Kyle Larson wins Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Only two months after competing in the Indianapolis 500, Kyle Larson returned to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon to claim the trophy in one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ crown jewel events, the 30th Anniversary Brickyard 400 Presented by PPG – holding off the field in a dramatic double overtime finish.
Larson led only eight of the race’s 167 laps in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – seven of them coming in the overtime periods when he needed them most – ultimately holding off the race polesitter, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney on the white flag lap. A caution came out moments later to officially end the race after Ryan Preece’s Ford spun and became stalled on track.
The 31-year-old Californian Larson climbed out of and onto his Chevrolet Camero to wave his arms toward the grandstands and encourage the cheering crowd, clearly elated with his first win in one of NASCAR’s most prestigious races – a return to the 2.5-mile oval after four years racing on the infield road course. And it comes 30 years after his Hendrick Motorsports team executive Jeff Gordon won the inaugural stock car race at the historic 2.5-mile oval.
It’s the third NASCAR crown jewel win for Larson, also including the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and the sport’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It comes only eight weeks after a 18th-place showing for Larson in his Indianapolis 500 debut. Bad weather delayed his trip to Charlotte to compete in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600, the second half of racing’s “Double” so this week’s work at Indy felt like redemption.
“This is just such a prestigious place, such hallowed ground,” said the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson, who now leads the series with four wins this season.
“Pretty neat to get an opportunity to race here on the oval again. What a job by our team. I mean, never gave up at all.
“And to all the fans, I love it here,” he added with a grin. “I think everything has come full circle with what was meant to be and today was meant to be for us.”
For much of the closing laps, the third-place finisher Blaney thought it was meant to be for him and his No. 12 Team Penske Ford team. He was lined up on the front row alongside fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski for the first overtime restart when Keselowski suddenly pulled onto pit road after running out of gas – not taking the green flag.
That opened a hole for Larson – who was positioned behind Keselowski for the start – to rush forward and claim the lead over Blaney. It was a position he would never relinquish.
“It’s no fun, had a really good shot to win today,” a visibly disappointed Blaney said. “Our car was fast. Thought we had really good strategy. Kind of was the front guy having to save a little bit of gas. I thought we put ourselves in a great spot.
“I know the 6 [Keselowski] was probably going to run out if it went green. Came to the restart, I couldn’t believe they stayed out. I knew there was no way they were going to make it. So, I obviously chose the top because he might run out in the restart zone. He runs out coming to the green so he gets to do to pit road and the 5 gets promoted.
“Luck of the day right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know what to be mad about. Mad at losing this race because I thought we were in the perfect position.”
Reddick’s runner-up effort – passing Blaney on the white flag lap – keeps him right in the mix for the Regular Season Championship. Larson takes a 10-point lead into in the sport’s summer break and Reddick is only 15 points back with four races remaining in the regular season to settle the 16-driver Playoff field.
“Obviously a lot of cars and a lot of things had to happen for us to get second,” said Reddick, who led a race best 40 laps in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. “Honestly, it was a good day. Obviously return to the Brickyard, it’s tough coming up one spot short. Once we got off of turn two there, I knew I was pretty much it. He [Larson] was going to have to make a mistake.
“Glad we had a good recovery. Another solid points day. We didn’t close the gap on the 5 [Larson] that much, but a little bit on the 9 [Elliott]. In the big picture, it was a great day for the team.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell finished fourth and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace turned in an impressive fifth-place performance. Wallace also claimed his first stage win since 2022, leading the field at the second stage break.
There was never real rhythm to the race with varying pit stop strategies putting drivers out front. There were 13 leaders and 17 lead changes on the afternoon.
Denny Hamlin, who led 21 laps earned the first stage win – his sixth stage victory of the season and the first ever for the veteran at Indy. He finished 32nd after being involved in a multi-car accident during the first overtime restart and now is fourth in the championship standings, 43 points behind Larson.
Front Row Motorsport’s Todd Gilliland, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, Stewart Haas Racing’s Noah Gragson, and Hendrick Motorsport’s Chase Elliott rounded out the top-10.
It was an important points-grab for Bubba Wallace, who is still trying to become Playoff eligible. Wallace now trails Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain by only seven points for the 16th and final Playoff position. Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Chris Buescher is 15th in points, only 17 points up on Wallace.
