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Kyle Larson finished sixth in the Cook-Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night and, rather than staying back for pit road interviews, he ran straight to his plane.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion had decided earlier in the week to qualify the Paul Silva No. 57 410 sprint car for the 65th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, despite knowing that Saturday night’s feature was scheduled to clash with his mandatory NASCAR Cup Series race. As expected, Larson put the No. 57 on pole.

As it turned out, late-summer storms over Knoxville, Iowa, disrupted the programme, pushing Friday’s feature into Saturday and then delaying Saturday’s schedule further and further into the weekend. That was exactly the break Larson needed for the plan to have any chance of working.

Jordan Biachi of The Athletic reported that the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team had put together a last-ditch pre-race plan to get Larson to the Knoxville Nationals the moment his day in Richmond was done, provided there was even a mathematical possibility of him arriving in time to start the A-Main.

The Cup Series race finished at 10:17 local time, and Larson immediately sprinted away from the No. 5 trailer. Forty minutes later, his jet had departed from Richmond Airport, with thousands of deeply invested motorsport fans tracking the flight online.

As Larson’s aircraft lifted off, Johnny Gibson, the voice of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, was telling fans at the circuit and on DirtVision that the track was roughly 30 minutes away from the first hot laps of the evening. By the time the D-Main rolled out for hot laps, Larson was already in Ohio airspace.

While the C-Main was running its hot laps, Larson flew over Indianapolis, the site of his most recent attempt at a motorsport double.

In 2024, Larson found himself in trouble when he tried to complete the Indianapolis 500-Charlotte 600 Memorial Day Weekend Double. Weather delays in both Indianapolis and Charlotte meant he ended up completing zero laps in the Coke 600, putting his NASCAR points situation at risk and forcing him to request a waiver for missing a points race.

Much like this time, fans watched a tiny yellow aircraft on a tracking screen to judge whether Larson had any realistic chance of making it, after he had crashed out early in the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Because he missed the start of that race, Larson had to ask NASCAR for a waiver to remain eligible for the playoffs, and the sanctioning body was ultimately reluctant to grant it.

Still, Larson tried again in 2025 and ran into similarly poor luck before eventually deciding that the Double was not “worth it.”

This double, however, appears to be worth it for Larson as he chased his fourth title — after 2021, 2023 and 2024 — in sprint car racing’s “Granddaddy of Them All.”

The DirtVision crew sent members of its team to Pella Airport to capture Larson’s arrival, and they reported that the Marion County Sheriff’s office was escorting him over the 20 miles from Pella to Knoxville Raceway.

Larson landed at Pella Airport at 11:55 PM Central, 1 hour and 58 minutes after taking off from Richmond. At that very moment, the C-Main had gone back to green with nine laps remaining at Knoxville Raceway. Ryan Timms, the defending champion, won the C-Main as part of his own fight through the qualifiers to reach the A-Main.

Larson entered the raceway at 12:16 AM through the back gate, crossing the track while being escorted at the front of a Chevrolet Traverse to reach the pits just after hot laps had been completed for the Last Chance Showdown and A-Main drivers.

DirtVision’s Connor Wade briefly caught up with a clearly surprised Larson, who said he had no idea he truly had a chance of making it until crew chief Cliff Daniels informed him midway through the Richmond race.

“I never really knew I was coming,” Larson said. “Cliff gave me a heads up midway through the race, and I was shocked because honestly I was thinking about hopefully there’d be enough time when the race is over to watch the main event. So here we are.”

Larson missed his opportunity for hot laps and began the race cold. It made no difference. By the halfway open red fuel stop, Larson had lapped half the field and was leading Kasey Kahne by more than five seconds. Twenty-four laps later, he took the chequered flag to become a four-time Knoxville Nationals champion.