NASCAR.com's Alex Weaver talks with Jeff Gordon as he discusses the difficulty ahead of Kyle Larson's Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 double.
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00:00Here at Charlotte Motor Speedway with Jeff Gordon. It was just announced Kyle
00:03Larson is attempting for the second time the 1,100 miles for Hendrick Motorsports.
00:07It'll be Indianapolis 500, the Coca-Cola 600. First and foremost, how excited are
00:12you guys to do it again? Yeah, really excited. You know, a lot of thought went
00:16into this and obviously with the way it went this year it was should we do this
00:20again but all the metrics lined up. Kyle did such an amazing job. Both teams
00:25really, you know, from Errol McLaren and the job they did with such a fast race
00:30car and a great race there but also Cliff Daniels and the five team, you
00:34know, and the great race car that they brought for the 600. So love, you know, to
00:39get the opportunity to do it again because this time we're gonna complete
00:43it and it's gonna be a lot of fun. Very excited about it. I know a huge
00:48goal for both you and Kyle is completing those 1,100 miles but learning what you
00:52guys learned this season and doing it in 2024. How much stronger do you
00:56anticipate both of the teams to be in 2025? Yeah, you know, so many factors,
01:00right, play in. I mean, I know that there's hybrid next year with the
01:05IndyCar. Chevrolet gave, you know, us an amazing power plant and Errol McLaren
01:13did a great job. So, you know, I feel very confident both these teams are at the
01:16top of their game and, you know, that we won't really know where things are at
01:21until we get in next year but I feel pretty confident we're gonna be, we're
01:25gonna be, you know, in a good place and, you know, Kyle's X-factor in those
01:30both of those situations too, you know, the job that he does learning what the
01:34balance of the car needs to be and knowing how to navigate traffic and all
01:38those things, you know, I think that my money's on them. Well, we know that
01:45Kyle Larson is one of the top motorsports athletes in the world. He can
01:49compete in anything. We saw it last season how he adapted to IndyCar and
01:53Indianapolis 500. As far as the crossover between NASCAR and IndyCar, how
01:58important is it to showcase our top talent, a champion of our sport, and make
02:03sure that these two teams are working together fluidly? Yeah, I mean, I think
02:06certainly if you're Kyle Larson, you're proud of this effort but I think if
02:11you're a NASCAR fan or a competitor, you're really proud of what he did at
02:15Indy. You know, I think everybody's impressed and this is the key. One of the
02:20reasons why, you know, a lot of guys don't do this double is because, you know,
02:24you're getting into a car that's so much different, you know, rear engine, high
02:28downforce, you know, on and on and on but he gets in stock cars or, you know, stock
02:35cars, sprint cars, late models, you know, dirt, pavement, and so when you're
02:39adapting to something new, when you're used to doing it, it can happen easier
02:43especially when you're a talent like Kyle is. So, you know, that's why it
02:46doesn't happen every year and, you know, when it has been done, it hasn't always
02:51gone well. So, you know, it's certainly not an easy task but he made it look
02:56easy, I'll be honest. Four drivers, four teams, they're still competing for a
03:00championship this season in the NASCAR Cup Series but when does the prep start
03:04for 2025, especially this 1100 miles you guys have? Yeah, not quite yet. I mean, I
03:09know that there's a test at Indy in October but, you know, we don't plan to
03:14do it. We're going to follow Errol McLaren's lead on getting Kyle laps and
03:18getting in the car when the time is right. We're so focused on winning the
03:22championship right now with Hendrick Motorsports that that's our
03:26primary goal but usually about halfway through the playoffs, our guys are making
03:31their lists, you know, engineers are getting together, they start thinking
03:34about tracks that we've been to already and, you know, how we can do it
03:39even better next year. So, believe it or not, the prep for the 2025 season for
03:44Cup will start before you know it. All right, well we're excited to bust out the
03:47papaya orange again. Thanks so much for the time, Jeff.