Kyle Larson reacts to P18 finish at Indianapolis 500: 'Pretty upset at myself'

Kyle Larson competed in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in his career on Sunday night but was not happy with his P18 finish. After the race, Larson spoke to NBC Sports about coming up short after making a couple of mistakes.

“Proud to finish but pretty upset at myself,” Larson said. “If I could have executed a better race, you never know what could happen.”

Larson began the race at P5 and had his ups and downs. With 70 laps to go, Larson was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road, causing him to be a lap down. But despite the penalty, Larson fought back and was the leader late in the race. But he couldn’t maintain the position due to previous issues, and Josef Newgarden won the Indy 500 for the second consecutive year.

Larson, who will now head to Charlotte to compete in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600, was asked if he would return to the Indy 500 next year. “I would definitely love to be back next year,” he said. I feel like I learned a lot throughout the race. I made a couple of mistakes early there with the restart. Not sure what I did wrong there, but I somehow got myself into third.”

Kyle Larson points out the good things he did during the Indianapolis 500

Larson continued: “I felt like I did a really good job on the restarts and was able to learn a lot. Definitely feel good about knowing what I need different for the balance I think coming back to help runs and stuff.”

Now that Larson is done with the 2024 Indy 500, he will focus all of his attention on the Coca-Cola 600, which is NASCAR’s longest race. Before the Indy 500, Larson appeared on NASCAR Race Hub to reveal the most enjoyable aspect of driving in two different races on the same day.

“I think so far the most enjoyable part of this process has been, or not necessarily the process, but the whole experience, has been seeing everybody get to live out the experience with me,” Larson said. “Whether it be you know, people close to me, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Andrews, friends and family. But also race fans, and Rick Hendrick especially too. You know, he gets to come later this weekend for the race on Sunday. So I really just — it makes it feel special to me, that they all get to experience this and have fun and all that.”