HMS' Kyle Larson stays neutral on Team Penske IndyCar allegations - "I feel for everyone involved..."

Hendrick Motorsports ace Kyle Larson has shared his opinions on IndyCar's penalty on Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden.

Six weeks after his victory at IndyCar's season-opening race at St. Petersburg, Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden was stripped off of his win. Dubbed "the harshest penalty in IndyCar history," Newgarden was disqualified from the race. Meanwhile, his third-place finishing teammate Scott McLaughlin, was issued a fine.

The disqualification stemmed from the drivers wrongfully using push-to-pass on restarts, a violation of IndyCar's regulations. Although their third teammate, Will Power, also received a penalty, he was not stripped of his finish as he did not employ the push-to-pass system during restarts.

IndyCar's standard procedure for road and street course races involves disabling the push-to-pass system before starts and restarts, only enabling it when deemed appropriate by race officials. As a result of the penalty, Pato O’Ward was awarded the victory, with Power and Colton Herta rounding out the podium.

While speaking to Frontstretch, Hendrick Motorsports driver and former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson talked about the groundbreaking decision and remained impartial. He said:

"I've tried to stay up on it. But I'm so uninformed on how that all that stuff works that I don't really have an opinion. I don't really know what to say, just because it's not my kind of expertise."

"I feel for everybody involved. I feel for Josef, for Team Penske, for what they're going through. I also feel for the competitors. But as far as the way I feel, I don't have an opinion."

---

Kyle Larson on finding the balance between IndyCar and NASCAR

Larson, 31, will attempt the "Double" later this season, competing in both the IndyCar Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 races on the same weekend, driving a total of 1,100 miles.

Kyle Larson, who leads the NASCAR Cup Series standings at the time of writing, will become the fifth driver to attempt this feat. Reflecting on balancing his preparations for both races, the Hendrick Motorsports driver told Frontstretch:

"It's kind of a tough balance right now. Everybody thinks that I should be preparing for Indy 500 every single day, but we're in the middle of our Cup season. It's important for me to focus on that and try to maintain our point lead and all that."

"Because I will have to take some focus off of the NASCAR stuff once I get to Indy. But for right now, I feel like I've done as much as I can. I feel like I've managed the distraction well."

If he completes both races, Kyle Larson will become only the second driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart to achieve this feat.