By David Morgan, Associate Editor
With the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 growing closer by the day, Kyle Larson is continuing to gain experience behind the wheel of an open wheel car and added more data to his memory bank with a Monday evening test at Phoenix Raceway.
Though the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion has already turned some laps in his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway late last year in his Rookie Orientation Program, Monday was the first time he has run the car in 2024.
Fresh off the conclusion of the Cup Series season-opening exhibition race at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Larson jetted over to Phoenix to test his Indy car in a test that was moved from Tuesday to Monday night to try and get ahead of the same wet weather that also pushed the Cup race a day earlier.
Given the vast differences between the 2.5-mile Indianapolis oval and the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert proved to be an eye-opening experience for the 31-year-old California native.
“Honestly, yesterday was probably more uncomfortable just because it’s a smaller track,” Larson said. “Things are happening quicker. You’re having to lift off the throttle a little bit. At Indy, once we got through the different stages and stuff, we were wide open pretty easy by yourself. It was a cool day and all that.
“Yesterday was fun to kind of have to work on the timing of the corner and work through some balance things because, yeah, I mean, the balance was definitely not perfect, which was good to feel.
“At Indy, like I said, I’m out there by myself. They have downforce packed into it. I’m comfortable. Didn’t really feel much about the car changing there, so… It was good to feel the car not be quite perfect at times yesterday.”
Throughout the course of the three-to-four-hour session, Larson, as well as his Arrow McLaren crew that will be a part of his attempt at the Memorial Day Double were able to get plenty of reps with him able to learn the quirks and intricacies of his Indy car in a fast-paced environment.
Larson even had a moment toward the end of the session in which he found the edge and had to catch himself.
“We went to do a long run, had different air pressures and stuff to start,” Larson explained. “The car felt a lot different early in the run. I kind of had my mind made up that it was going to build tighter. It was like starting to get loose pretty quickly. I was a bit confused, wasn’t…
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