Larson Outlasts Double Overtime, Charges to Brickyard 400 Victory

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Kyle Larson has gotten his redemption at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Two months removed from his debut in the Indianapolis 500, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, sporting the same paint scheme that he was scheduled to run that weekend in Charlotte, charged through the field late, putting himself in position to capitalize when the race went into overtime.

As the laps were winding down, it was shaping up to be a battle among those saving fuel (Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney) and those that could make it to the end without having to worry about it (Larson).

After restarting 23^rd on Lap 130, Larson charged his way through the field, climbing to third place with Keselowski and Blaney in his sights – it seemingly only being a matter of when, not if he would be able to surpass them with three laps remaining in regulation.

But in NASCAR, things aren’t so cut and dry as a crash between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch would bring out the caution and send the race into overtime.

Coming to the green on the first overtime restart, Keselowski peeled off onto pit road, his fuel tank empty, elevating Larson to the inside of the front row beside Blaney.

However, the field wouldn’t even make it through the first turn as a massive crash broke out behind them, bringing out the red flag and setting up for a second overtime restart.

Some 17 minutes and eight seconds after sitting on the frontstretch while repairs were made to the inside wall at the end of the frontstretch, the field re-fired and re-racked them to go again.

Larson was able to get the jump on Blaney when the green flag flew, with Tyler Reddick taking advantage as well to move into second place, moving Blaney back to third as the field stormed off Turn 2 and down the backstretch.

It looked as if we might be headed for a third overtime when Ryan Preece spun and couldn’t get going, but NASCAR waited just long enough to determine that Preece was indeed stranded on the backstretch, throwing the yellow after Larson had crossed the finish line to take the white flag, freezing the field and cementing Larson’s win.

“It’s for sure up there,” Larson said of his win. “Like you mentioned, it’s just such a prestigious place and such hallowed ground. Pretty neat to just get a chance to race here on the oval again. What a job by our team. Never gave up at all. We had the pit stop issue there early on and just fought and dug and had things work out…

“Everything just comes full circle and everything’s meant to be and today definitely felt meant to be for us. With the way the strategy was working out, Brad running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row. All of that. Just everything had to fall into place and thankfully it did. I just can’t believe it.

“It’s just surreal to win here. Can’t wait to kiss these bricks with my team, Rick Hendrick, who is here finally, my family, my friends, my parents are here, so we’ll be celebrating these next couple of weeks.”

Now that he has a Brickyard 400 win in the bag, the question remains, will he be back to try and add an Indianapolis 500 victory to his resume too?

It sure seemed that he was game for giving it another go when the 2025 Indy 500 rolls around next May.

“I love you Indiana fans. And I know you guys love me too, so what do you say, how about we come back next May and try and kiss these bricks on the Indy car?” Larson said to raucous approval from the fans in the stands.

“I’d love to do [The Double]. We’ll work on it. I hope we can announce something soon and see you guys all next May.”

Reddick would have to settle for second after leading the most laps on the day, having clawed back from deep in the field like Larson, but never knowing if he could have overtaken him if the race had run green to the end.

“Yeah, I mean me and Kyle (Larson) just, were the first few cars on that alternate strategy,” said Reddick. “We had that issue on pit road. I think he had some issue on pit road as well that put him back there. Just didn’t have anything to lose. A great effort by all of us, the car went through the field.

“Unfortunately, when Kyle got to me and passed me like he did, I wasn’t expecting it. It was really creative, and he continued to catch the rest of the field and pass cars. I wish I could’ve seen that one coming and maybe defended that better. It was a great way to make a pass.

“It unfortunately means we bring home our Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry second. But good points day. Didn’t score as many as the 5 (Larson), but nonetheless, a fairly-solid points day.”

Blaney came home in third, and much like Reddick was left with a bad taste in his mouth with the way the end of the race played out for him. He noted that he thought his team was in the catbird seat with Keselowski’s fuel situation and the way things were seemingly shaping up for him and the No. 12 team.

“I don’t even know what to get mad about. I am mad about losing this race because I thought we were in the perfect position,” Blaney said. “Once I lost control of the race, obviously I would have been on the bottom, but I thought the 6 would run out in the restart zone or on the back. It stinks to lose it that way. I appreciate the effort.

“I hate we don’t get to celebrate with Mr. Penske and with everyone from Penske here. That stings a lot. We just have to keep going, that is all we can do.”

The remainder of the top-10 went to Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Todd Gilliland, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson, and Chase Elliott.

A two week break lies ahead for the Cup Series during the Olympics before getting back to business at Richmond on August 11 to finish out the last four races of the regular season and set the 16-car field for the Playoffs.