“A special breed” - McLaren boss Zak Brown hails Kyle Larson after HMS driver’s "most disappointing" weekend

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has praised Kyle Larson after the driver expressed dismay over his unsuccessful Indy-Charlotte Double. The Cup Series' #5 Chevy driver looked to join Tony Stewart, the only person to complete the 1100-mile single-day double affair, but an unfortunate string of setbacks ruined his year-long dream.

Kyle Larson became the fifth driver to attempt the Memorial Day Double - racing the Indianapolis 500 of the IndyCar series and then the Coca-Cola 600 of the NASCAR Cup Series within a span of 24 hours. However, before kicking off his maiden Indy 500 run, a heavy downpour delayed the 200-lap run by 4 hours.

Moreover, despite starting fifth at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Californian stooped to 18th place by the time he finished, courtesy of an early restart spin, a pit-lane speeding penalty, and faulty pit-stop strategy - all contributing to the driver's dismal outing at the 'Greatest Spectacle of Racing', behind the wheel of an Arrow McLaren.

Kyle Larson's misery wasn't over though. His Indy 500 run finished 20 minutes after the Coca-Cola 600 had kicked off at Charlotte Motor Speedway and thus, the Cup Series' HMS driver was on a time crunch. He touched down in Charlotte, North Carolina ready to take over the car being driven by his substitute, just to see his chances of participation drown in showers that began there too.

The race which was red-flagged eventually got canceled and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell emerged as the winner, having been leading when the race was stopped. Seeing the weather shatter his dream, Kyle Larson wrote a sad note on his X account, outlining his unfortunate weekend.

However, McLaren boss Zak Brown had a different take and sought to correct Larson while praising him:

"Dude, apologise for nothing. You drove like the champion you are. Team loved working with you and would love to do it again. No doubt you can win it! Youre a special breed!" the CEO of McLaren replied to Larson on X.

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Kyle Larson revealed his Race Day "just sucked" after failed Double Duty attempt

Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports collaborated to put Kyle Larson in the #17 open-wheel car and pursue his Double Duty dream. When inclement weather conditions postponed the pre-race ceremonies in Indianapolis, the Californian, Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon and HMS GM and president Jeff Andrews jointly decided to prioritize the Indy 500 over the Coca-Cola 600.

However, the decision to stay at Indianapolis Motor Speedway came at a huge cost - missing the start and eventually all of the highest-points-paying race on NASCAR's calendar. Despite making it to Charlotte, Larson couldn't run a single lap as officials canceled the race due to rain there too.

Thus, Kyle Larson missed a regular season Cup Series race and as per NASCAR's rule, a driver has to at least compete in all 26 regular season races to become eligible for the playoffs.

With that, the 2021 Cup Series champion's odds of entering into the playoffs have become slim and only a waiver from NASCAR can help. However, many fans and other observers have opined that he shouldn't be granted the waiver. Even if Larson replaced his substitute Justin Allgaier for the remaining 151 laps at Charlotte, he wouldn't have got any points, but his playoff odds would have been saved from being jeopardized.

After facing a big setback at the end of his year-long dream, the HMS driver outlined how his failed Double Duty attempt birthed a "lot of weight and guilt."

"It was going perfect until race day. That is what kind of gets me down. Race Day just sucked. Honestly, yesterday sucked. I didn’t really enjoy any of it," Larson told NBC Sports.

"I don’t know if I ever quite fully got in the correct mindset. I feel like I had a lot of weight on me and a lot of guilt of not being able to be in two places at one time. I just was never in the right mindset. I didn’t enjoy anything about yesterday," the driver added.

Due to his absence from the Coca-Cola 600, Kyle Larson has dropped to third place in the NASCAR Cup Series rankings while Denny Hamlin leads the scoreboard.