Kyle Larson named Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, earns $50,000 bonus
For his efforts in the Indianapolis 500 and throughout the month of May, Kyle Larson was named the Rookie of the Year for 2024. It is a prestigious honor for the NASCAR driver and one that comes with a $50,000 check as well.
For finishing P18 and earning Rookie of the Year, Kyle Larson made a total of $178,000 from the Indianapolis 500 attempt. That is a bunch of money, but nothing compared to the efforts that were put into the Double attempt.
Qualifying P5 and finishing P18 after a pit lane penalty is impressive. Larson wanted more. He wanted to get a top five, and contend for the win at the end. Instead, he had to bring it home as best he could inside the top 20.
Had the weather not delayed the Indy 500 by four hours and ended the Coca-Cola 600 after 249 laps, who knows what would have happened? Larson was impressive. He represented NASCAR very well. Now, we can all look forward to next year if and when he tries again.
Overall, it was a disappointing day of racing. Monaco in F1 was disappointing with the first ten cars on the starting grid holding their positions. The only bright spot was that Max Verstappen wasn’t on the podium for once due to poor qualifying.
The Indy 500 actually delivered a great finish with Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward dueling it out. Newgarden put a last-lap pass on O’Ward for the ages on the outside of Turn 3. It was amazing.
Then, there was the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600…another disappointment, for Kyle Larson and others.
Kyle Larson doesn’t turn a lap in Coke 600
Even with the weather delay that caused Larson to miss the start of the Coke 600, Larson made it to Charlotte with laps left in the race. I think everyone was talking themselves into how cool it would be for Larson to take over from Justin Allgaier and go try to win the race.
Well, that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, Larson pulled up in the helicopter right as the rain started to fall. Allgaier had driven to P13 at that point. Larson was getting ready to take over as soon as the red flag was lifted.
The red flag was not lifted. NASCAR attempted to dry the track after a heavy rain passed through. The humidity, according to NASCAR and track officials, kept the track from getting to a satisfactory condition in time to restart the race.
A lot of fans wanted NASCAR to continue even if the race didn’t end until 3 AM. Instead, everyone was told to go home at midnight. And Christopher Bell was named the winner.