Kyle Larson reflects on Indy 500 experience over last month

Kyle Larson enjoyed his time preparing for the Indy 500 and is ready to take another shot at it in the foreseeable future. The NASCAR star appeared at the Indy 500 Victory Celebration this week and was asked about his Indy 500 experience over the last month

“The experience over these past couple of weeks is something like I’ve never experienced before,” Larson said. “I’ve got to run a lot of big races mostly here in the States, but just the atmosphere from the two weeks, from the first day on track on Tuesday until the huge crowd waiting through the rain delay yesterday, it was awesome.

“The fan support was incredible to me. I really felt like a favorite from Day 1. It meant a lot to me and my family having them on board for the whole two weeks and having Rick Hendrick get to come yesterday was amazing. Just wish the whole plan would have worked out a little bit better.”

Larson was looking to race in the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. However, due to weather delays at both races, Larson could only compete in the Indy 500, and he will have to wait another year to make racing history.

What Kyle Larson learned from competing in Indy 500

Along with sharing his Indy 500 experience, Larson also talked about his biggest takeways from competing in the Indy 500.

“I felt like I was in a decent mindset before the race and felt like I knew what to expect from the race,” Larson said. “Probably have the most oval experience out of anybody in the field, which is crazy. I made the mistakes on the restarts and then at the end with the speeding penalty. “I would be much more cautious and less aggressive next time.

“Working through the balance of the race car and traffic I was too focused on having a comfortable balance so I wouldn’t scare myself” Larson continued. “I think that came to bite me because I was a little bit too tight, or understeer as you guys say, throughout the race.”

As much as Larson enjoyed his Indy 500 experience, he was not happy he could not race in the Coca-Cola 600. “Everything about the two weeks and all that was great until today, so just uh, sad. … Yeah it’s just sad,” Larson told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. Everything that could have went wrong today, went wrong. So, hopefully, hopefully get to do it again in the future and hopefully weather is better next time.”