It's no secret that when the 2024 Indianapolis 500 arrives in May, NASCAR's Kyle Larson will be among the entries.
His team has quickly rallied around him, and Larson partook in a test session behind the wheel of an Indy car for Arrow McLaren this week at Phoenix Raceway.
Paired with Hendrick Motorsports, Arrow McLaren had Larson's No. 17 Chevy ready to go, as they had to move the test session ahead a day due to weather.
Larson turned 172 laps on the 1-mile oval, which was also the sight of his 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
He took some time to post a photo of his car on X joking about how he needed the aero package back in November on his Cup Car.
I needed this aero kit back in November pic.twitter.com/UbrWfK0gZE
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) February 6, 2024
Larson was glad to get back behind the wheel despite the issues with the weather surrounding the test.
"It was great to be able to test again," Larson told Racer.com. "Kinda like The Clash this past weekend for NASCAR, I was not expecting to race then, and I wasn't expecting when I woke up yesterday that I was going to be running an Indy car, so I had to get my mind right to prepare myself for that. But overall, I was pleased to get to test in great conditions with the weather yesterday."
This test was far different from when he got behind the wheel at Indianapolis for his rookie orientation, as Larson really got a feel for the car on the much shorter Phoenix Raceway oval. He also got the chance to slide the car a little bit during the session.
"Yesterday was probably more uncomfortable just because it's a smaller track and things are happening quicker and you're having to lift off the throttle a little bit," Larson said. "At Indy, once we got through the different stages, we're wide open pretty easy. So yesterday was fun to have to work on the timing of the corner and work through some balance things."
Larson got to work on live pit stops to experience the difference between a stock-car and Indy car. The Arrow McLaren team threw different set-ups at him throughout the test session so he could push the car to its limit and use the weight jacker inside the car to balance the car.
"The balance was definitely not perfect, which was good to feel ... And yeah, I got loose at one point and almost spun out so that was good to feel the limit there at slower speeds."
Larson has the skill and the team behind him, and he seems to be getting very acclimated to his Indy car in preparation for his first shot at attempting "The Double."
