After crashing out of both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in what was his second attempt to pull “Double Duty” in 2025, Kyle Larson admitted he may have been asking too much of himself in hindsight.

However, after bouncing back from a subsequent slump in the NASCAR Cup Series to win the championship, thanks in no small part to a late caution that forced the Championship Race into overtime and allowed him to pass leader Denny Hamlin on pit road, it seems Larson may be about to announce a return to IndyCar.

In a teasing social media post, Arrow McLaren simply wrote “A new assignment” along with the “soon” emoji, accompanied by an image showing a “Project 31” file folder reading, “Mission: Indianapolis 500” and “Security Level: 4.” Sticking out of the folder were three pieces of paper, with the top showing an image of Larson, along with, “Agent: Kyle Larson, No. 17.”

Should the post indicate Larson’s intention to return to the 500, it wouldn’t come as a major surprise, given that he has previously admitted that he would be open to running the historic event again in the future, although there had been no previous indication that he might do so again so soon.

“As far as like ‘The Double’ would go, I don’t think I would probably do that again,” he told WISH-TV in June. “Just logistically, it’s too tough. There’s too much money that goes into making that possible. 

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“I don’t even think I would be able to finish the race to be able to get to Charlotte in time. I crashed out around halfway, and by the time I got to Charlotte, it was 10 minutes to driver intros. It’s just not as feasible, and I don’t know how they did it back in the day. 

“I would still love to run the Indy 500 again. Just as long as I’m a full-time NASCAR guy, I just don’t think that is going to be possible. Maybe someday, when I’m done racing NASCAR full-time, I can commit more and be better prepared.”

To date, only Tony Stewart has completed both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, accomplishing this remarkable feat in 2001.

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Should Larson be planning to attempt “Double Duty” for a third consecutive year, he’ll be hoping to avoid the subsequent drop in form he endured in 2025 after crashing on the 92nd lap in Indy before being caught in a mass wreck on lap 246 in Charlotte. All three of his wins that season came prior to Indy and Charlotte, after which he cracked the top five just three times in 18 races before returning to form late in the Playoffs.

Speaking to Corey LaJoie in October on his ‘Stacking Pennies’ podcast, Larson admitted that “looking at the results since [Indy and Charlotte], it’d be hard to argue that it didn’t (knock his confidence), even though I wouldn’t necessarily say I felt any lack of confidence.

“I don’t know. But I don’t know if it was circumstantial, but I mean, my NASCAR stuff took a dip, my sprint car racing took a dip. I mean, it’s hard to argue against it.”