INDIANAPOLIS – Kyle Larson came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May hoping to make history in the 108th Indianapolis 500.
He had to wait two months to celebrate a win at IMS.
Larson, the 2024 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, won Sunday’s 30th Anniversary of the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Cup Series race in a bizarre and chaotic ending.
Larson stretched his final tank of fuel to make it to a double-overtime battle with Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney.
As Larson charged out of turn 2 in his No. 5 Chevrolet, he was chased by Blaney’s No. 12 Ford. But further behind, Ryan Preece spun out in Turn 2 and was facing backward.
NASCAR officials kept the race green, despite the fact Preece could not fire up his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. It wasn’t until after the field took the white flag that NASCAR finally turned on the yellow light and Larson was assured of his first victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It didn’t come in the 108th Indy 500, but at least it came in 2024 in the 30th Anniversary of the Brickyard 400.
It’s the third Crown Jewel victory for Larson and team owner Rick Hendrick’s record-extending 11th Brickyard win.
“This is such a prestigious place and such hallowed ground,” Larson said after winning his fourth NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. “What a job by our team. We fought and dug and just can’t thank them enough.
“And to the fans, I love the Indiana fans, and I know you love me, too. I’m going to come back here in May and hope to kiss the bricks in the Indy 500, too.”
Does that mean he will return for the 109th Indianapolis 500?
“I think we’re going to announce something soon,” Larson said.
That drew a roar from the crowd that saw the first NASCAR race on the IMS oval since Kevin Harvick won the 2020 Brickyard 400.
Officially, Larson defeated pole winner Tyler Reddick by 0.282 seconds. Larson drove a Chevrolet and Reddick was in the No. 45 Toyota. Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney was third in the No. 12 Ford followed by Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota. Bubba Wallace made up tremendous ground in the points with a fifth-place finish in the No. 23 23XI Toyota. Chase Elliott was sixth.
There were 18 lead changes among 13 drivers with 10 cautions for 33 laps. The 160-lap schedule race included seven extra laps.
Larson continues to lead the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season points, but Bell is just six points back.
Daniel Suarez is currently 16th, the final cutoff position with a seven-point lead over the hard-charging Wallace.
Larson attempted to do the Double in May by competing in both the 108th Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but those plans were ruined when rain delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 by four hours.
He arrived at CMS ready to take over the car that was started by Justin Allgaier. But 10 minutes after he arrived, it began to rain and after a red lag, NASCAR called the race official.
Larson never got a chance to turn a lap in the 600 and had to get a waiver from NASCAR for the Playoffs.
But he proved on Sunday why he is perhaps the best driver in racing.
As for Team Penske’s best shot to win at the track owned by Roger Penske, Blaney’s third-place finish was a heartbreaker because he didn’t think it was fair that Larson benefitted to the lower lane after Keselowski ran out of fuel on the late-race restart.
“I’m so bummed,” Blaney said. “I had a really good shot today. The car was fast. We had a really good strategy. Had to save a little bit of gas. I figured the 6 (Brad Keselowski) was going to run out of gas.
“He ran out of gas coming to the green and the 5 (Larson) gets promoted. Once I lost control of the race, I hate losing that way.
“This stings a lot, but I’m going to try to keep going. That’s all I can do.
“They should call it off and reboot. It’s dumb luck. I’m just upset. That’s a heartbreaker. We did everything right today. Was in a position to win and we didn’t.
“I’m not going to sleep very good tonight; I’ll tell you that. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Pole winner Reddick led 40 laps, the most of any driver.
“It was a great recovery for us,” he said. “We had our issues in Stage Three, and I thought that was going to cement our finish. We had a really good restart behind the 5 and the 9, but that move by Kyle at the end got me as well.
“A lot of cars and a lot of things had to happen for us to get second. It’s tough to fall short one spot, but once we got out of Turn Two, that was it. We had a solid points day, closed the gap on the 5, so in the big picture, it was a pretty good day for us.
“I thought today was a great recovery. We haven’t always had the smoothest days, but we recover. It was a good effort by the guys at 23XI, we’ll take a break and be ready to go afterward.”
With 33 laps to go, it was Brad Keselowski at the front as the field lined up for another restart. He led fellow Ford driver Ryan Blaney of Team Penske, Zane Smith and Daniel Hemric as some of the leaders began to gamble on saving fuel to make it to the finish.
Larson was 23rd with 30 laps to go as he saved fuel to make sure he could make it to the finish.
With 25 laps to go, Hamlin moved into the top five behind Hemric.
The field lowered the race pace to two seconds below what they could be running to save fuel to the end.
With 20 to go, Keselowski’s lead was 0.349 of a second over Blaney with two Fords at the front of the field.
Further back, Busch passed Larson for seventh place as each driver was trying to feather the throttle. Larson regained the position two laps later when he was told that they were one lap over if the race ended at lap 160.
Larson passed Hamlin for fifth place as the most versatile driver in racing continued to make his charge with 12 to go.
Larson passed Smith for third place down the backstretch with 11 laps to go as he moved in on Hemric.
With nine laps to go, the front four cars were in one group. Larson sized up Hemric and passed him in turn 3 for third.
Larson then had a huge run on Blaney as the top three drivers were prepared to settle it on the track in the 30th Anniversary Brickyard 400.
But this dramatic battle to the end was ruined when Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet went low into turn 3, made contact with the side of Hamlin’s Toyota, went up the wall and crashed hard into the outside wall to bring out the yellow flag with three laps left in the scheduled 160 lap race.
Hamlin and Smith came onto pit road, but Keselowski stayed on track.
When the first overtime started, Keselowski hit the throttle, and the engine quit. He was out of fuel and pulled to the inside to let the field drive by as he coasted down the frontstretch.
But a thunderous crash in turn 1 involving John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric and Alex Bowman all slammed into the wall.
NASCAR stopped the race with the red flag to clean up the track.
After a lengthy delay that saw one of the tow trucks used to push start Larson’s Chevrolet to get it going, when pit road opened, there were no takers.
It was a gamble that was going to play itself out to the very end.