The sport is taking a two-week summer break in competition with the NASCAR Cup Series schedule resuming Aug. 11 with the Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Buescher is the defending race winner.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 22
Race Results for the Brickyard 400 Presented by PPG - Sunday, July 21, 2024
Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Speedway, IN - 2.5 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 167 Laps - 417.5 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 7/21/2024 @ 07:15 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 5 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 167 2 49 Running 2 8 5
2 1 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Unleashed Toyota 167 5 6 46 Running 2 40
3 7 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Atlas Ford 167 3 4 49 Running
4 18 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 167 9 35 Running 1 2
5 17 23 Bubba Wallace U.S. Air Force Toyota 167 1 42 Running 1 26 1
6 24 38 Todd Gilliland gener8tor Ford 167 31 Running 1 1
7 38 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 167 30 Running
8 25 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 167 29 Running
9 21 10 Noah Gragson Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford 167 10 29 Running 1 3
10 3 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 167 2 36 Running 1 1
11 9 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kleenex 100 Years/Donors Choose Chevrolet 167 9 7 32 Running
12 30 77 Carson Hocevar # Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 167 25 Running
13 11 3 Austin Dillon SENIX Chevrolet 167 24 Running
14 19 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 167 23 Running
15 28 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 167 22 Running 1 8
16 8 34 Michael McDowell Horizon Hobby Ford 167 6 26 Running 1 1
17 27 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 167 20 Running
18 36 15 Cody Ware Peoria TT Ford 167 19 Running
19 22 33 * Ty Dillon(i) Titan Risk Solutions Chevrolet 167 0 Running
20 35 51 Justin Haley Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford 167 17 Running
21 26 6 Brad Keselowski Body Guard Ford 167 16 Running 2 35
22 23 17 Chris Buescher Castrol Edge Ford 167 15 Running
23 6 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 167 8 17 Running
24 20 14 Chase Briscoe HighPoint.com Ford 167 10 14 Running
25 34 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Patriotic Chevrolet 166 12 Running 2 5
26 31 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 165 11 Accident
27 14 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 165 8 13 Running
28 29 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 165 9 Running
29 10 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 161 5 14 Accident 2 16
30 32 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 161 7 Accident
31 13 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 161 7 10 Accident
32 2 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota 161 1 3 23 Accident 2 21 1
33 33 84 * Jimmie Johnson Carvana Toyota 110 4 Accident
34 12 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 109 3 Accident
35 37 4 Josh Berry # Panini/Caitlin Clark Ford 104 2 Accident
36 16 21 Harrison Burton Draiver Ford 74 1 Accident
37 15 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Campers Inn RV Chevrolet 74 0 Accident
38 4 24 William Byron Valvoline Chevrolet 73 4 8 Accident
39 39 66 * BJ McLeod(i) Coble Enterprises Ford 15 0 Engine
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 29 Mins, 9 Secs. Average Speed: 119.77 MPH Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Stage 1 Top 10: 11, 5, 12, 24, 45, 34, 48, 54, 47, 10
Stage 2 Top 10: 23, 9, 11, 12, 42, 45, 47, 19, 20, 14
Caution Flags: 10 for 34 laps; Laps: 52-55 (Stage 1 Conclusion [33]); 70-73 (Debris Backstretch [6]); 75-78 (#24, 16, 21 Incident Backstretch [2]); 102-104 (Stage 2 Conclusion [38]); 106-109 (#19, 4, 54 Incident Turn 3 [15]); 111-114 (#84, 22, 77, 12, 3 Incident Turn 1 [15]); 126-129 (#19 Incident Turn 3 [51]); 159-161 (#8, 11 Incident Turn 3 [17]); 163-165 (#11, 42, 14, 48, 31 Incident Turn 1 [Red Flag 00:17:08] [17]); 167-167 (#41 Stopped On Track [None]).
Lead Changes: 18 among 13 drivers; T. Reddick 1-36; M. McDowell 37; C. Bell 38-39; B. Keselowski 40; D. Hamlin 41-51; T. Reddick 52-55; J. Nemechek 56-69; K. Busch 70-72; T. Gilliland 73; K. Busch 74-75; B. Wallace 76-101; D. Hamlin 102-111; J. Nemechek 112-113; R. Chastain 114-121; K. Larson 122; C. Elliott 123; N. Gragson 124-126; B. Keselowski 127-160; K. Larson 161-167.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: August 11, 2024 - Richmond Raceway
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