“Obviously, I’d love to do it,” said Kyle Larson on attempting to do the Double in 2025. Last year started with a dream. Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ, had been itching to tackle the Double. He’d partnered with McLaren for his IndyCar debut and had his No. 5 Chevy Camaro ZL1 primed for Charlotte. The logistics were wild: finish 500 miles at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, jump on a helicopter, then a jet, and hustle 600 more miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway—all in about 12 hours. Fans were buzzing.

“I really want to do it again because I didn’t technically get to do it,” Larson said. “I want to do the double, what it would be like to run 1,100 miles.” In 2024, Larson took his shot at joining Tony Stewart as the only driver to complete this insane 1,100-mile feat in one day. He had the team, the cars, and the will—Arrow McLaren for IndyCar, Hendrick Motorsports for NASCAR, and a Chevy-powered dream in between. But Mother Nature had other plans, and the rain that fell last year left Larson soaked in regret.

Kyle Larson is prioritizing the Cup Series in his quest for the double

Last year, rain delayed the Indy 500 by hours. Larson faced a gut-wrenching call: stay in Indy or bolt to Charlotte. He chose Indy, finishing 18th after a solid rookie run—impressive, but not the finish he craved. Meanwhile, in Charlotte, Justin Allgaier stepped in, piloting Larson’s No. 5 to a respectable 13th in the Coca-Cola 600. Larson missed the start, and when he arrived, rain had halted the Coca-Cola 600 as well. NASCAR later granted him a playoff waiver for skipping it, but the damage was done. The Double slipped through his fingers, drowned by storms he couldn’t outrun.

For 2025, NASCAR made significant tweaks to its playoff waiver, which was granted to Larson. They emphasized that Cup Series Racing is the priority, and missing a points-paying race to race in another series would not receive a waiver, like it did in 2024 for Larson. So this makes the weather on that day a bigger challenge, and it’s one that ‘Yung Money’ is keeping a keen eye on.

In light of these rule changes, Kyle Larson revealed on Dale Jr. Download: “After getting to do the Indy 500 last year, like I really wanted to do it last year, so I was definitely a part of like the discussion of the decision and stuff like that. Obviously not really expecting it to go exactly the way it did with the weather, but and then I think this year is simple because, like the decisions kind of already made, you know, like cup racing and NASCAR is the priority.”

The events that transpired in 2024 were heartbreaking for Larson but also fueled his quest to do it again. The #5 driver took to X after the disappointment in 2024 and wrote, “So much time, money, and effort went into this experience, and it just kills me to have it all end the way it did. I feel like I let so many people down. We knew all along weather could throw a wrench into things, but seeing it come to reality is a horrible feeling.” In 2025, Larson is praying there’s no repeat of this and will be actively checking the weather, just like he did last year.

Larson continued on the Dale Jr. Download, “I mean, I hope it doesn’t run into any of that, but it’s obviously something that you look at. You know, I’ll be staring at the forecast every single day like I was last year, which, yeah, last year I remember race day looked bad for like the whole two weeks. You just assume it’s going to get better, but it never did.” While Mother Nature’s scare will be ever-present, another victim of the rain are the snazzy paint schemes cooked up by Chevrolet. The team would hope they get to display them at both the races and maybe even take one to victory lane.

This year, talks with McLaren and Hendrick revved up, and they finally revealed the paint schemes for both the races recently, along with HMS Vice President Jeff Gordon. Chevy’s backing his Indy-NASCAR combo again, with a sleek blue and white paint scheme unveiled for the Coca-Cola 600. Additionally, Amazon’s documentary, set to drop later, will immortalize his 2024 saga and give added perspective to his run in 2025 by covering both aspects of a documentary originally intended just for his 2024 run.

Now, 2025 is on the horizon—May 25, to be exact. NASCAR’s his bedrock; he’ll be at the Coca-Cola 600, no question. But Indy’s calling, and he’s not deaf to it. Although, the All-Star weekend clash is TBD. “Yeah, we’ll be for sure at the 600. I don’t know how that would work for the All-Star weekend. So yeah, I guess that’s a conversation probably need to have,” added Larson.

As it stands, there’s one name standing out as Larson aims to find a ‘fitting’ replacement for his qualifying efforts at North Wilkesboro and Charlotte.

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Who is Kyle Larson’s replacement going to be?

The replacement talk is a tricky business. In 2024, Kevin Harvick replaced Kyle Larson for practice and qualifying at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Harvick could only manage a sixth-place finish in heat race 2 and got Larson a 12th-place start on the grid. This might have had something to do with the driver’s height, and that’s something Jeff Gordon slyly hinted at while asked about the replacement situation.

Kevin Harvick stands tall at 5 feet 10 inches, while Kyle Larson is on the shorter side at 5 feet 6 inches. You can imagine the difficulties Harvick would have faced driving a car fitted for Larson and vice versa, as well. Keeping this in mind, Jeff Gordon said, “As far as who will be in Kyle Larson’s Cup car for any practice sessions at North Wilkesboro or Charlotte that Larson might miss while at Indy, Jeff Gordon said it will be a ‘JRM driver and somebody that fits in his seat’,” Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports posted on X. “That sounds like [Justin] Allgaier to me.”

Justin Allgaier is 5’6″ as well and would fit seamlessly into Larson’s car, just as he did for laps at the Coca-Cola 600 last year. While there is no official confirmation, Gordon’s comments, past records, and the height of fellow JRM drivers reveal the open secret. Carson Kvapil is 5’9″, and Connor Zilisch was listed as 5’9″ in 2021, and the current 18-year-old would have certainly only grown since then. That leaves Sammy Smith, who is 6’2″ and was recently embroiled in the Martinsville wreck fest, so all signs point toward Justin Alllgaier.

As we await the official announcement, all the focus remains on Larson’s historic attempt. Do you think Mother Nature will disrupt the HMS driver’s ambitions once again in 2025? Let us know in the comments!