Versatility is a rare skill in racing that only a few possess. The first name that pops into the head when we talk about versatility has to be Tony Stewart. He’s won races in NASCAR, IndyCar, USAC National Midget Series, among others. Stewart is the only driver in history to win both the IndyCar championship as well as the NASCAR Cup championship, and that too multiple times. And now is also driving in the NHRA series. However, among this rare breed of drivers is also Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson.

The 2021 Cup Series Champion has won many sprint car races and has even gotten success in Late Models. “Kyle Larson is one of those rare drivers and champions that can race anything,” This is what McLaren racing CEO Zak Brown had said when Larson attempted ‘The double’ with Arrow McLaren. However, Mother Nature wasn’t kind enough to let that be a success. Still, Larson’s IndyCar run took many by surprise, including HMS owner Rick Hendrick, as he plans for Larson to make a second attempt.

Why does HMS want Kyle Larson to attempt the double again?

‘The Double’ is probably one of the most gruesome tests a driver can put himself through. It’s when a driver first runs the Indianapolis 500 in the IndyCar Series and then flies to Charlotte Motor Speedway to drive in the Coca-Cola 600. Which is 1,100 miles of racing in under 12 hours. Only driver to have done it successfully till now is hardly a guess. Stewart made two attempts, first in 1999, which failed, and then in 2001, when he came 16th in the Indy 500 and 3rd in the Charlotte race. Kyle Larson, too, attempted the double this year, but it did not go as planned.

The Indianapolis race was delayed several hours due to rain, but HMS, having spent a boatload of money on this attempt, asked Kyle Larson to stay back. Larson had qualified 5th in the race and was easily a top-3 car, but a penalty relegated him to 18th. Already disappointed by the rain delay and the penalty, Larson reached Charlotte to find that the race was called off after running 151 laps, yet again due to rain. The mighty ‘double’ turned out to be a mediocre single. Thankfully, NASCAR gave him a waiver and allowed him to participate in the playoffs regardless of missing a points race. However, HMS and Larson won’t be satisfied until they complete the iconic double. Recently, NASCAR legend and HMS vice chairman Jeff Gordon was on Kevin Harvick’s ‘Happy Hour’ podcast, where he dwelled on HMS’s plans with the reattempt.

According to Gordon, initially, they decided to call the reattempt off, but Rick Hendrick isn’t a man who likes to leave things incomplete. On this, Gordon said, “It was fun, but it didn’t end well because of what happened at Charlotte with the weather, immediately we were like, we’re not ever doing this again. And then as we got about a month down the road and thought about it a little bit more and you know Rick (Hendrick) put some real thought into it…was great for racing. Rick goes back to data and analytics and a lot of his team in the marketing group does as well and the numbers you know didn’t lie, they were good and plus you don’t wanna end a story like that so we certainly hope the weather works out better next year.”

This consideration by Rick Hendrick is thanks to how well Larson raced in the open-wheel series. “It’s expected that as a rookie, you are gonna make some mistakes, and Kyle looked back on it and said, ‘Man, if I cleaned up a couple of those things, I’m like top 3 or 4 in the Indy500.’ I think that certainly helped that decision in doing it again and I think Hendrick cars and Hendrick brand I think benefited from it and some of our other partners that were part of it too,” Gordon added.

First, Larson started 5th in his debut race in IndyCar and then also went on to lead 4 laps. For most of the 200 laps, Larson was 6th, but then a pit road speeding penalty dropped him behind the pack with 70 laps to go. He could only climb to 18th as there was no caution in the race post that. However, leading laps in your debut open-wheel race is nothing short of commendable.

Kyle Larson’s versatility impresses Jeff Gordon

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Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in the NASCAR Cup Series, bagging 312 wins. The most credit in this goes to Gordon, who won on 93 occasions in his 805 race starts with the team. And Kyle Larson is already on the path to chase Gordon down. In only 141, race starts for HMS, Larson has bagged 23 wins. Even his stats in other racing events are impressive. Larson has 35 wins in the World of Outlaws, which puts him 23rd in the all-time winners list. The California native has also won multiple dirt races, recently winning the 2024 Knoxville Nationals.

This has the 4-time Cup Series champion impressed! Gordon said, “I have always been impressed with his talent, and because he’s so versatile, it’s not just what he does in the stock car. I think there are a lot of great stock car drivers out there but for him to be able to jump from a stock car to a dirt sprint car to a late model and then go and get it IndyCar and be good at it. Like pretty quick. That’s a unique skill that just not everybody has.”

Kyle Larson

However, currently, the #5 driver has found himself in the elimination zone for the first time in the playoffs. Next up is Martinsville and Larson finished 2nd in the spring race. While the majority of his finishes here in the next-gen car have been top-6s, his overall finishing average is not according to his standards. In his 19 races at Martinsville, he has an average finish of 16.7 with only five top 5s so far. However, since 2021, Larson has had an average finish of 7.0 at Martinsville, which is third best among active drivers, only behind the Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney at 1 and 2, respectively. He is only -7 points below the cutline, so a good finish can do the trick.

What do you think about Larson’s second attempt at the double and his chances of making it the championship 4? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.