Kyle Larson waits during qualifying

NASCAR’s Kyle Larson To Attempt Racing in 2024 Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the Same Day

In 2024, Kyle Larson is going to do what only a handful of drivers have done before – race the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. This won’t just be tough on the NASCAR driver himself, but also difficult to pull off logistically.

In just the course of a day, Kyle Larson will race 500 miles at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for 600 more miles on the race track. Oh, and he has to get from Indy to Charlotte in between the races, of course.

Jimmie Johnson showed that it isn’t easy for NASCAR drivers to pivot to IndyCar. However, the 30-year-old Larson has some open-wheel experience with sprint cars, and his Outlaw experience might translate a little bit.

If you had the choice of any current NASCAR driver to even attempt this double, it has to be Kyle Larson. He checks pretty much every box you can think of. The driver is ready to get going.

“I’m super excited,” he said, via NASCAR.com. “Competing at the Indianapolis 500 is a dream of mine and something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time – since I was a child before I ever began competing in sprint cars. To do it with McLaren and Mr. Hendrick especially is a dream come true. I’m grateful for the opportunity and am really looking forward to it even though it’s still about a year-and-a-half away. I’m really looking forward to competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Charlotte 600 and maybe even get a win or two that day.”

Kyle Larson Will Join an Elite Group in 2024

As long as Kyle Larson makes the start in both races, he will join a list of just four other drivers to attempt this double. John Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Kurt Busch have all attempted Double Duty. However, only a couple stand out.

Tony Stewart is by far the most successful driver to pull off this feat. In his first attempt back in 1999, Stewart didn’t make much noise in the IndyCar race. He finished 9th overall and followed it up with a fourth-place finish in the Cup Series in Charlotte.

However, it was in 2001 that Stewart returned to The Double. That was the first time a driver completed every lap of both races on the same day. All 1,100 miles. Not only that, he would finish with what is still the top combined result ever – a sixth-place finish in Indy and a third-place finish in Charlotte.

Kurt Busch was the last one to attempt The Double. Busch finished 6th in the Indy 500 but was a DNF 40th place in Charlotte. Where will Kyle Larson rank among these previous attempts?