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

INDIANPOLY – Kyle Larson made a late charge through the field, managed to restart his car after a red flag and won the final two restart battles on Sunday before taking his first Brickyard 400 win under caution.

Larson took the lead when Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel and was forced to pull off the track just before the second-to-last restart. He beat pole winner Tyler Reddick at the end, but the yellow flag was waved.

“Today was definitely meant to be for us, the way the strategy worked and everything fell into place,” Larson said. “Thankfully, it did. I just can’t believe it. It’s just surreal to win here.”

Larson won in his first race at the speedway since attempting to become the fifth driver to race 1,100 miles on the same day in May, at Indy and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Larson won for the fourth time this season and took the lead in the standings from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

The 31-year-old Californian rallied from 12th place over the final 32 laps as many drivers tried to conserve fuel during the first Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s historic 2.5-mile oval since 2020. The last three races have been held on the track’s 14-turn street course.

Larson has won three of NASCAR’s major races, missing only the Daytona 500. And his return to Indy was every bit as exciting as it was in May.

When Keselowski went off the track just before the green flag with three cars remaining, he gave up the inside lane to Larson, who took advantage of a good attempt to pass the car of Ryan Blaney, who was in second place. This happened just before a five-car pileup occurred, which started when Daniel Hemric and John Henry Nemechek collided.

The crash brought out the red flag and Larson needed an assist to get his No. 5 Chevrolet back on track, but once he did, he was back on the inside track and beat Blaney again on the restart and held on for the win.

“It’s heartbreaking. We did everything right today,” said Blaney, who was upset that Larson essentially went from third to the line Keselowski had chosen to restart. “He was in a great position to win and it just didn’t work out for us.”

Denny Hamlin won the first stage, his first ever in Indianapolis, and Bubba Wallace won the second stage, giving him 10 points in his bid to make the playoffs. It was Wallace’s first stage win since 2022.

Blaney finished third, Elliott was fourth and Todd Gilliland was fifth.

QUICK SWITCH

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.

HOME AGAIN

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.

NEXT ONE

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.

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