NTT IndyCar Series: 5 bold predictions for the 2024 season

No. 5 - Kyle Larson breaks 23-year drought

I don't think Kyle Larson will be a true contender to win the Indy 500 in 2024, and as much as a portion of his fanbase refuses to acknowledge that he isn't automatically the greatest IndyCar driver of all-time just because he has gotten behind the wheel and run a couple tests, this seems pretty self-explanatory based on the fact that he signed a two-year deal with Arrow McLaren.

I expect the 2024 race to be a massive learning experience for Larson, and for that reason, I don't expect him to make any bold moves that risk his or anybody else's race. What I do expect is a competent, well-prepared effort that results in him earning a respectable lead-lap finish.

Given the fact that it has become an overglorified popularity contest, Larson has basically already locked up the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Award just for attaching his name to an entry. But I do think that he will indeed earn it with a solid performance.

From there, I expect the Memorial Day Double's first challenger since 2014 to achieve something even greater: completion.

Larson is a former Coca-Cola 600 winner, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him at least finish all 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway. If he is able to do that, he would become just the second driver to ever complete the Memorial Day Double and run all 1,100 miles in a single day. Of the four drivers to attempt it before, only Tony Stewart has pulled it off, doing so in 2001.

No driver has won either race in a Memorial Day Double attempt; perhaps Larson, who won NASCAR's longest race in 2021, can change that as well.