Ultimate racing glory was there for the taking. But Kyle Larson never got his chance

A helicopter settled outside Charlotte Motor Speedway. A golf cart zoomed through the infield. Then the moment NASCAR fans had been waiting on all day arrived: Kyle Larson, the equal-parts meek and magnificent NASCAR driver, jumped out of the golf cart and half-walked/half-flew to the No. 5 team’s pit box and readied to race anything besides time.

But then came the lightning hold.

The yellow caution.

The rain.

And then, the decision: At 11:30 p.m., approximately two hours after cars were covered on pit road with 151 laps to go, NASCAR called the Coca-Cola 600. Christopher Bell won. And Larson — who’d persevered through a four-hour delay at the Indianapolis 500 and then traveled two hours to Concord in pursuit of ‘The Double,’ the ultimate racing prestige — could only sit and watch the downpour.

In so many words, on Sunday, time won.

“It’s just sad,” Larson told FOX Sports as he exited the racetrack, trying to mask his frustration in a wry smile. “Everything that could’ve gone wrong today went wrong. Hopefully I get to do it again in the future. And hopefully the weather is better next time.”

This isn’t how Larson or Hendrick Motorsports wanted or expected this day to go when his plans were announced in January 2023. It also isn’t how everyone thought it would go a week ago, when Larson arrived to North Wilkesboro Speedway a few minutes before the NASCAR All-Star Race to a fan-fistpumping-delirium just after qualifying fifth for the 2024 Indy 500.

Other drivers had previously attempted ‘The Double’ — the shorthand for a driver trying to run the 1,100 miles of the Indy 500 (INDYCAR) then the Coca-Cola 600 (NASCAR) — including Kurt Busch in 2014 and Tony Stewart in 1999 and 2001. But few, if anyone, have matched the excitement Larson brought: Can Larson win both?

But such questions were rendered obsolete before Sunday’s racing began. And bad weather was the culprit, bookending a day that just never quite came together.

The first bit of bad news arrived Sunday morning. Storms descended on Indianapolis Motor Speedway around 10:30 a.m. The weather got so bad that speedway officials had to evacuate about 125,000 fans from the venue. Larson had told reporters during the week that running in the NASCAR race was the priority — but on Sunday, it was the Indy 500 that was prioritized. By 2:45 p.m., officials confirmed Larson would run the Indy 500 and miss the start of the Coke 600.

The Indy 500 started just before 5 p.m. Larson ran well, running in the Top 10 for most of the day. But a penalty for speeding on pit road put him a lap down and ultimately dashed his contending chances. He finished 18th.

After his postrace NBC interview, Larson hustled to a car to a helicopter to a plane — then to a helicopter to a golf cart to the No. 5 team’s pit stall at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where his replacement driver, Justin Allgaier, was waiting for him.

The plan was for Larson to hop in the No. 5 car and finish out the race. He’d still need to get a waiver to maintain NASCAR playoff eligibility — but finishing the race was important to Larson, Allgaier said.

“My job was unique today,” Allgaier told reporters after all the racing was done but before the event was called, still convinced the day wasn’t finished. “Kyle Larson is the reason that we’re all here. ‘The Double’ is so important. My only job was: keep the fenders on it, keep it as far forward as we can, make sure that we have the great opportunity to get back in it. And if it was five laps to go, or if it’s a rain delay like it is currently, or if it was on Lap 5, my job was to make sure that I handed over a clean race car.”

“I’m excited to see what Kyle does in it,” he added.

But Larson never climbed in. Neither did Brad Keselowski, who finished P2, or William Byron, who finished P3, once the rain came. The benefits for the latter? They at least had the chance to race the rain — something Larson never did.