Larson Takes Brickyard 400 After Double OT Finish

INDIANAPOLIS – Growing up racing on the dirt tracks of Central Indiana, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was always considered hallowed ground by Kyle Larson.

Sunday afternoon at the venerable 2.5-mile oval, he got the chance to kiss the legendary Yard of Bricks after winning the 30th anniversary Brickyard 400 presented by PPG.

The 31-year-old from Elk Grove, Calif., took the lead from defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney on the first of two overtime attempts, moving up a row on the inside after Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel and ducked to pit road coming to the green flag.

Larson then got a well-timed launch against Blaney in the restart zone and took the top spot just before the caution waved for the ninth time, when Daniel Hemric tipped John Hunter Nemechek into the wall and sparked a five-car crash in turn one.

The incident led to a 17-minute red flag, but even that late stoppage couldn’t derail Larson’s momentum.

Once the field was re-fired, Larson powered back to the point and ran away from polesitter Tyler Reddick, who passed Blaney on the final restart to move into second.

Larson’s comfortable advantage meant that he was well clear of the competition when the 10th and final caution came out after he’d already taken the white flag – a spin by Ryan Preece on the backstretch being the cause.

That froze the field and meant that Larson was able to come back around to the checkers for his 27th career Cup Series triumph and series-leading fourth win this year.

“This is just such a prestigious place, such hallowed ground, so it’s pretty neat to get an opportunity to race here on the oval again,” said Larson after climbing from his car. “What a job by our team. I mean, we never gave up at all, even after we had the pit stop issue early on.

“We just fought and dug and had things work out. Sometimes that’s what it takes to win these races.”

Sunday also soothed some of the sting from Larson’s Month of May at IMS, where a late-race speeding penalty took him out of contention for a strong finish in the Indianapolis 500. He was 18th on that day.

“It does make things a little easier [to swallow],” said Larson of winning at the Racing Capital of the World. “I wish we could have gotten to do both [races] and run the [Coca-Cola] 600 [on Memorial Day weekend. We had a phenomenal car for that race, too.

“Really, I think everything just comes full circle and is meant to be. Today definitely was meant to be for us,” Larson continued. “With the way the strategy worked out, Brad running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row … a lot had to fall into place there and thankfully it did.”

Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, Larson started fifth in his Cup Series car at the Brickyard just as he did in his Indy car back in May. He led only eight laps in Sunday’s Brickyard 400, including the last seven.

Larson’s win was also the 11th Brickyard 400 victory for Hendrick Motorsports, most among all teams.

The 400-miler, back on the IMS oval for the first time since 2020, was clean early on and saw the first 50-lap stage go uninterrupted.

In fact, the first 73 laps ran without a yellow flag for incident, until a three-wide battle gone wrong on the backstretch saw William Byron, A.J. Allmendinger, and Harrison Burton all crash hard on a lap-74 restart. Though all three drivers exited their cars under power, they were each done for the afternoon.

The true chaos unfolded once the final stage got underway with 56 laps left. Crashes on back-to-back restarts swept up big names including Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, and four-time event winner Jimmie Johnson, who was back in the Cup Series for the latest race of his limited schedule.

The five-car accident which eliminated Johnson and Logano allowed many of the leaders – including Blaney – to make their final pit stops with 48 laps left in regulation, putting them on the razor’s edge of fuel mileage to get to the finish.

A green-flag stretch from lap 115 to 125 allowed Larson to make his final fuel stop with 37 laps left, making him good to the end on gas and able to charge hard – not just to stay on the lead lap, but to challenge for the win in the waning laps as well.

A second crash for Truex in turn three interrupted that pit cycle with 36 to go, and from there, Keselowski – the 2018 event winner who had last pitted for fuel on lap 102 – stayed out to take control of the race for the next 34 circuits.

Keselowski hoped to put together a miracle economy run to win the race, even as Blaney trailed him by less than two car lengths and Larson charged from 23rd-to-third following a lap-130 restart.

However, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin crashing in turn three inside of three laps left sent the race into extra distance and foiled any hopes Keselowski had of earning his second Brickyard 400 trophy.

Blaney, the Team Penske driver who ultimately finished third behind Larson and Reddick, said afterward his ire was toward the procedures surrounding the penultimate restart.

Once Keselowski went to the pits, the inside lane was promoted a row, but Blaney became the control car and felt that Larson fired before he did – giving the No. 5 Chevrolet an advantage it shouldn’t have had.

“It’s no fun; we had a really good shot to win today,” said a visibly disappointed Blaney. “Our car was fast. I thought we had really good strategy. We had to save a little bit of gas … but I thought we put ourselves in a great spot.

“I know the 6 [Keselowski] was probably going to run out if it went green. We came to the restart and I couldn’t believe they stayed out. I knew there was no way they were going to make it,” Blaney continued. “I obviously chose the top because [I knew] he might run out in the restart zone. But, instead, he ran out coming to the green … so he got to go to pit road and the 5 got promoted [up a row].

“That’s the luck of the day right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know what to be mad about. I know I’m mad at losing this race because I thought we were in the perfect position.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace were fourth and fifth, respectively, giving Toyota three of the top five finishing positions.

Todd Gilliland, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson, and Chase Elliott closed the top 10.

Thirteen drivers exchanged the lead 18 times Sunday, with 10 caution flags for 34 laps slowing the average race pace down to 119.770 mph. The double-overtime finish extended the race distance to 417.5 total miles, which were completed in three hours, 29 minutes, and nine seconds.

Larson’s Brickyard 400 triumph moved him back atop the point standings by 10 over Elliott with four races remaining in the regular season. Reddick, who led a race-high 40 laps Sunday, is 15 back in third.

The NASCAR Cup Series now takes two weeks off for the Paris Olympics before resuming Sunday, Aug. 10 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Hamlin won at the three-quarter-mile oval back in April.