Larson heading into Indy/Charlotte double as NASCAR points leader - again

The NASCAR Cup Series championship point leader is headed to Indianapolis.

Kyle Larson begins his two weeks of NASCAR and Indianapolis 500 activity tomorrow with the opening day of practice at IMS. It will be two days after Larson won his third Cup Series race of the season and moved into the overall championship point lead.

It might be a small detail, but one Larson doesn’t overlook.

“I think it’s really cool,” he said Sunday night. “I think it’s good for our team. I think it’s good for our sport. I think it’s good for racing that the Cup Series point leader is competing in the Indy 500 for the second year in a row. I would say last year was a goal of mine. This year, I didn’t really think about it. But I do think it puts even more of a spotlight on us and our sport.”

Larson was the NASCAR championship point leader in 2024 when he ran with Arrow McLaren in his Indianapolis debut. Unfortunately, the double never materialized because the severe weather that delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 moved to Charlotte and brought an early end to the Coca-Cola 600. Larson never got into this Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and did not receive points for the race. (The points go to the driver who starts the race, and that was Justin Allgaier).

Missing the race dropped Larson to third in the standings. But two weeks later, he was back atop the grid after winning at Sonoma Raceway.

OnSunday, with a max scoring day of 61 points at Kansas Speedway, Larson took the championship point lead from teammate William Byron. The gap is 35 points. He will be the point leader through this weekend at North Wilkesboro – it being the non-point All-Star Race – and going into the Indianapolis and Charlotte double weekend.

“I do think it’s really cool, and yeah, we had a great day, so great points day (at Kansas),” Larson said. “I look forward to the next couple weeks and then actually getting to race the (Coca-Cola) 600 and hopefully have the lead after that one, too.”