Though Kyle Larson had ample time for a punctual arrival at the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR was prepared to delay the green flag at Charlotte Motor Speedway for its star.
After previously excusing Larson from the mandatory drivers meeting and driver introductions, NASCAR was open to moving back the Coke 600 start time to smooth his journey from racing in the Indianapolis 500.
During the latest episode of “Hauler Talk,” NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde said there was talk of a Charlotte delay after the 12:46 p.m. ET start of the 109th Indy 500 was pushed back nearly 45 minutes by rain, and the race then was plagued by early cautions.
Before crashing out of the Indy 500 on Lap 91, it was unlikely Larson would have been able to complete the race at Indy and arrive in time for the 6:27 p.m. start at Charlotte.
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“Serious discussions never started happening, (as) once he wrecked out, it was clear he was going to be able to make it to Charlotte Motor Speedway in time,” Forde said. “But preliminary discussions did start occurring on if there were any windows we could move back by five, 10 or 15 minutes. So, we were prepared to have the discussions. There was starting to be chatter to what can we do to help accommodate Kyle if absolutely necessary.”
Last year, Larson missed the Coke 600 because of a four-hour rain delay at the Indy 500. By the time the 2021 Cup Series champion arrived at Charlotte, the 600 was in a rain delay that resulted in the race being called after 374 miles.
NASCAR eventually granted Larson a championship eligibility waiver but changed the rules for 2025, wiping out playoff points for drivers who were granted waivers for missing a start in similar situations.
Larson was successful in his second attempt at becoming the fifth driver to run the Indy 500 and Coke 600 on the same day, but his results were disappointing. Larson finished 24th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then 37th at Charlotte after being involved in two cautions despite leading 34 laps.
The Hendrick Motorsports star seems uncertain of attempting “The Double” again next year, noting the difficult logistics. Forde said NASCAR would welcome another attempt, noting that officials worked with Hendrick “to make it as logistically seamless as possible” (the excusal of Larson from pre-race ceremonies was made days earlier). A delegation led by NASCAR president Steve O‘Donnell and including Daytona International Speedway president Frank Kelleher also visited this year‘s Indy 500.
“We love ‘The Double,”” Forde said. “Obviously, it‘s difficult when there are things out of your control. But Steve O‘Donnell took a contingent of NASCAR folks to Indianapolis just to see what this spectacle is all about and if there‘s anything NASCAR can learn to be better because this is a gigantic race.
“We have these new waiver rules that give our fans and NASCAR some guarantee that our biggest stars will be at every race. There were a lot of Kyle Larson shirts (at the Coke 600), and he probably got the loudest ovation in driver introductions. So it‘s important for us that our stars are in the car when the green flag waves. There could be an argument of should there be concessions just for this day. But our counter is this is a crown-jewel race, it’s the first on Amazon Prime (Video), and it‘s important to have a field of our stars. … Very rarely do we allow drivers to miss driver intros, and we were willing to do that, but to take one of our stars out of the start of a race might be a little bit of a bridge too far for us. Overall, we do embrace The Double and hope to see it again.” …
While Larson was unable to win his second consecutive 1.5-mile race, the Coke 600 still had a compelling winner in Ross Chastain who started from the rear in a backup car after crashing in practice Saturday.
Teams’ approach to backup cars has changed since the 2022 rollout of the Next Gen car that included limits of seven annual chassis. Though teams still make the call on when to use a backup car, Forde explained the move must be approved by NASCAR.
“And so what that means is if you have a team that already has a backup car prepared, and they get in a minor brush the wall and just want a fresh car, we‘re probably not going to approve that,” Forde said. “In this case, they had some chassis damage.” …
After hinting in a recent “Hauler Talk” episode that NASCAR was considering an increase to 750 horsepower for Cup engines as early as this season, Forde said that the topic came up last week during separate meetings with team owners and drivers.
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“It was something we proactively brought up to have a further discussion of improving the short-track package,” Forde said. “Obviously the drivers all embraced that topic and requested more and more horsepower. So we said, ‘You got it. We‘ll look into it.’ We are working with engine builders on that, and we’ll see if this is something that’s put into place this season.”
Other topics covered during the 16th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The international provisionals introduced for the Mexico City Xfinity Series race that possibly could have increased the field to 40 cars.
— The debut of Prime Video‘s NASCAR coverage and what that means for expanded post-race shows.
— The final two episodes of the “Earnhardt” docuseries that will be released Thursday on Prime.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.