DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Reigning NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson is leaving the door open to running in the Indianapolis 500 at some point in his future.
As the Cup Series gets ready for this weekend’s Daytona 500 to kick off the 2022 NASCAR season, Larson has been the subject of many discussions of whether or not he would plan to run the Indianapolis 500 this year. For this year, the answer from Larson is “no.”
“It’s too late in the game for this year,” Larson said during media days ahead of Daytona 500 qualifying. “if I ever run the Indy 500, I want to show up and know I’ve got a shot to win.”
Larson did get some words of encouragement from Hendrick Motorsports vice-president Jeff Gordon. Gordon said on Twitter this week that Hendrick is open to letting Larson run the Indy 500. Still, Larson said this year is no the right time.
“I don’t want to just show up and say ‘oh, I got to compete in the Indy 500, that’s really cool’,” Larson added. “I want to go there and be confident and know that I have a shot to run upfront.”
Gordon added that team owner Rick Hendrick is also eyeing another series to potentially enter a Hendrick Motorsports car in the future.
Larson will open his championship defense this year by starting from the pole position in the Daytona 500.
