As Kyle Larson chases the Memorial Day Double (Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600) for the first time in his racing career, the driver will be unable to attend practice and qualifying for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, as he will be running Indianapolis 500 practice.
“It’s going to be logistically challenging as everybody is aware. Mostly though just the All-Star weekend is going to be the most challenging.”
Prior to the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway, Larson announced on FS1’s NASCAR RaceDay that Kevin Harvick will fill-in for him and get his No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 tuned up for the $1-million NASCAR All-Star Race.
“We’ve been trying to find drivers and stuff to replace me in the seat for practice. We looked at lots of resumes, and unfortunately Clint [Bowyer]’s didn’t make the cut, so we decided to go with Kevin Harvick,” Larson stated, which shot a smile onto Harvick’s face on the FS1 broadcast.
Harvick, who has emphatically stated that he will no longer drive in NASCAR Cup Series competition following his retirement from the series at the end of the 2023 season, says he couldn’t say no when Rick Hendrick came calling.
“I’m going to drive. I’m going to practice. There’s not very many phone calls that are going to say, ‘Hey, you know, Delana, I’m going to go and get back in a car,’ but Rick [Hendrick] called a couple of days ago and said, ‘Hey, I need a favor,’ and I know when a conversation starts like that, usually you have to say yes,” Harvick joked. “I appreciate you guys calling. It’s going to be fun.”
While Harvick will get the car all set for the NASCAR All-Star Race by practicing the car, the plan is still for Larson to return to North Carolina for the All-Star Race on Sunday, May 19.
Larson dominated the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway as he led 145 laps on his path to a 4.537 second margin of victory over Bubba Wallace for the race win. Harvick finished 18th in the 24-car field in a special No. 29 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, which was painted like his first NASCAR Cup Series race win car from the 2001 NASCAR Cup Series season.
