Kyle Larson responds to rumor of Dale Earnhardt Jr. replacing him at Hendrick Motorsports during the Indy 500 qualifying weekend

Hendricks Motorsports driver Kyle Larson recently responded to a fan rumor involving Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s potential return to the motorsports world.

The HMS driver is fresh off his fifth Cup Series stint of the year, finishing next to his teammate, Alex Bowman (P4) in P5 at the Food City 500. With his second top-5 feat of the season, coupled with one win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and two top-10s, the #5 Chevrolet driver reigns supreme at P1 in the standings.

Kyle Larson will do double duty soon. He will debut at the Indianapolis 500 and run at the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 race, both scheduled for Sunday, May 26.

HMS, working alongside Arrow McLaren, will support the Californian's Indy 500 run, with the legendary NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon providing further help.

Larson's team recently released a teaser for an announcement of some sort on the Dale Jr. podcast. A fan took to the comments to speculate that the post signaled the retired driver's return to the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, which is set to begin on Sunday, May 19. They wrote (via X):

“What if dale jr is replacing kyle larson at north wilkesboro while kyle qualifies for the indy 500?”

The question caught Kyle Larson’s attention, who responded to the fan with a quizzical emoji.

Despite a satisfactory outcome, Kyle Larson vents his frustration over the caution-riddled Bristol outing

The 500-lap run on the concrete of Bristol Motor Speedway witnessed severe tyre degradation, which even tyre manufacturer Goodyear apparently failed to foresee. The wear and tear was to such an extent that the officials were left with no choice but to permit another set of compounds, increasing the tally of sets from nine to ten during the race.

At one point Larson found himself at the back of the pack owing to a penalty that slashed the odds of a promising outcome. But the HMS driver regained his bearings for an impressive P5 finish, surviving the race that witnessed a total of 54 position switches.

Despite a satisfactory weekend at Bristol, Kyle Larson said it was a race that he never wished to revisit. He told motorsports journalist Noah Lewis:

"I’ve never ran a race like that. I hope I never have to run a race like that again... To have to run a race like that every week would not be good, and it’s honestly probably a black eye to Goodyear just with all the rubber that couldn’t get laid down and just wearing through tires and all that."