'Embarrassed' Kyle Larson breaks silence on infamous Indy 500 moment with Scott McLaughlin

Kyle Larson has expressed disappointment for his actions after Scott McLaughlin crashed at the 109th Indy 500 on May 25. The NASCAR Cup Series champ made a sarcastic thumbs-up gesture after McLaughlin crashed out on the pace lap before the race began.

The Team Penske driver was warming up his tires on the main straight before losing control of his car and smashing into the pit road barrier. The race had already been delayed by around 45 minutes because of rain before that.

Kyle Larson, who wanted to complete the Indy 500 in time to leave for NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 as part of his second attempt at The Double, was frustrated with the additional crash-induced delay. He called McLaughlin a "f*****g idiot" and did a thumbs-up gesture by raising his hand outside his cockpit.

A few days ago, McLaughlin revealed that the Hendrick Motorsports driver had already texted and apologized. However, Larson made his stance clearer this weekend by wholly addressing the incident. He said (via FrontStretch on YouTube):

"I felt really bad even before I knew that it (the clip of his team radio and gesture) hit the internet. I was frustrated because the rain was so light and the delay of the track drying. When it was already dry, it took whatever it was, 45 minutes. And then we're coming to get lights out to go green, and I see somebody crash. Then I just reacted with more frustration. And yeah, I shouldn't have done that."

Larson admitted that the frustration got the better of him and how he wanted to reverse time and undo his actions, before adding:

"So it was a bit embarrassing and I felt bad. You never want to see anybody crash out of the biggest race in the world before the green, and (McLaughlin is) somebody who has always been super respectful to me and really nice to me. I didn't even realize it was him until I was close to alongside of him. So just wish I could have taken that back."

Despite being the first driver to crash out, Scott McLaughlin got a final result of P30. IndyCar stripped three drivers of their final results after post-race technical inspection and pushed them to the last three spots of the 33-driver grid.

Unfortunately, Kyle Larson had the same fate, as he spun and crashed out after a lap 91 restart, taking two drivers with him.

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What Scott McLaughlin said while coming clean on Indy 500 controversy with Kyle Larson

When a clip of Kyle Larson's thumbs-up gesture went viral on X, Scott McLaughlin reacted to it sarcastically, writing:

"Guess I'm out of the best driver in the world talks."

A couple of days after that, he came clean on the seemingly bad-blooded exchange and shared that all was well between him and Larson. In an interview with Bob Pockrass, the Team Penske driver said:

"He texted me and we're all good. I mean, I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Kyle. I just love poking s*** at everyone too. So my tweet was about making fun of that whole conversation because that's been such a big piece, but also I wasn't going to let him off the hook with that either. That’s the type of person I am."

"To his credit, Kyle texted me and apologized. He didn’t mean it. I don't know — he’s a really respectful racer, and kudos to him for even reaching out. He didn’t need to."

Kyle Larson and Scott McLaughlin are busy with their NASCAR and IndyCar races this weekend. The Hendrick Motorsports driver starts 28th on the grid for the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville, while the Penske driver will start seventh for IndyCar's Detroit GP.