It’s quite profound that Kyle Larson, who made a widely publicized attempt at running the Indianapolis 500 in May, is the NASCAR Cup Series driver fortunate enough to be celebrating a victory in the return of the Brickyard 400.
With the victory, Larson was not only successful in bringing Hendrick Motorsports to Victory Lane at Indianapolis but also NTT IndyCar Series team McLaren, who he carried on board the No. 5 Chevrolet with a splash of the team’s signature papaya color.
“It’s for sure up there. This is just such a prestigious place, such hallowed ground. Pretty neat to get an opportunity to race here on the oval again,” said Kyle Larson. “What a job by our team. I mean, never gave up at all. We had the pit stop issue there early on. Just fought and dug and had things work out.”
Larson was able to snooker the lead away from Ryan Blaney on the second-to-last restart of the event, when front-row sitter Brad Keselowski followed the pace car to pit lane, allowing the No. 5 to move forward a row.
Then, in the mere seconds between the green was displayed and a multi-car accident at the end of the frontstretch brought out another yellow, NASCAR determined Larson was out in front.
From there, it was time to defend for Larson, who held off Blaney and Tyler Reddick in a second NASCAR Overtime attempt to cross the yard of bricks with the crown jewel victory.
It’s the 27th NASCAR Cup Series win for Kyle Larson, who has now triumphed in three of the series’ four crown jewel events — the Coca-Cola 600, Southern 500, and Brickyard 400 — with just the Daytona 500 left to conquer.
After being quickest in practice, winning the pole, and leading a race-high 40 laps, Tyler Reddick brought his No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE home in the runner-up position.
Ryan Blaney faded back to third place on the final restart of the event, while Toyota teammates Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth.
Todd Gilliland was able to save enough gas to finish sixth place for Front Row Motorsports, with Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson, and Chase Elliott completing the top-10.
RESULTS: 2024 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Indianapolis featured 10 cautions for 34 laps, many of which had a major impact on the way the strategy was played as the laps were winding down.
With track position at a premium, restarts were dicey, which twice resulted in wrecks before the field even made it through the first corner, the first one with 50 to go involving Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, and others.
The second one also happened to set up the final restart of the race, when John Hunter Nemechek, Alex Bowman, Daniel Hemric, and others got slammed into the inside and outside walls after contact heading into Turn 1.
Leaving Indianapolis and heading into the two-week Olympic break, Kyle Larson takes over the regular-season championship lead, gapping teammate Chase Elliott by 10 points. Tyler Reddick maintains third, with Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five.
Next for the NASCAR Cup Series, after two weeks off, is a trip to Richmond Raceway, which will take place on Sunday, August 10.
