Rains spoils Kyle Larson's bid at Indianapolis 500, Coca-Cola 600 double

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Larson’s "double" started with rain and ended with it.

Rain delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 for four hours and spoiled Larson’s plans to start both the 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 near Charlotte on the same day. Larson finished 18th in the Indianapolis 500, while the Cup race ended at lap 120 of the 400-lap event at Charlotte Motor Speedway due to rain.

Larson jetted to North Carolina and landed just as a heavy rain storm arrived about 100 minutes after the end of the Indianapolis 500. He would have gotten into the Hendrick Motorsports car if the race resumed, but NASCAR didn’t resume the event and called it official as they were past halfway with 249 of 400 laps completed.

Justin Allgaier started the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 car at Charlotte and finished 13th. NASCAR tried to dry the track but after about a 2-hour delay, it determined the high humidity would make drying the track difficult to resume until after 1 a.m. ET and decided to call it a night.

It was a frustrating end to the day for Larson as the same rain system hit both tracks.

"I'm very, very thankful for the experience obviously — everything about the two weeks [at Indy] and all that was great until today," Larson said about the two weeks of practice and qualifying lead up to the Indy 500, his first IndyCar race. "It’s just sad.

"Everything that could have went wrong today, went wrong. Hopefully, I get to do it again in the future and hopefully the weather is better."

For Larson, the Cup Series points leader entering the event, he will require a waiver from NASCAR because Cup rules require a driver to "start" every race of the regular season to be eligible for the playoffs. While NASCAR did not make an official announcement