INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Audrey Larson, all of 6 years old, is rooting for Alexander Rossi to win the Indianapolis 500. And if her dad doesn’t flip his car — she is pretty convinced he will — then maybe he can finish second.

That’s some kind of cheering section that Kyle Larson is taking into “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Yes, the daughter he just whisked to Paris to see Taylor Swift as a birthday gift has chosen a rival over her father in his Indianapolis 500 debut on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Larson, a father of three, is trying to become the modern-day version of Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart by showing once again that he is capable of winning in any kind of car. And the latest challenge for the sprint car superstar-turned-NASCAR champion is to become just the fifth driver in history to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in North Carolina on the same day.

Stewart in 2001 is the only driver to complete all 1,100 miles. Kurt Busch in 2014 is the last to even try.

Larson hasn’t asked for much advice — mostly because he doesn’t even know what to ask about driving an Indy car — but the greats who came before him aren’t too concerned with how he will perform starting fifth in a joint effort between Arrow McLaren Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, his NASCAR team.

“He has the potential to do what’s never been done and win both of these races,” Stewart said. “He’s just one of those naturally talented guys that you can put him in anything and he can drive it.”

The list of drivers who try both open-wheel racing and stock car racing is long and the differences are stark. Stock cars can take a beating and contact is part of the deal; Indy cars are far more fragile, and contact with a competitor or wall can end someone’s race immediately.

Robby Gordon attempted “The Double” five times ,with his 2002 showing of eighth at Indy and 16th at Charlotte his best attempt. He too believes Larson can win both races; Larson already won the 600, NASCAR’s longest race, in 2021.

“Kyle has a shot, a legitimate shot,” Gordon said. “We may look at him as a stock car driver, but he knows where his wheels are, he’s not worried about clipping wheels with anybody or getting tires tangled. We all know he’s not scared, and he’s also light, that’s going to help him. He’s got a lot of advantages, and Kurt Busch did a great job, but I think Kyle will do a better job.”

The deal between Hendrick and McLaren is for two years, which could be the smart play if the Indy 500 gets rained out Sunday. The forecast is iffy at best. Rick Hendrick has indicated he would have a hard time pulling Larson out of Indy to get to Charlotte, but it is a possibility the NASCAR team owner holds Larson to his day job.

McLaren boss Zak Brown said the decision will be left to Hendrick, who brought Larson’s entire No. 5 crew to Indianapolis on Friday for Carb Day to give those employees a chance to experience the Indy 500 atmosphere.

Larson has been working on the project for more than a year, but he has truly embraced the past two weeks at the historic speedway. Rain washed out a bunch of track time the first week, but since then, he has milked a cow, participated in community day at a local elementary school and was set to lead the annual driver parade Saturday through downtown Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are allowing Larson to be first in the parade to shorten his time in the city, giving him a buffer in getting to Charlotte later Saturday for qualifying for the 600.

Larson, who runs the Daytona 500, some of the top sprint car races in the world and won the sports car showcase Rolex 24 at Daytona, thinks many big events can learn from the pomp and pageantry of Indianapolis.

“This is like Disneyland or the Disney World of racetracks. It is the nicest facility,” he said. “Two weeks of stuff, buildup to the race — there’s so many things that make this event feel different and bigger. But yeah, there’s no other event I’ve been a part of to this point, and I haven’t even gotten to race yet, that’s felt quite as big as the Indy 500.”

Larson said his 9-year-old son, Owen, has grasped the magnitude of the Indy 500. Audrey remains unimpressed, while 17-month-old Cooper is just along for the ride.

“Audrey thinks I’m crazy. She’s said it multiple times, ‘Why are you going to get in a car that you are going to flip?’” Larson said. “Every time we’ve talked about it, she says it. I don’t know where she’s seen it. Owen, I think he gets how cool the cars are and how big the space is, and I hope Audrey does once the race gets here.”

Audrey seems to be alone in her opinion about dad, given that some of the best drivers in motorsports history seem to be in Larson’s corner. McLaren is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first of its two Indy 500 wins with Johnny Rutherford this year, and “Lone Star JR” went to Kokomo Speedway last week to watch Larson race a sprint car.

“He’s a racer,” said Rick Mears, the four-time Indy 500 winner, who downplayed Larson’s lack of IndyCar experience. “I’ve said for years that I can come out here or anywhere and test for three weeks and I will learn more in the first 30 laps of the race than I learned in three weeks of testing. Because in testing and practice, you don’t get put in positions that you do in the race. And that’s when you start learning.

“That’s where his learning curve is, right? He’s dealt with similar stuff through the years. He’s going to have his work cut out for him, but if he does the job I think he will, he’ll have an opportunity.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis man has been charged with the murder of a 31-year-old woman in October 2020, police said Friday.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to a death investigation just before 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9, 2020, in the 2500 block of English Avenue. That’s a residential area between South Keystone Avenue and South Rural Street on the east side.

Brittany Burns was in critical condition when taken to a hospital after the shooting, and she died 10 days later. Her death was ruled a homicide in March 2021.

Her cause of death was listed as “Mixed modality trauma including asphyxia and blunt force injuries/Homicide,” according to the Marion County Coroner’s Office.

Police on Friday provided no other details about the circumstances that led to Burns’ death.

On Wednesday, police say, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office issued a murder warrant for Rakeem D. Thompson, 32. On Thursday, IMPD says its violent crimes and K-9 units along with members of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office took Thompson into custody without issue in Shelby County.

He was being held without bond until an initial hearing Tuesday morning in Marion Superior Court 29.

Police provided no other details about how the woman died or the circumstances that led to her death.

Anyone with information was asked to call the IMPD homicide office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477.

The timeline for severe weather on Sunday across Indiana is becoming more clear.

The National Weather Service believes there could be some rain and storms moving into Indiana starting Sunday morning.

“That morning convection moves through and we could see an inch or greater. Models are varied on how strong those storms will be,” said Aaron Updike, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis.

Updike says it’s hard to know just how bad things will be on Sunday until he sees how Saturday’s storms in the Midwest move towards Indiana.

“But we do have a high confidence in severe thunderstorms Sunday afternoon into the evening hours. That includes damaging winds, hail, heavy rain, and tornadoes,” said Updike.

Updike thinks there could be enough dry time to get the Indianapolis 500 completed. It’s supposed to start at 12:45 pm. The latest models don’t show severe weather arriving until 6 pm and last until roughly 9 pm Sunday for places like Indianapolis, Vincennes, Lafayette, and Terre Haute.

It is possible that when those Sunday storms move in during the early morning hours, some places in central Indiana could get at least an inch of rain. Updike is also concerned about high wind gusts.

“Gusts of 30-40 mph are possible. The greatest gusts are generally going to be in the western and northern parts of central Indiana with less in the southeast,” said Updike.

Updike says there are also two representatives who will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway coordinating with IMS leaders to make determinations about Sunday’s events.