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By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
INDIANAPOLIS -- Fresh off his NASCAR Cup Series victory at Kansas on Sunday, Kyle Larson intensified preparations for “The Double” attempt with Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports in a practice session earlier today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Larson plans to race in the Indy 500 on Sunday, May 25, and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway that night. The feat is also known as the "Indy-Charlotte Double."
This is Larson's second year in a row attempting "The Double." Last year, Larson finished 18th in a rain-delayed Indy 500, only to arrive in Charlotte and never get a chance to race his stock car because the Charlotte 600 was called early due to bad weather.
Larson ran 45 laps total in the No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet — his best lap of 221.207 mph was 24th-fastest in the field. He spent the end of the session running in traffic and said he mostly used the day to re-familiarize himself with the car.
“I was more so just trying to hit my marks today than worry about adjusting things [in the cockpit], but it was a good day,” Larson said at the end of practice.
“I was more so just trying to hit my marks today than worry about adjusting things [in the cockpit], but it was a good day,” Larson said at the end of practice.
Multimedia video
Headline Surfer YouTube download / NTT IndyCar Series / May 13, 2025 / Kyle Larson practices for the upcoming Indy 500 race on Sunday, May 25.
Five cars topped the 225-mph mark on Tuesday, led by 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power, who turned a lap of 227.026 mph in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet — the only car to eclipse 227 mph. Power’s Penske teammate, Josef Newgarden, was second quickest (226.971 mph) in his pursuit to become the first driver in the storied race’s history to win three consecutive Indy 500s.
Three-time and reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was third fastest with a lap of 226.672 mph in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10 Honda.
The 2025 Indy 500 will feature 33 drivers from 12 teams.
Saturday's Qualifying Session:
34 cars entered, with 33 of the drivers making the field. Qualifying is a four-lap run (one car on the track at a time). Drivers who rank 13th-30th on Saturday are locked in the field in those positions. That is Rows 5-10 (three cars per row).
TV Audience: FS1 will be live from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., FS2 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., and then FOX from 4 to 6 p.m.
Sunday Qualifying: Bump Day & Fast Six
Sunday qualifying sets the order for Rows 1-3 and Row 11.
The 12 fastest from Saturday do a round of qualifying starting at 4:05 p.m., with the six fastest advancing to a final round and the slowest earning the starting spots 7-12.
Then comes the "bump day" portion as the four drivers who were 31st-34th Saturday will go out (they potentially could do more than one attempt) from 5:15-6:15 p.m. — the three fastest will start spots 31st-33rd with the slowest "bumped" out of the Indy 500 field.
The Fast Six will follow from 6:25 to 6:55 p.m. to set the order of the first six spots, including the pole for the Indy 500.
TV Audience: The three Sunday qualifying hours will be on FOX.
The 34 Qualifying Entrants:
- Team Penske: 2-Josef Newgarden, 3-Scott McLaughlin, 12-Will Power.
- A.J. Foyt Racing: 4-David Malukas, 14-Santino Ferrucci.
- Arrow McLaren: 5-Pato O’Ward, 6-Noal Siegel, 7-Christian Lundgaard, 17-Kyle Larson.
- Meyer Shank Racing: 06-Helio Castroneves, 60-Felix Rosenqvist, 66-Marcus Armstrong.
- Chip Ganassi Racing: 8-Kyffin Simpson, 9-Scott Dixon, 10-Alex Palou.
- Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: 15-Graham Rahal, 30-Devlin DeFrancesco, 45-Louis Foster, 75-Takuma Sato.
- Dale Coyne Racing: 18-Rinus VeeKay, 51-Jacob Abel
- Dreyer Reinbold Racing: 23-Rayn Hunter-Reay, 24-Jack Harvey
- Ed Carpenter Racing: 20-Alexander Rossi, 21-Christian Rasmussen, 33-Ed Carpenter.
- Andretti Global: 26-Colton Herta, 27-Kyle Kirkwood, 28-Marcus Ericsson, 98-Marco Andretti.
- Juncos Hollinger Racing: 76-Conor Daly, 77-Sting Ray Robb
- Prema Racing: 83-Robert Shwartzman, 90-Callum Ilott.
Eight Past Winners:
- Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021)
- Takuma Sato (2017, 2020)
- Josef Newgarden (2023, 2024)
- Scott Dixon (2008)
- Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014)
- Alexander Rossi (2016)
- Will Power (2018)
- Marcus Ericsson (2022).
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