On paper, the only way Indy 500 qualifying and the NASCAR All-Star Race were going to conflict last year is if Kyle Larson made it all the way to the final round of Indy 500 qualifying, which took place just hours ahead of the start of the All-Star Race.
Lo and behold, in his first ever Indy 500 qualifying attempt, Larson was able to put his No. 17 Chevrolet into the Firestone Fast Six.
Larson qualified fifth and flew to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the All-Star Race after Kevin Harvick qualified his No. 5 Chevrolet so that he could remain at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Fast Friday practice session and the Saturday qualifying session.
It became clearer and clearer that he would not actually be able to arrive at the four-turn, 0.625-mile (1.006-kilometer) North Wilkesboro, North Carolina oval in time for the start of the race.
So NASCAR delayed the start of the race.
The delay only ended up lasting a few minutes, but it did indeed come down to Larson and Larson alone.
This year, that isn't going to happen again.
This year's Firestone Fast Six qualifying session is scheduled to take place an hour later (6:25 p.m. ET) than it did last year, while the All-Star Race is scheduled to go green at the same time (8:00 p.m. ET).
So if Larson is able to advance from round one on Saturday to the Top 12 session on Sunday, and then his Top 12 session speed is good enough for the Firestone Fast Six, he would have a decision to make.
It appears that that decision has already been made, with Larson feeling that settling for sixth place in the field of 33 is worth it to compete for the $1 million All-Star Race prize. For the record, the Indy 500 polesitter takes home $100,000.
If Larson were to reverse course and run the Firestone Fast Six again, provided he makes it that far, NASCAR would obviously not delay the start of the All-Star Race by more than an hour just for him to get there (though you never know what the weather might do).
All things considered, it appears as though Larson will advance no farther than the Top 12 session, even if he does post one of the top six times in that session, and can thus start no higher up the grid than sixth place for this year's running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".
Justin Allgaier is set to practice and qualify the No. 5 Chevrolet for Larson at North Wilkesboro after Kevin Harvick did so last year. The car will not be a part of the heat races, and Larson is set to start the main event (8:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1) from the rear of the field.