“I can’t believe he went”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. surprised by what Kyle Larson did after his Indy 500, Coca-Cola 600 Double collapse

Dale Earnhardt Jr. touched upon Kyle Larson's recent racing responsibilities at Indianapolis and Charlotte after the NASCAR driver tried the crown jewel double last weekend. Speaking about Larson's hectic schedule, Earnhardt Jr. pointed out the media duties, photo shoots, and brand endorsements throughout the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, which left him in awe.

Like 2024, Larson tried the Indianapolis 500 of the IndyCar Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 of NASCAR at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day this year. While Larson raced for Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series, he joined hands with Arrow McLaren for his IndyCar stint.

Larson is currently one of the top American drivers, and having him on board gives a huge impetus to the teams and sponsors. As a result, someone like Larson has huge responsibilities and duties, not just on the tracks but also off them.

"I mean we would all probably be over you know impressed if we got if we got a you know physical shot of his calendar of May if you could put his calendar on a sheet of paper or on a tablet in front of you and look at it I bet you wouldn't believe this kid had to do," Earnhardt Jr. said in the recent Dale Jr Download podcast with Jordan Bianchi.

"And the responsibilities, traveling back and forth, uh, meet and greets, photo shoots, more photo shoots, media requests."

Meanwhile, Bianchi chipped in:

"Practice, qualifying, I mean, there are so many practice sessions in 500. He actually is back up in Indianapolis yesterday because they had the award ceremony, it wasn't like it ended Sunday night."

After this, Dale Jr. shared his surprising reaction after he found Larson attending the award ceremony.

"I can't believe he went. Yeah, like I would have been like "Man, I'm tired, I'm tired, I'm done," he said (42:39-43:22).

Kyle Larson has HendrickCars.com as his primary sponsor, but he is also tied to Valvoline, the official lubricant partner of Hendrick Motorsports. Additionally, Amazon Prime Video co-sponsored Larson's attempts at the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indy 500 and will produce a documentary about it.

Since Kyle Larson was all set to compete in two of the most iconic races in Motorsports' history, the hype surrounding him was unreal. However, the HMS driver failed to capitalize on his opportunity, suffering DNFs in both IndyCar and NASCAR.

---

Kyle Larson made his feelings known after disastrous NASCAR and IndyCar weekend

Kyle Larson (5) fires his car back up after a spin in turn four during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. - Source: Imagn

As Kyle Larson suffered double DNFs in IndyCar and NASCAR last Sunday (May 25), his attempt to extract double glory again turned futile. He said about his tumultuous day in NASCAR (via Motorsport.com):

"It got super loose out of nowhere early in the race, and I popped the wall, but I thought the team did a good job to get us back to where we were somewhat comfortable there that last 100 laps. Just eager to kind of chip away at it, and I thought we could still end up okay. Yeah, not the day that I wanted."

Larson crashed in the third stage of the Coca-Cola 600 race after Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney spun, slammed against the wall, and collected him in the process. In the IndyCar, Larson spun in Turn 2 of Lap 86 restart, and it was the end of his day.