History Of The 1,100-Mile Double: Drivers Who Attempted Indy 500, Coca-Cola 600

Katherine Legge will make history Sunday as the first woman to attempt to race 1,100 miles in two different types of race cars in what’s known in motorsports as The Double. Legge will jump from Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX and streaming on FOX One), the crown jewel of INDYCAR racing, to NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, that evening. But Legge is far from the first to try both legs of this journey. A total of five men have come before her, achieving a wide range of results in a tradition that goes back more than three decades. Here’s a closer look at the history of those drivers who have attempted The Double: Kyle Larson Years: 2024, 2025Indy 500 results: Started 5th, finished 18th (2024); started 19th, finished 24th (2025)Coca-Cola 600 results: Never got in the car (2024); Started 2nd, finished 37th (2025) Kyle Larson, like Kurt Busch before him, was a NASCAR champion and sprint car legend who’d always wanted to try the Indy 500. After testing the waters, car owner Rick Hendrick partnered with Zak Brown of Arrow McLaren to produce the best-funded Double effort in history, putting Larson behind the wheel of their fourth entry, the No. 17, for the Indy 500. As a rookie, Larson took Indy by storm, qualifying a surprising fifth ahead of two of his teammates. Leading four laps in the race during pit cycles, he was a consistent top-10 car until a pit road speeding penalty left him stuck in traffic. Charging back to 18th, the finish still won him 2024 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. It also proved costly. Finishing the race meant sitting through a rain delay, with Larson arriving to the Coca-Cola 600 too late to get in the car. As Justin Allgaier drove to a 13th-place result, Larson missed a race that left him in jeopardy of missing the NASCAR playoffs. (He wound up getting a waiver, weeks later with the ruling becoming a circus-like distraction). The pressure not to miss the NASCAR event for a second straight year combined with heightened attention took its toll in 2025. Larson qualified just 19th at Indy last May, lacked speed throughout the month and crashed in the race, slumping to 24th. He promptly left for Charlotte, arriving in plenty of time Year 2 … only to wreck there, too. Since then, Larson emerged as the 2025 Cup Series champion but has gone a full year-plus without winning a race. “What I do is tough,” Larson said last week while promoting a new documentary, “Kyle Larson vs. The Double,” about his NASCAR experience. “And it’s not always perfect.” Kurt Busch Years: 2014Indy 500 results: Started 12th, finished 6th Coca-Cola 600 results: Started 28th, finished 40th Kurt Busch became the first Cup Series champion to race the Indy 500 with a 2014 Double attempt (Tony Stewart had not yet won a Cup title at the time of his entry). Armed with veteran support from his NASCAR organization, co-owned by Stewart, plus a successful Indy rookie test in 2013 led to buzz Busch could win one of the races. Busch qualified 12th with Andretti Autosport at Indy, part of a five-car effort that put current FOX Sports INDYCAR analyst James Hinchcliffe on the front row. Busch harnessed the support of his teammates to deliver a steady drive; finishing sixth, he wound up Indy 500 Rookie of the Year despite having no previous experience in the series. He was part of four Andretti cars in the top 6 as teammate (and 2026 Indy 500 participant) Ryan Hunter-Reay earned the Borg-Warner trophy with the win. Momentum came with Busch to the NASCAR race — too bad the engine never got the memo. Faulty equipment wound up ending Busch’s day a smoky mess, completing only 271 of 400 laps. “It was a challenge I put forth for myself,” Busch said after the attempt. “I enjoyed it. I soaked it in.” Robby Gordon Years: 1997, 2000, 2002-04Indy 500 results: Started 12th, finished 29th (1997); started 4th, finished 6th (2000); started 11th, finished 8th (2002); started 3rd, finished 22nd (2003); started 18th, finished 29th (2004) Coca-Cola 600 results: Started 28th, finished 41st (1997), started 42nd, finished 35th (2000)**; started 12th, finished 16th (2002); started 38th, finished 17th (2003); started 20th, finished 20th (2004) **PJ Jones started the car and was credited for the finish. Like John Andretti (below), Gordon pulled Double duty in 1997 while transitioning into a full-time NASCAR ride. Running for Rookie of the Year with Felix Sabates, the car owner chose to dabble in open wheel for the first time. Team SABCO’s early results raised eyebrows, with Gordon posting the fastest time in one of the early Indy 500 test sessions. But the best-laid plans turned into disaster. Gordon missed a NASCAR race (Talladega) to qualify on Pole Day at Indy, only mustered 12th and then endured an Indy 500 rainout. That made Gordon’s double a two-day affair — he flew to the NASCAR race, crashed, then endured a scary fire in the rescheduled Indy 500 a day later. Burns from that incident sidelined Gordon for weeks and the SABCO partnership never recovered. That black cloud followed most of Gordon’s double attempts. His 2000 effort was hampered by an Indy 500 rain delay — he didn’t make it to Charlotte until halfway and wasn’t credited for the