Kyle Larson lost out on $4.2M Prize money after Indy 500 disappointment

The Memorial Day Weekend has proved to be disappointing for Kyle Larson. The Hendrick Motorsports driver aimed to complete the exhausting 1100-mile doubleheader, but harsh weather conditions destroyed the fruition of his hopes. After completing his Indy 500 run, the Californian rushed to Charlotte just to see the race get canceled mid-way because of rain.

However, that's not the only suffering Larson encountered. Though the Arrow McLaren IndyCar driver churned a good qualifying result, placing his #17 open-wheel car in fifth place, the 500-mile run had something else to offer, making Larson lose out on the hefty $4.2 million prize money.

Kyle Larson spun out during an early race restart and plummeted to 14th place, but gained control again and climbed to sixth place. Later in the race, the 31-year-old was awarded a pit-road speeding penalty and was placed one lap down, running in 22nd place.

With 21 laps to go until the checkered flag dropped, Larson stayed out while a big chunk of drivers pitted. This gave the Arrow McLaren driver a brief lead over the 33-car-pack, but that soon ended as Larson pitted for service with just 5 laps to go. From there, he couldn't do much and finished his debut Indy 500 run in 18th place.

Josef Newgarden emerged as the winner and took home a whopping $4.2 million, while Kyle Larson took home a comparatively meager $178,000. The amount includes $50000 awarded to the Arrow McLaren driver for being the Rookie of the Year.

Kyle Larson weighs on his double whammy of setbacks after Indy-Charlotte dream gets destroyed

Kyle Larson became the fifth driver to give a shot at the exhausting 1100-mile doubleheader and eyed to join the only driver to complete the Memorial Day Weekend, Tony Stewart. However, the notorious weather conditions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway didn't let the 2021 Cup Series champion's dream come true.

The Indy 500 got delayed due to severe weather and was flagged off at 3.45 PM CT, much ahead of its scheduled 11.45 AM CT. Kyle Larson finished in a dismal 18th place and flew for the Coca-Cola 600. He was late for the race and touched down at Charlotte when 249 laps were already done and dusted.

Larson aimed to run the remainder of the race by replacing Justin Allgaier in his #5 Chevy, but his wish couldn't become a reality. The heavy downpours combined with extreme moisture in the atmosphere meant that the track drying process could stretch beyond 1 AM ET and hence, the officials canceled the race, declaring Christopher Bell the winner.

Larson expressed his Indy-Charlotte displeasure to Bob Pockrass:

"I'm very very thankful for the experience. Everything about the two weeks, all that was great until today, so just sad. Everything that could've gone wrong today went wrong," Larson said via X.

Kyle Larson has slipped from first to third in the Cup Series standings and Denny Hamlin has emerged as the current leaderboard topper with a buffer of six points over the HMS driver.