Kyle Larson wants no part of Team Penske's Indy 500 scandal

NASCAR star Kyle Larson will be attempting the double and was therefore at the Indy 500 practice Day 7 on Monday, May 19. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was questioned about the Team Penske scandal, which led to the withdrawal of Josef Newgarden and Will Power's entries for the Indy 500 qualifying. Larson seemingly didn't want any part of it and refrained from sharing his opinion.

The #2 Chevrolet of Newgarden and the #12 Chevrolet of Power were withdrawn from the Top 12 Indy 500 qualifying session after they were found in breach of the technical rules. The post-session inspection revealed that Team Penske had made modifications to the attenuator, which were not allowed.

As Penske was informed of the same, they chose to withdraw the cars rather than risk it. The very next day on Monday, May 19, IndyCar announced that Power's and Newgarden's Penske entries would be sent to the back of the grid, and the two entries were fined $100,000 each.

Larson, who qualified just outside the Top 20 for the 109th running of the Indy 500, was questioned about the Team Penske scandal. During the post-session press conference that followed the Day 7 practice, a reporter suggested that Larson had seen such strange modifications in NASCAR and was asked for his opinion on how the Team Penske situation was being handled.

"No. I really don't have, like, an opinion on it. I don't. Even in the NASCAR side of it, Buescher got hit with his penalty, but I don't even know what it was and don't really care. It doesn't affect me in our team, so… I don't really get too involved when it's other teams,” Kyle Larson said.

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“Only talked to a couple of guys”: Kyle Larson on the interest from NASCAR Cup Series drivers in his Indy 500 performance

AUTO: MAY 17 INDYCAR 109th Running of The Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

Kyle Larson qualified P21 for the 2025 Indy 500 during Saturday's qualifying and will start P19 after the penalties for the two Penske entries. The Cup Series driver flew to North Wilkesboro Speedway after the Indy 500 qualifying for the NASCAR All-Star Race.

A reporter asked Larson if any of the drivers showed interest or commented on his Indy 500 qualifying effort.

“No, I only talked to a couple of guys there that were curious about what's going on here. It was a really fun race. I really enjoyed it. That's by far the best short track we have in NASCAR. It's really racy. We have grip, can run multiple lines. Yeah, it was fun. We were running third after taking two tires. Was just starting to rip the top really fast and got loose in and smashed the wall, ended our race,” Kyle Larson said.

Larson was running with the lead pack midway through the race before the rear of the #5 HMS got out of shape and slammed into the barrier, sending the Cup Series star towards the back of the grid.