The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion has qualified fifth for his Indy 500 debut in a fourth McLaren Chevrolet, which has been entered in partnership with Hendrick Motorsports.
However, Larson’s hopes of completing – and potentially winning – IndyCar’s biggest race could be dashed by weather, given he has to fly from Indianapolis to Charlotte in order to drive in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night (local time).
“It’s stressful because weather is always unpredictable, but you just don’t really know until it’s like happening,” he said on the eve of final, Carb Day practice.
“So, it’s hard to plan for weather. You can have all these plans and back-up plans and back-up plans for the back-up plan. But you just can’t really do anything or react until it’s kind of the moment.
“That’s what’s a little bit stressful. Yeah, it doesn’t look too promising for Indy on Sunday, but I think for me where I sit, if it’s going to rain, I hope it rains all day.
“That way it can just get pushed to Monday or something, and then Charlotte is not going to rain, I just hope it doesn’t rain, and we can get it in on Sunday night and then come here Monday.
“Again, it’s weather. The forecast changes kind of every day. But yeah, we’ll see.”
Latest forecasts are for an 80 percent chance of rain on Sunday in the suburb of Speedway, including a chance of thunderstorms between 11:00 and 14:00 local time, and a possible thunderstorm after 14:00.
Given the estimated race start time is 12:45, those forecasts point to the likelihood of a delayed start and/or a red flag period for precipitation.
That would make it difficult to take a helicopter from The Brickyard to Indianapolis airport, a chartered jet to Concord, and another helicopter into Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the officially scheduled start time is 18:00.
There are other potential spanners in the works, though.
There is a 40 percent chance of rain during the day in Concord and 30 percent in the evening prior to 21:00.
‘Relief’ drivers have been banned from the Indy 500, meaning Larson cannot vacate the #17 Chevrolet for someone else to finish the race, while NASCAR only awards points to the starting driver, and thus it is not feasible for him to take over the #5 Chevrolet midway through the Coke 600.
Furthermore, as it stands, Larson needs to start every regular season race in order to maintain his Cup Series Playoff eligibility, with waivers generally handed out for injured drivers.
Neither McLaren nor Hendrick are yet to provide a clear plan, assuming they have one, but NASCAR is at least preparing to “accommodate” the double attempt.
“We’re going to work closely with the folks at Speedway Motorsports, our TV broadcast partners, the folks at [Hendrick Motorsports] to do everything we can to make sure that Kyle can get there — within reason,” Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier this week.
“We’ve got some minute-by-minute [schedules] and when we do our command and when the green flag [waves], but we’re going to work closely together to make sure our fans get to see one of the best drivers ever in our sport to be able to participate in our Coke 600 Sunday night.”
NASCAR pushed back the start of last weekend’s All-Star Race by 15 minutes, with Larson having had to make his way to North Wilkesboro Speedway after the Fast Six session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
One driver not hoping for rain is he who will start directly in front of Larson in the middle of the front row, namely Team Penske’s Will Power.
“That’s actually something I’ve never experienced in all my times here since 2008; there hasn’t been a rain delay,” said the 2018 Indy 500 winner.
“It’s about time we got that. I mean, on the law of averages it’s going to happen at some point.
“Looking like that’s going to be Sunday. I hope not. I hope we just get it in.”
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