Kyle Larson’s Indy 500/NASCAR ‘Double’ dreams washed away in rainy Sunday

CONCORD, N.C. — One of the very best race car drivers on the planet was displeased. He didn’t even have to say a word to show it.

Briskly walking down pit lane, Kyle Larson’s head was down as he escaped Charlotte Motor Speedway as quickly as possible Sunday. Not because he lost a race. In fact, this race was one that he never officially started.

But while Larson can do incredible things behind the wheel of a race car, what he cannot do is control the weather. That’s Mother Nature’s department. And apparently, she’s not a fan of Larson because inclement weather ruined his chance to do the “Double” — competing in both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

“Disappointed,” Larson said. “It just sucks.”

Ever since announcing 16 months ago that Larson would race in two marquee races in two states, virtually back-to-back, Hendrick Motorsports had meticulously planned out how Larson and the team would pull this off. Larson’s crew chief on the NASCAR side, Cliff Daniels, said he and the team had contingency plans in place. Whatever Larson, Daniels, Hendrick and all involved could control, they certainly had.

Then it rained. Not only at Indianapolis Motor Speedway but at Charlotte. All those well-laid plans went into a blender.

Hard rain and heavy winds delayed the start of the Indy 500 by four hours, forcing Larson and company to make a difficult decision: He would race the entirety of the Indy 500 and miss the start of the NASCAR Cup Series race. Reserve driver Justin Allgaier got the call to fill the seat inside the No. 5 Chevrolet that Larson normally occupies.

Once the Indy 500 was over, Larson would immediately travel to Charlotte, where he would then take over driving duties from Allgaier. Larson wouldn’t earn any championship points, since he didn’t start the race, but he could still try to deliver his team a victory, even if Allgaier would’ve been scored the official winner.

As planned, Larson quickly departed Indianapolis following an 18th-place finish — that would’ve likely been better had he not sped while making a green-flag pit stop — taking a helicopter from the track to a nearby airport, flying to an airport near Charlotte, then hopping into another helicopter for a quick flight to the helipad outside the track.

Everything went exactly as planned after the four-hour snafu.

Meanwhile, Allgaier was keeping the No. 5 team in the hunt to possibly win the Coca-Cola 600. He gradually worked his way from the back of the 40-car field to 13th, turning lap times as fast as the leaders. At one point, he came over the radio to tell Daniels, “I know Kyle is going to get in the car and blitz through the field, the car is that good.”

“To have all the staff, the logistics, all the things worked out the way we did to get (Larson) here as quickly as we did was great,” Daniels said. “We had a lot of good people do a lot of good things right to make it happen quickly.”

Everything seemed to align for Larson to salvage a day that may not have gone as smoothly as everyone hoped. Larson was whisked on a golf cart into the Charlotte track, where he was greeted with loud cheers from a sold-out crowd. And more adulation came as he sprinted into his team’s pit stall and quickly put on his safety equipment.

Kyle Larson finished 18th in the rain-delayed Indy 500 before racing to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600, only to be stopped by weather there too. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)

“The guys at the front of the field are really strong, but I think you could see the speed and potential in our car for sure with the way Justin was able to get up in there the last run or two,” Daniels said. “And we were certainly optimistic about having Kyle in there, about having the balance in the car close, get a couple good pit stops and restarts, and then you’re in the mix.”

Except there was a problem. The same one that hampered him earlier. Mother Nature.

Minutes before Larson’s golf cart made a screeching stop in the garage to drop him off, rain began falling. Lightning was also in the area. The NASCAR race was on hold. And with more than half the distance completed, there were no guarantees it would be restarted.

The grand idea of doing the Double — albeit, in modified form — was in jeopardy of not actually happening. All those hours of planning would be for naught.

A little over two hours after it started raining, NASCAR pulled the plug. The race would not be restarted.

“It’s sad,” Larson said.

The Double wasn’t supposed to unfold like this. This was the Month of Larson.

Finally, he had the opportunity to moonlight in the race he long wanted to enter. This was his chance to further demonstrate that he is every bit the generational talent like A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti and Tony Stewart.

Then it rained. Twice. In two different locations. Washing away the chance Larson had of becoming just the fifth driver to complete the Double.

All that was left for him to do was take a long, frustrating walk down pit lane to head home.

“Everything that could have went wrong today, went wrong,” Larson said. “Hopefully, I get to do it again in the future and hopefully the weather is better.”