NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon claims Kyle Larson had a 'humbling' experience when attempting and failing to achieve the 'double' in 2025.
After a failed attempt in 2024 due to the weather, last season saw the Hendrick Motorsports star attempt the incredible feat once again, which would see him aim to complete both the Indy 500 in IndyCar and the Coca-Cola 600 in NASCAR on the same day.
Unfortunately, though, things didn't work out, with it ending up being a pretty rough day for the eventual Cup Series champion in the end.
In the Indy 500, Larson wrecked of his own accord ahead of a restart on lap 92 after the race had been under caution, whilst in NASCAR, a spinning Daniel Suarez collected the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and took Larson out of the race on lap 246.
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Larson humbled by double failure
Although he would go on to recover and win the Cup Series championship, Larson suffered a major dip in form after the event, and did not win a single race for the remainder of 2025.
Reflecting on that period after his championship win at Phoenix in November, Gordon believes he saw Larson's confidence drop and that he was humbled by his failure that day.
“You think about the double, the month of May, the 600, it's the first time I saw his confidence brought down a notch," Gordon said, via NASCAR.com.
"I think it was a humbling experience.”
Larson stuck to the process
Throughout the season, Larson denied that there was any sort of hangover from the event, and even now, he isn't keen to pin things taking a downturn on what happened on that May day.
However, he admits he can't argue with the timing of it all and explained how he just continued to stick to the process throughout his struggles.
“I would say ‘No,’ but then it’s hard to argue with the timing of all that,” said Larson, on the topic of a double hangover. “I had a great season going to that point, then had a couple of bad weeks at Indy and went into the 600, and then all my racing kind of took a dip. Cup racing, sprint car racing, all that.
“You could argue that, OK, our cars took a dip in performance as well, but still... I guess maybe it did, but it was just bad timing. I don’t know.
"It did seem to all kind of come crashing down for a couple of months, but you’ve got to stick with the process and stay confident in yourself, your team and the people around you.
“I think that’s what makes the championship at the end of the year extremely meaningful.”
NASCAR 2026
Larson will be looking to defend his crown when the 2026 Cup Series schedule gets underway at Daytona International Speedway on February 15.
Before then, however, Larson and the rest of his Cup Series colleagues will take to Bowman Gray Stadium on February 1 for The Clash exhibition.
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