout IndyCar and NASCAR on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
Much like Kurt Busch, the final driver to aim The Double in 2014, Larson can have greater than a 12 months to construct up his information of the Indy automobile with testing alternatives that may possible embrace a day on a non-IMS oval, in addition to working his rookie mentoring program months prematurely. From his debut in Could, as 500 rookies have completed in recent times.
His oil for his Indy 500 debut, in addition to his automobile quantity, will likely be introduced at a later date, however his entry will likely be owned by Hendrick and can carry title sponsorship from HendrickCars.com – Larson’s main sponsor within the Cup Sequence for his No. 5 Chevy-powered journey.
“Competing within the Indianapolis 500 is a dream of mine and one thing I’ve needed to do for a really very long time — ever since I used to be a child, earlier than I began competing in dash automobiles,” Larson stated in a press release. “Doing this with Arrow McLaren and Mr. Hendrick, particularly, is a dream come true.
“I am actually trying ahead to it, though it is nonetheless a few 12 months and a half away…and perhaps (I will take) a win or two that day.”
The 2021 Coca-Cola 600 at CMS was Larson’s second of 10 wins two years in the past in what rapidly grew to become a dominant efficiency en path to his first Cup title in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports. So far, Larson has received 19 points-paying Cup races in addition to the 2019 and 2021 All-Star Race and the 2014 Rookie of the 12 months Award.
Subsequent 12 months’s 500 will mark Hendrick’s first foray into IndyCar racing for a group proprietor whose inventory automobile groups have received a Cup race report 291 factors. He’s additionally the winningest proprietor in NASCAR on the IMS Oval with 10 Brickyard 400 wins on the two.5-mile oval (Jeff Gordon, 5; Jimmy Johnson, 4; Casey Kahne, 1).
“To have the chance to assist Kyle, accomplice with an elite group like Arrow McLaren and promote HendrickCars.com in one of many world’s biggest motor racing occasions is actually distinctive,” Hendrick stated in a press release. “Placing Kyle into top-tier tools and permitting him loads of time to organize for such a tricky problem was vital.
“A collaboration like this was simply what we wanted to make it occur, and fortunately, the celebs lined up. We’re 100% dedicated to doing it proper and look ahead to working with Zack and his group.”
Having been one in all a handful of these within the NASCAR world who just lately raised their fingers as potential frontrunners who would possibly need to comply with within the footsteps of Busch, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart and John Andretti, Larson regarded like he is likely to be poised to make a run on the 500 this 12 months, as Zac Brown, President McLaren Racing govt, getting into a serious title in a one-off journey alongside his full-season three-car tandem Pateau Oward, Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist. Larsson, Hendrick & Gordon (Vice President of Hendrick Motorsports) held preliminary talks with the Brawn group however have been unable to succeed in a deal that made sense to each side.
As well as, McLaren’s IndyCar arm can be courting Kurt Busch’s youthful brother Kyle, after it was revealed the latter will swap Cup groups and producers in 2023 to Chevy and Richard Childress Racing from Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. The youthful Bush made it clear in his preliminary statements his longstanding needs to do “The Double” and his capability to lastly pursue this chance that Toyota and Gibbs had beforehand denied. However ultimately, Brawn stated he prefers an skilled driver and a foolproof driver who has the expertise to battle for the win. Arrow McLaren signed it to 2013 500 winner and 2022 third-place finisher Tony Kanaan.
As Kanaan had already hinted to IndyStar late final 12 months, his twenty second look in Best Spectacle in Racing may very well be his final, although he stated he would not race in Could after making that call firmly. Within the Arrow McLaren launch concerning the addition of Larson, he famous “a gap within the 2024 lineup,” hinting that Kanaan’s tenure at Arrow McLaren will certainly be for one race because the group considers bumping as much as 4 automobiles full-time in 2024 that may make Larson its fifth driver.
There’s nonetheless an opportunity Johnson may precede Larson’s bid at “The Double,” who stated earlier this week he is nonetheless contemplating a five hundredth alternative with Chip Ganassi Racing – the group he campaigned a full season’s IndyCar marketing campaign with in 2022 earlier than stepping away. stopped racing full-time to pursue an possession share with what’s now the Legacy Motor Membership (previously Petty GMS) with Richard Petty and Maury Gallagher. Johnson is presently dedicated to debuting his No. 84 Chevy on the Daytona 500, and he is additionally stated he’d wish to run a number of extra Cup races in 2023—together with maybe an All-Star race that runs straight in opposition to qualifying for the five hundred, in addition to Coca-Cola 600 in an effort so as to add “The Double” to his well-known resume.