Kyle Larson’s preparations for another Indianapolis 500 are ramping up with The Greatest Spectacle in Racing less than two months away.

On Wednesday, the 2021 NASCAR Cup champ unveiled his special paint schemes for The Double, his quest to complete May 25’s Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 the same day. And now that those are out of the way, he turns his attention to the annual Indy 500 open test April 23-24 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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The Elk Grove, Calif., superstar is banking on a harmonious Indy 500-Coke 600 experience this time around, as long as Mother Nature does her part, unlike last year's rainy quandary that didn't at all go planned. Last year, Larson finished 18th in his Indy 500 debut, a result not reflective of his performance in which he started fifth and led laps before a late-race pit road speeding penalty hampered a potential top-five run.

“I thought I was well prepared the first time around. So I don't think there was much I would do different,” Larson said in a sit-down interview Wednesday with NASCAR.com alongside Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports. “I felt like I did a good job with my nutrition and my fitness and all that. I think, too … you mentioned it's a lot of traveling back and forth. It's actually not. It's probably the least amount of travel that I have, probably throughout the summer, really.

“For me, it was nice, like, it was really relaxing. I felt like I could really focus on the Indy 500 last year. Typically, a week for me, I'm flying here and there, and back and forth and juggling kids, and all that. Last year I was in my motor home everyday (during and after every practice), you know, in Indy.”

Larson’s ultimate goal, of course, is logging all 1,110 miles where he’d join Tony Stewart as the only other driver to fulfill the feat. Being a former Coke 600 winner, Brickyard 400 winner at Indy in the Cup car, and having qualified in the top-five of last year’s Indy 500, a shot at winning one, if not both, of the Crown Jewel events, isn’t out of the question either.

First, Larson will have to readjust himself to the race craft of IndyCar, its nuances, and the new hybrid engine, which debuted last July at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. A main feature is the hybrid powerplant stores energy under braking, with the energy used for an extra boost of 60 horsepower at a driver’s discretion.

Drivers have full manual control over the regeneration process triggered by the press of a button akin to the push-to-pass system.

“With the test here in a few weeks, (I hope to) get re-acclimated to the cockpit,” Larson said. “I got to get a first look at the wheel last week. So buttons are kinda in different spots and there's some dials now and just kind of see, like, what all you're doing in the car.

“Like, when you look at the wheel, it's super complicating and all that, but once I realized like, once I got in the car last year, I'm like, ‘Oh, you’re really only worried about one dial, maybe, and couple buttons.’ But this year with the hybrid, I feel like you've got a little bit more maybe going on, you know, throughout a lapse, so we'll see.

“I’m just excited to get some laps and get familiar with the visuals, the clutch, leaving the pit stall, the coming into a pit stall, like, all the little details that it takes to be good in the race, so kind of just getting back into the flow of things there.”

Pit road execution will certainly be key for Larson, whose lap-130 speeding penalty took him out of contention in last year’s Indy 500. Restarts will be key, too. On the race’s first restart last year, lap nine of 200, Larson missed second shift and tumbled from sixth to 14th down the leaderboard.

Gordon, the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, can’t over-stress the importance of details.

“I think he learned the Indy 500 is all about the small details and executing that,” Gordon said. “I know it's a hybrid (engine) this year, so maybe there's a few different differences there, but 500 miles in the Indy 500, you can't make any mistakes.

“I'm super curious to see where the speeds at because, I mean, he was right up there in speed.”

Larson’s takeaway from last year's Indy 500 race dynamic was that “it wasn’t too different than a Cup race, especially at Indy.” He won’t have race strategist Brian Campe back in his corner coaching him along like last year — Campe has been the technical director for Legacy Motor Club since October — he’ll have 2013 Indy 500 champ Tony Kanaan, team principal of Arrow McLaren, back on pit box of the No. 17 team.

“Obviously I would love to win the Indy 500, but I know how difficult that is,” Larson said. “I mean, I felt like the experience I had last year and living through it, I'll be better prepared for this year and, you know, I felt like the race was pretty straightforward.

“I think there was a lot that I learned throughout the couple weeks there last year that I think balance-wise looking for this year to be a little bit better in the race, so I think there's definitely opportunity to do even better than we did last year. And I thought last year went great.

Will Tony Kanaan Back Up Larson At The Indy 500?

With the exponential amount of rain last year's Indy 500 saw, Tony Kanaan was nearly summoned as the No. 17's backup driver should Larson have left rain-delayed Indianapolis for Charlotte's Coke 600. So is the 50-year-old Kanaan serving as Larson's backup again?

“We had a meeting about that the other day. So, yeah, that that's  the obvious choice, but clearly you have to get prepared for that," said Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon. "We have a plan during April, during that test, that he's gonna be doing.

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"(Kyle) will get his rookie orientation kind of cleared and out of the way, and then Tony will get in at some point and also do the same cause he has to do it, too, believe it or not. And and knock that out and and that way, both drivers are ready just in case."

Who Practice For Larson At North Wilkesboro's All-Star Race?

Because NASCAR's All-Star race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway overlaps with Indy 500 qualifying weekend, Larson likely cannot practice nor qualify the No. 5 Cup car at the legendary North Carolina short track.

Last year he had Kevin Harvick full in for him for practice and qualifying, but this year, Harvick's services aren't available. Jeff Gordon hinted that a JR Motorsports driver, likely Justin Allgaier, will serve that role this year.

“The last that I had heard is that we will probably have a JRM driver and somebody who fits in his seat and I mean, like, last year was really cool to have Kevin get in the car," Gordon said. "It was fun and fun for the team and everybody. But it was a lot of work to swap from Kevin's seat and everything. ... It was a lot of work and effort. We feel like keeping it a little bit more simplified this year."

Gordon ruled out Carl Edwards as an option to appear in the HendrickCars.com No. 5 Chevrolet. Larson had initially requested the 45-year-old Edwards, who abruptly retired from Cup racing in 2016, to sub for him.

“I don't know that announcement's been made yet, but you can do the math and put it together. And no, it's not gonna be Carl Edwards," Gordon said. “I don't even know if the full schedules have come out for for Indy yet, but it'll probably be the same sessions that he'll be missing as last year. But, yeah, somebody will be in the car getting in the car and getting the car prepared."