"He understands the game": Kyle Larson receives high praise in 4x Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves' assessment

Helio Castroneves recently spoke about Kyle Larson in a conversation with Kevin Harvick. The IndyCar legend was a guest on the latest episode of the Happy Hour podcast, where the host brought up the subject of the Hendrick driver's Indy 500 attempt in 2024.

Last year, Larson drove in the Indy 500 in a collaboration between Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports. Although Larson finished 18th in the race, he had impressed the whole IndyCar world with his talent and skill in the tests, qualifying sessions, and his racing on the track prior to that.

Speaking about Larson, Harvick referenced Tony Stewart's words to Castroneves, calling him a once-in-a-lifetime generational driver. The Happy Hour host asked his guest whether he saw something in the #5 driver during his Indy 500 stint that he found to be 'a little bit different' to other outsiders who had given IndyCar a try.

Castroneves said that racing against Kyle Larson and finishing in the vicinity of each other at the end made him realize one thing about the 2021 Cup Series champion.

"We realized that even for someone that never drove an open-wheel car all of a sudden the way he was anticipating, because when you drive the car, it's no problem. You feel the speed, you feel what the car needs, it becomes natural to you, but anticipation, before things happen, that's when you realize, 'Okay he understands the game. He understands what he needs to do just before it happens.' And when you do that, you can definitely position a car whatever you want to make moves or to prevent scenarios that you don't want to do it. So that for me was actually stand out a lot," Castroneves described. [21:50 onwards]

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Kyle Larson is taking his second Indy 500 attempt easy after learning from 2024

Earlier this year, Kyle Larson opened up on his approach for his second Indy 500 attempt which would be this year. After an underwhelming result in 2024 and a missed Coke 600 because of the weather, it was announced that Yung Money would be attempting the Double once again in 2025.

However, this time around, he wouldn't be going all out with the preparation. Speaking in January, Larson claimed that having done it once, he now knows what to expect from the Indy 500, which wasn't the case in 2024. He mentioned that he 'over prepped' in many ways for his first time.

As for his second time, Larson said he hasn't done any prep yet and won't do until the Open test in April.

"I haven’t had the chance to talk to anybody from McLaren. I don’t know what my team looks like. I don’t know anything about it," Larson claimed (via Motorsport).

The Hendrick Motorsports star hoped that soon he'll have a clearer picture for his second Indy 500 attempt. But from the perspective of preparation, he hadn't done anything, adding that there's no 'extravagance or anything extra special' one has to do to get ready for that race.