NASCAR: Kyle Larson announcement could trigger another unretirement

Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson attempted to become the fifth driver to run the Memorial Day Double this past May, first by competing in IndyCar's Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then by competing in NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

But due to a rain delay at Indy, Larson wasn't able to get to Charlotte in time to compete, as the Coca-Cola 600 ended up being called early due to bad weather itself.

Larson is set to attempt the feat again in 2025. Once again, Rick Hendrick's team have partnered with Arrow McLaren on the IndyCar side, and the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion is set to drive the No. 17 McLaren-Hendrick Chevrolet in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".

This time, however, the Coca-Cola 600 is the priority, primarily to avoid another (totally unnecessary) NASCAR playoff waiver fiasco.

However, the Coca-Cola 600 wasn't the only race impacted by Larson's 2024 Indy 500 commitment.

Indy 500 qualifying takes place on the Saturday the week prior to the big race, and the Fast Friday practice session in which engines are turned up in preparation for qualifying takes place on Friday (as the name implies).

Friday is also when practice and qualifying take place for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Saturday is when the heat races take place.

After retiring from full-time Cup Series competition at the end of the 2023 season, Kevin Harvick moved to the Fox Sports booth, joining lead announcer Mike Joy and color commentator – and former teammate – Clint Bowyer.

Fox Sports was responsible for coverage of the North Wilkesboro event, so Harvick was already on hand. As a result, Hendrick Motorsports called upon him to drive the No. 5 Chevrolet in Larson's place in practice and to qualify the entry.

Larson had already locked himself into the event as a former All-Star Race winner, a former Cup Series champion, a race winner in 2023 and 2024, and a full-time driver.

Even as a former champion and All-Star Race winner himself, Harvick was not eligible to compete in the All-Star Race (or the heat races) since he no longer competed full-time.

NASCAR was willing to push the start time back on Sunday, when Larson advance to the second and third rounds of Indy 500 qualifying and then had to fly down to North Wilkesboro.

With Harvick not eligible to run the heat races, Larson was forced to start the main event from the back of the field. But because the No. 5 entry had qualified, he was still eligible to start.

Whether or not Harvick comes back out of retirement to make another appearance behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet remains to be seen.

But the fact that the All-Star Race clearly isn't the priority that the Coca-Cola 600 is seems to indicate that, should the schedules once again conflict, somebody other than Larson will be behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet in the build-up to the non-points exhibition event.

There is certainly no guarantee that it would again be Harvick, but it is worth mentioning that, even with the addition of Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports to the Cup Series broadcast schedule as a part of a new seven-year media rights deal, the North Wilkesboro race weekend is still set to be a part of Fox Sports' coverage. So Harvick would presumably be on hand.

2025 NASCAR All-Star Race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway is scheduled to take place from Friday, May 16 to Sunday, May 18.