Double Duty

Double Duty (also referred to as the Indy-Charlotte Double or Memorial Day Double) is an American auto racing term used to describe one of the most difficult feats in motorsport: in a single day, competing in both the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Indianapolis 500 is the most prestigious IndyCar race, while the Coca-Cola 600, the longest event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, has for years been considered one of NASCAR's most important races. Both races are run on the same day on Memorial Day weekend: the Indianapolis 500 run in the early afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 in the evening. A driver who pulls off the “Double” competes at Indianapolis first, then boards an airplane after the race and flies to Charlotte to complete the feat.

Double Duty is physically demanding and mentally draining; a driver must be in a race car for most of the day, racing for more than 1,000 miles with little or no rest. It is similar in concept to the established discipline of endurance racing, but without the help of a relief driver, and the driver withstanding the very different physical demands of an IndyCar, which was historically run with an open cockpit, but since 2020 has been run with a semi-enclosed cockpit with the introduction of the aeroscreen, and a stock car, in which the driver is enclosed.

Five drivers have attempted the feat, starting with John Andretti on May 29, 1994. In 2001, Tony Stewart became the first and only driver to date to complete all 1,100 miles of both races in the same day. Robby Gordon has tried five times, Stewart and Kyle Larson twice, and Kurt Busch once. No driver has won either race while attempting the feat. Stewart's 2001 effort stands as the best combined result: sixth at Indianapolis and third at Charlotte. Larson made the most recent attempt, in 2025: he finished twenty-seventh at rain-delayed Indianapolis and thirty-seventh at the Coca Cola 600, both of which he failed to finish.

Some drivers in the 1960s and 1970s, included Donnie Allison, attempted a "crossover": running both events when they were scheduled on consecutive days.

The Indianapolis 500 is part of the NTT IndyCar Series, and the Coca-Cola 600 is part of the NASCAR Cup Series. Both races are held, weather permitting, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is traditionally scheduled in the afternoon, while the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is held as a night race. Since the events are not scheduled to overlap, this allows a driver a small window to travel between venues.

Such an accomplishment can be grueling and physically exhausting. It calls for a driver to race for over seven hours in two entirely different disciplines of racing cars. Along with a 430-mile airplane flight and severe time constraints, the driver has time for only a brief rest aboard the aircraft where they normally take on IV fluids, and are checked out by a physician.

If rain delays one of the races, particularly Indianapolis, it can complicate or prevent the attempt.