After winning the Brickyard 400, Kyle Larson promises to compete in the Indianapolis 500 again the following year.
INDIANAPOLIS: After winning the Brickyard 400 on Sunday in double overtime and promising to try again in an Indianapolis Motor Speedway vehicle the following year, Kyle Larson found redemption at the track.
On the last restart lap, Larson fended off assaults from Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick. Larson then declared the winner when NASCAR signaled a yellow light on Lap 167 and stopped the field shortly after the white flag waved. On the opening lap of the second overtime restart, Ryan Preece had spun into the wall in Turn 2, but NASCAR continued to hold the caution until Preece’s car was stopped on the course with a flat tire.
In addition to winning the Brickyard 400 on its 30th anniversary (his Hendrick Motorsports team alongside Jeff Gordon, who is currently the vice chairman of the team), Larson’s victory was the first time since 2020 that NASCAR’s top series had visited the IMS oval.
Nearly two months after he attempted to become the fifth driver to try “The Double”—racing the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500 on the same day—he also won his maiden Brickyard race.
Due to a late speeding penalty, he placed eighteenth in his first Indianapolis 500. He was not able to run the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway before rain cut that night’s race short because it started over five hours later.
When questioned by NBC Sports’ Marty Snider about whether his fourth victory of the year and his 27th Cup career rated highest, Larson replied, “It’s for sure up there.” It’s a great honor to be able to run on this oval again because it’s such a famous location and hallowed territory.
“What a job our team did. Never gave up at all. We solved the early pit stop problem by fighting and digging our way out of it. Fans of Indiana, I adore you. I also know that you all adore me. So how about we try to kiss these bricks on the Indianapolis car when we return in May of next year?
When Snider questioned Larson about whether racing “The Double” and trying to win the 109th Indianapolis 500 was a given, he said, “I’d love to, I’d love to; we’re working on it.” I’m hoping we can make an announcement shortly and see you all in May of next year. We had a great papaya orange vehicle for that race as well, so I wish we could have done both and the 600.
“I believe that everything simply comes full circle and that everything is meant to be—today felt very much like it was meant to be for us.”
After Reddick, Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Bubba Wallace came in order of finish.
Brad Keselowski had been leading going into an overtime restart, but his No. 6 Ford ran out of gasoline and he forced to stop to the bottom of the track right before the restart zone. When the green flag waved, that put Larson from the bottom lane to the front alongside Blaney, and he led into Turn 1.
Larson remarked, “With the way the plan was going, Brad running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row and all that.” A lot of things needed to line up, and happily they did. Thus, I find it hard to believe. I can’t wait to kiss these bricks with my team after our victory here feels unreal.
Rick Hendrick, my parents are here, along with my friends and family. We will be commemorating during the coming weeks.
When Keselowski pulled out of the lead and into the pits, Blaney technically took over the restart. However, Team Penske was unhappy with how things happened because he would have chosen the bottom lane as the leader rather than the top (because, according to NASCAR regulations, drivers had already selected the top or bottom lane earlier). They had only a few seconds to process that he was the new leader before the green flag waved.
Blaney said to Dave Burns of NBC Sports, “It’s not fun.” “Had a great opportunity to win today. Our vehicle was swift. I thought our plan was quite solid.
It was almost like the front guy had to conserve fuel a little. We put ourselves in a wonderful position, in my opinion.
“If it went green, I’m sure (Keselowski) was going to run out. When we got to the restart, I was shocked that they hadn’t left. I was aware that they had no chance of survival. He might run out in the restart zone, therefore it goes without saying that I choose the top. In order to reach pit road and receive a promotion, he rushes out as he approaches the green.
That’s just my luck for the day, I suppose. I have no idea why I should be angry. I’m upset that we lost this race since I felt like we were in a great position.
Naturally, I would have finished last if I had lost control of the race, but I had assumed that the six would run out in the restart zone or perhaps down the back. It stinks to lose like that.
Blaney responded, “Call it off and rechoose because now you’re promoting the third-place guy before the second-place guy if the leader has problems,” when Burns asked whether there was any way to improve the situation. That is incorrect. You know, it’s just bad luck that Brad ran out and all that. The bottom is preferred here at the racetrack.
“I’m just angry,” That breaks my heart. Today, we performed flawlessly in every way. It just didn’t work out for me, even though I was in a great position to win.
. Just got unlucky. Gosh, I’m not going to sleep very good tonight, I can tell you that. Like I said, I appreciate Team Penske and everybody for the fast car. Gosh, we’ve been super fast. It definitely showed again today. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Shortly after Larson seized first over Blaney, the race went to a second overtime on a yellow for a hard crash involving John Hunter Nemechek, Alex Bowman and Daniel Hemric. The race was red-flagged for 17 minutes to clear debris and make track repairs.
Keselowski was on the verge of stretching his fuel tank an unbelievable 58 laps (the window was 42 to 44 laps) for his second Brickyard 400 victory when the caution flew with two laps remaining in the scheduled 160-lap distance and sent the race into overtime.
The yellow was for Kyle Busch, who spun in Turn 3 while running sixth. The two-time Brickyard 400 winner lost control of his No. 8 Chevrolet while underneath Denny Hamlin, whose No. 11 Toyota made continued despite the contact but finished 32nd after getting caught in a multicar crash on the next yellow.
Hamlin led 21 laps and won the first stage in coming up short of winning the Brickyard for the first time.
Stage 1 winner: Denny Hamlin
Stage 2 winner: Bubba Wallace
