Kyle Larson's Indy 500 dream ends with P18 after late penalty

It was not the weather in central Indiana that ruined Kyle Larson's Indy dream. Larson was found speeding as he entered the pit road with just 70 laps to go in Sunday's Indy race, which ultimately got him a penalty. The pit road penalty pushed Larson outside of the top 20 and he had to settle for a P18 finish.

Kyle Larson has won 25 races throughout his career in the NASCAR Cup Series, with his latest win coming earlier this month, on May 5, at Kansas Speedway. Larson won his only Cup Series Championship in 2021, which was also his first year with Hendrick Motorsports.

He is a three-time All-Star Race winner. On the Xfinity side, Larson has 15 victories besides three in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

The #5 driver attempted "The Double" this Memorial Day weekend. However, despite starting the 200-lap race fifth, and being in the lead mix almost throughout the entire race, Larson made a mistake on an early restart that cost him about 10 spots.

Later in the race, he crossed the speed limit while entering the pit road. As a result, Larson, who was sixth back then, was handed a penalty that needed him to drive through the pit road again.

"Obviously, I smoked a left-front or something on the green-flag stop and killed our opportunity," Larson told NASCAR, recalling his mistake. "I’m proud to finish, but I’m pretty upset at myself. I just could have executed a better race."

Kyle Larson fell back to 22nd in the field at the time, and one lap down. Although he managed to gain a few spots after that, the American never got the opportunity to make it to the top 10. Josef Newgarden of Team Penske won the 500-mile race, making it his second Indianapolis 500 victory in a row.

Kyle Larson's Indy 500 attempt could cost him a playoff spot

Kyle Larson will need a waiver from NASCAR to appear in the playoff rumble this year. According to the NASCAR rulebook, a driver must start every points-paying race during the regular season to be eligible to compete in the 10-race-long postseason.

This year's Indy 500 was delayed by four hours due to bad weather. However, Larson chose to stay for his debut IndyCar venture and thus missed this year's Coca-Cola 600. JR Motorsports driver, Justin Allgaier, filled his spot in the 600-mile crown jewel event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Nevertheless, the former Cup Series champion expressed his intention of coming back for the double duty next year.

"I would definitely love to be back next year,” Larson said during a post-race interview. “I feel like I learned a lot throughout the race. I made a couple of mistakes early, but felt like I did a really good job on the restarts."

Kyle Larson is currently the leader in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series standings, with 486 points to his name. His next race is on June 3 at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.