It has been a decade since the last NASCAR driver tried to pull the Memorial Day Weekend Double.
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That changes this year, as Hendrick Motorsport's Kyle Larson will be the one to attempt to race the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
Former IndyCar driver and NBC commentator James Hinchcliffe has some thoughts about Larson's chances in the 2024 Indy 500, including comparing Larson to the last NASCAR driver to run the Double. That was Kurt Busch in 2014.
Though Hinchcliffe was teammates with Busch for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" in 2014, he believes Larson has a far better chance at winning the race. Not that Busch didn't fare well. He finished in a very respectable 6th-place place. The thing that has impressed Hinchcliffe is all the extra work Larson has done to get ready, including the extra test session at Phoenix, and his overall prep in a test at Indy and on the simulator.
"I got the pleasure of being teammates with Kurt Busch the last time a Cup driver tried the Double, and I was super impressed with how he performed over the month," Hinchcliffe said via NASCAR on NBC on X. "Kyle Larson is coming in with just as much professionalism but probably even more prep, having done the Phoenix test, and I'm fully expecting him to be a contender at the Indy 500."
With @INDYCAR starting this weekend, Kyle Larson's #Indy500 attempt is on the minds of many.
What do you expect in May? pic.twitter.com/1g6I2JOvzk
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) March 7, 2024
Busch got the 6th in the 500, but couldn't complete all the laps in the 600, as he finished 40th in the Coke 600 at Charlotte.
Larson has won the Coke 600 before, and he is always a contender in Charlotte, so if anyone can pull the Double off, it's Larson. Racing for Hendrick Motorsports in NASCAR and Arrow McLaren Racing in IndyCar, he's going to have a great shot to win both races on the same day, which has never been done.
Winning both legs of the Double would be a spectacular and unique accomplishment in racing. It's too early to predict, but Larson's got the best shot at it since Tony Stewart, who is the only one to have completed all 1,100 miles in the Double, finishing 6th in the 500 and 3rd in the 600 in 2001.