drive (PJ Jones started the car). In 2004, a third rain-delayed race forced Gordon to leave Indy early for his NASCAR ride at Richard Childress Racing; Jaques Lazier filled in until mechanical failure sidelined the car. Only once, in 2002, did his Double efforts come off clean. Gordon was eighth in a Childress and John Menard-backed ride at Indy, completing all 200 laps before a respectable 16th-place effort at Charlotte, finishing just one lap off the pace. He does hold The Double record with the only Indy front-row start: Gordon qualified third in a Michael Andretti-backed car in 2003, running eighth only to struggle at Charlotte (17th). Tony Stewart Years: 1999, 2001Indy 500 results: Started 24th, finished 9th (1999); started 7th, finished 6th (2001) Coca-Cola 600 results: Started 27th, finished 4th (1999); started 12th, finished 3rd (2001) Yet another INDYCAR driver-turned-NASCAR rookie (sensing a trend?) leaned into Double duty when Stewart announced his bid in 1999. A different level of success was expected for the 1997 INDYCAR champion who had already earned a top-5 Cup Series finish, leading 68 laps in stock cars by the time the month of May rolled around. Sponsor Home Depot backed both 1999 efforts, attracting national attention and a grueling schedule: five trips from Indy to Charlotte and 25 days in a race car over the course of a month. Unfortunately, Stewart’s Indy team, run by Tri Star Motorsports, didn’t have the speed to contend. A disappointing 24th-place qualifying result led to worries Stewart would be bumped from the field — steady driving worked him up to ninth, four laps off the pace in a race won by Kenny Brack in A.J. Foyt’s No. 14, Stewart’s hero growing up. It was in the Coca-Cola 600 where this future NASCAR Hall of Famer excelled. Forced to the rear for missing the driver’s meeting, a rookie in his first Charlotte Cup race stayed patient, climbing from 43rd up to fourth. Stewart led 13 circuits and ended the night on the lead lap, an impressive end to Double duty despite draining him physically; legend has it, Stewart was so tired he nearly passed out in the car. The driver nicknamed “Smoke” looked to do better two years later, and he did, firing past any Double effort we’ve seen before or since. Qualifying seventh for the 2001 Indy 500 with powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing, Stewart worked to the front in the second half of the race. Leading 13 laps, he was in position to win until a long pit stop and an untimely caution took away too much track position to fight back. Finishing sixth, Stewart would credit a month-long fitness and nutrition routine that kept him fresh, battling through cramps on his right foot he addressed during a 16-minute red flag. Landing in Charlotte, Stewart’s Coca-Cola 600 start began with a spin, pushing the car too hard when he once again started the race from the rear. Fighting through right front damage, he wound up fighting through the field a second time, winding up third and a handful of seconds behind winner Jeff Burton. To this day, that 2001 effort remains the only time a Double Duty driver completed all 1,100 miles as scheduled. “For those people who had any doubts that I was putting everybody in danger,” Stewart said of making that 2001 attempt, “you are a bunch of idiots.” John Andretti Year: 1994Indy 500 Results: Started 10th, finished 10th Coca-Cola 600 Results: Started 9th, finished 36th After a ho-hum INDYCAR career, winning just once in 72 starts, Andretti switched to NASCAR full-time in 1994. His inaugural Double attempt was a last hurrah in open-wheel racing, a curiosity attracting national attention he hoped would buoy a fledgling stock car Rookie of the Year bid. Andretti had struggled to pick up sponsorship despite driving for former NASCAR championship car owner Billy Hagan. For the Indy 500, Andretti found a spot driving for a team aligned with four-time 500 winner A.J. Foyt and Jonathan Byrd. It was smooth sailing, qualifying comfortably in 10th as one of three Andrettis in the race. Finishing there, four laps down, was a solid effort in what would be uncle Mario Andretti’s final Indy 500. After the checkered, it was a mad dash, 53-minute, 366-mile flight to North Carolina with a nurse and registered dietitian, making sure Andretti landed well hydrated and ready to go. The helicopter landed just before NASCAR opening ceremonies, but far too late for the driver’s meeting, wiping out Andretti’s career-best, ninth-place qualifying effort. He was sent to the rear of the field and struggled to pass, just 39th before wrecking in Turn 4 on Lap 91. Limping onward, Andretti eventually fell out with engine problems a little over halfway through the race: he completed just 220 of the race’s 400 laps. It was still an impressive effort that caught the eye of NASCAR’s first family, the Pettys — they wound up signing him to a long-term deal later that season, cementing the stock car switch. Forever remembered as The Double pioneer, it’s a history-making moment that continues to make the Andretti clan proud. “That’s my boy,” Mario Andretti said of the effort. “He’s a pure racer. Pure racers run whenever they have the chance.” Tom Bowles is an INDYCAR on FOX production researcher and the owner and editor-in-chief of the motorsports outlet, Frontstretch.