Kyle Larson Is Going To Try His Hand At The Indianapolis 500 in '24

If everything goes according to plan, Kyle Larson will be a very busy man on Memorial Day weekend next year.

IndyCar team Arrow McLaren announced that 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ Kyle Larson will compete in the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Larson will be behind the wheel of a car co-owned by his NASCAR owner Rick Hendrick that will carry sponsorship from HendrickCars.com.

Arrow McLaren uses Chevrolet engines while Hendrick Motorsports runs Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series. You've got to think that connection helped get the deal done.

Larson will also compete in the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. If he qualifies for Indy, he will be the fifth driver to pull double duty and the first to do it since Kurt Busch in 2014.

“I’m super excited. 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," Larson said in a statement.

"To do it with McLaren Racing 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 Coca-Cola 600 and maybe even get a win or two that day.”

Larson Is The Latest Star To Hop In A McLaren At Indy

McLaren has fielded additional entries over the last few seasons in the Indy 500. Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso and former F1, Indy, and Nascar Driver Juan Pablo Montoya have been behind the wheel of additional McLarens in recent years.

Indy great Tony Kanaan will join McLaren regulars Alexander Rossi, Pato O'Ward, And Felix Rosenqvist in the team's 2023 lineup.

“Adding Kyle Larson with a HendrickCars.com partnership to the Indy 500 lineup in 2024 is exciting for our Arrow McLaren team as well as for race fans," McLaren CEO Zak Brown said. Brown also thanked Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman) and NASCAR great Jeff Gordon for his help in finalizing the deal.

This is very exciting for both NASCAR and IndyCar. It'll be exciting to watch an undeniable talent like Larson behind the wheel of an IndyCar. Meanwhile, IndyCar will benefit from having a high-profile stock car driver in the field.

If — and this is a big "if" — he can qualify. If more than 33 cars are vying for a spot on the grid in '24 it may not happen. Fernando Alonso failed to qualify in 2019 (he did manage to qualify the following year).

Hopefully, seeing Larson in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" will be with the wait.

Now, let's see if someone can give Kyle Busch an Indy 500 ride...

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.