Kyle Larson races to his first Brickyard 400 win, sprinting through the field at the last minute

The 31-year-old Californian overcame an early, unscheduled pit stop to charge from 12th to the lead over the final 32 laps. He won lead battles on the final two restarts and narrowly avoided a third overtime to win his first Brickyard 400 under reserve.

“Today was definitely meant to be for us, the way the strategy worked and everything fell into place,” Larson said after jumping on the roof of his car and climbing through the fence to thank the cheering fans. “I just can’t believe it. It’s just surreal to win here.”

Perhaps it will help Larson forget how miserable he was over Memorial Day weekend when rain in Indianapolis and Charlotte, North Carolina, wiped out his chance to complete the full 1,100 miles of the two races. He didn’t even get a lap in the Coca-Cola 600 after rushing to fly in.

However, on Sunday he recovered with some brilliant tactical racing and, yes, a bit of luck.

Larson was running third in the paint scheme he was supposed to have for the 600 when race leader Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel and went off the track just before the next-to-last restart. That put Larson in position to move onto the shorter inside lane next to the second-place car of Ryan Blaney, and Larson easily passed Blaney — just before a five-car collision brought out a red flag and a second overtime.

This time, Larson needed help to get his No. 5 Chevrolet going again, but he again beat Blaney on the inside and reached the finish line before another caution flag was waved.

“I don’t know what drove him today other than he wanted to win the Brickyard 400,” said Jeff Gordon, who won the Brickyard 400 five times before rejoining the Hendricks team as a driver. “You could tell he was driving with a purpose.”

Pole winner Tyler Reddick finished second, while Blaney dropped to third.

Larson has now won three of NASCAR’s four crown jewel races, except for the Daytona 500. This time was the first Cup race at the historic 2.5-mile Indy race since 2020. The last three races covered 200 miles of the track’s 14-turn street course.

His fourth win of the season also moved him into the lead of the Cup standings ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott with four races remaining before the playoffs begin.

However, the exciting ending did not come by chance.

Keselowski gambled that he could complete the final 59 laps without having to pit for fuel — and he did, in fact. What he didn’t count on was that the race would last another seven laps. And Blaney had spent several laps trying to fend off the hard-charging Larson, even blocking his low line once, to stay ahead.

“It’s heartbreaking. We did everything right today,” said Blaney, who finished third after the fateful turn. “He was in a great position to win, but it just didn’t work out for us.”

But since most drivers drive in fuel-saving mode, Larson just kept pushing hard — which made team owner and pace car driver Rick Hendrick nervous.

“He came through the field like a rocket,” Hendrick said. “It was tough to pass, but he made it look a little easier. When I got worried when he got to second or third, I started worrying about fuel. They said we had enough for one overtime, but we were holding our breath. But he put on a show. That’s Kyle Larson.”

And now, even though Hendrick didn’t give his permission on Sunday, Larson told the crowd he wants to make up for what happened in May by giving it all another try.

“I wish we could have done both,” Larson said. “But I think everything comes full circle and that’s how it’s meant to be.”

Denny Hamlin won the first stage, his first ever at Indianapolis, and Bubba Wallace won the second stage, giving him 10 points in his bid for the playoffs. It was Wallace’s first stage win since 2022 and he finished fifth. Elliott finished fourth.

The race was supposed to be broadcast on NBC, but viewers tuning in to the network saw something different: breaking news about President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race.

NBC decided to briefly switch its coverage to USA Network, which was also covering some of the weekend’s festivities, and then went back to Cup coverage at the start of the race. The race also ended on USA Network after the red flag was dropped, again for breaking news.

Before the race, speedway owner Roger Penske and PPG announced that they have extended and expanded their partnership for both the Cup and IndyCar Series.

PPG remains the title sponsor of the Brickyard 400, the paint and finish supplier to the speedway and the sponsor of all six Team Penske drivers: Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden and Will Power on the IndyCar side and Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano on the Cup side.

The collaboration between PPG and Penske began in 1984.

NASCAR is taking the next two weeks off for the Olympics. The first of the final six races will be held on August 11 in Richmond, with a new tire compound.

AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing