CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon has joined the discussion surrounding Kyle Larson's place in the driver hierarchy. He has compared the 2021 Cup Series champion to two racing legends.
"I think him being able to jump into pretty much any kind of race car and get up to speed as fast as he does and win in so many different types of cars, it's just something that I've not seen since Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt," Gordon said Tuesday after Hendrick Motorsports announced that Larson will compete in the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
Foyt and Andretti are two racers who achieved staggering success in a variety of vehicles.
Andretti's list of accomplishments includes winning the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles, and the 1974 USAC Silver Crown Series title. He also won the Daytona 500.
Foyt won seven races in NASCAR. This includes the Daytona 500. He won the IndyCar title seven times, and he won 67 races. He also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his only attempt. Foyt added dozens more wins in sprint cars and midgets.
Andretti and Foyt are the only two drivers who have won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.
To further his point, Gordon compared Larson's career with his own. He explained that he didn't have the same ability as Larson does to go between NASCAR and other racing series. This is one reason why Gordon never tried to compete in IndyCar after securing a Cup Series ride.
"I always thought, if I'm going to be a good Cup driver, I'm going to be the best Cup driver," Gordon said. "I need to be committed to that.
"Yet he's able to go get into all the late models and sprint cars and Indy cars and stock cars and be great at all of them."
Larson has shown an ability to win a wide variety of vehicles throughout his career. In NASCAR alone he has three Truck Series wins, 15 Xfinity Series wins, and 27 Cup Series wins. Twenty-one of these Cup wins have been since the start of the 2021 season.
Larson's list of successes includes dozens of wins on dirt tracks across the country. This run includes the Chili Bowl Nationals, The Kings Royal, Knoxville Nationals, and the Hoosier 100.
The California native took on IndyCar for the first time last season while attempting to complete The Double, which features a driver completing all 500 miles of the Indy 500 and all 600 miles of the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
Despite being a rookie, Larson delivered a strong performance. He qualified fifth and spent much of the race contending for a top-five finish. He ultimately crossed the line 18th after receiving a penalty.
Weather disrupted Larson's first attempt at The Double, so he will give the feat another shot in 2025. He will reunite with Arrow McLaren once again to drive the No. 17 entry in IndyCar's biggest race.
Will Larson join Andretti and Foyt on the list of winners of the prestigious racing event? That answer remains unknown, but Gordon wouldn't be surprised.
"Don't give Kyle Larson a second shot at something that he already did well at," Gordon said. "I mean, I think he's going to knock it out of the park -- he already did -- but I know what a perfectionist he is.
"And the few things that he learned, or a couple of things that didn't go well, I know he wants that second chance to clean that up."