Kyle Larson had to wait a few months to win at Indianapolis.
Larson won Sunday’s Brickyard 400 under caution after passing Ryan Blaney on the race’s final restart. Larson took the white flag before NASCAR eventually called a caution for Ryan Preece’s stalled car down the stretch.
Preece spun out of Turn 2 on the penultimate lap and hit the inside wall, but NASCAR waited more than 30 seconds to throw out the caution, as Preece could not continue forward. By waiting until Larson took the white flag to throw out the caution, the race was ended under NASCAR rules. If the caution had come out before Larson started his final lap, another race restart would have been necessary.
Instead, it was a caution that showed how much leeway NASCAR race control gives itself when it comes to spins and crashes. Race officials have repeatedly shown how quickly they can hit the caution button when a car brushes the wall or does a half-spin in the middle of a race. And on Sunday, they showed how deliberate they can be when a caution may not be the ideal outcome.
The race was extended seven laps beyond its scheduled 160-lap distance due to two late cautions. Kyle Busch crashed while racing Denny Hamlin for a top-five spot with less than three laps to go and then a huge crash on the subsequent restart eliminated five cars, including Hamlin, after he had to pit for fuel.
Those two late crashes forced a red flag to be raised and the race finale broadcast on USA instead of NBC due to President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for re-election.
Larson had the faster car for the final 20% of the race and also had the advantage of not having to conserve fuel. Larson worked his way to the front after pitting during a caution on Lap 124 when Martin Truex Jr. crashed. He had been as high as third at the time of Busch’s crash and was looking to Brad Keselowski and Blaney for the lead.
Keselowski was trying to get the most out of his fuel and did not pit after Busch’s crash, while drivers like Hamlin and others pitted knowing they were about to burn through fuel as the race stretched beyond its scheduled distance. Keselowski ran out of fuel as the field came to the green flag on the penultimate restart and Larson was able to move to the front row with Blaney.
The race was suspended for more than 15 minutes after a five-car collision.
When the race resumed, Larson had plenty of fuel and passed Blaney into Turn 1. Tyler Reddick moved into second place and had a slim chance of catching Larson on the final lap if the race had continued under green.
Larson became the first NASCAR driver since Kurt Busch in 2014 to attempt to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day in May. But a speeding penalty at the Indy 500 robbed him of any chance of a strong finish at Indy, and thunderstorms delayed his chance to compete in both races.
Rain delayed the Indianapolis 500 and forced Justin Allgaier to start the 600 in place of Larson. Larson arrived in Charlotte when rain halted the 600. Larson never competed in the Cup Series event.
Despite not running in the 600, Larson has been granted a playoff exemption by NASCAR and will be in the postseason race. In fact, he’s poised to be the top seed in the playoffs with four races remaining in the regular season. As things stand after 22 races, Larson would enter the postseason with 28 playoff points, four more than Christopher Bell and seven more than Hamlin.
The playoff outlook with 4 races remaining
There have been 12 winners through the first 22 races of the season. Larson leads the Cup Series with four victories, while Bell, Hamlin and William Byron each have three. Blaney has two and seven other drivers (Reddic, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Keselowski, Alex Bowman and Daniel Suarez) each have one win.
If there are no new winners, there will be four spots available in the 16-driver points playoff field. Right now, Martin Truex Jr. is the best among those drivers in his final season in the Cup Series. Truex currently holds a 108-point lead over Bubba Wallace in 17th place.
Also ahead of Wallace are Ty Gibbs (+42), Chris Buescher (+17) and Ross Chastain (+7), while Chase Briscoe is 76 points behind Wallace. Right now, there is a four-driver race for the final three playoff spots.
The playoff race won’t resume for a couple of weeks. Thanks to the Olympics, NASCAR will take a two-week break. The next race will be at Richmond on Sunday, August 11.
Race results
1. Kyle Larson
2. Tyler Reddick
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Christopher Bell
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Todd Gilliland
7. Austin Cindric
8. Daniel Suarez
9. Noah Gragson
10. Chase Elliott
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. Carson Hocevar
13. Austin Dillon
14. Corey La Joie
15. Ross Chastain
16. Michael McDowell
17. Zane Smith
18. Cody Ware
19. Ty Dillon
20. Justin Haley
21. Brad Keselowski
22. Chris Buescher
23. Ty Gibbs
24. Chasing Briscoe
25. Kyle Busch
26. Ryan Preece
27. Martin Truex Jr.
28. Erik Jones
29. John Hunter Nemechek
30. Daniel Henric
31. Alex Bowman
32. Denny Hamlin
33. Jimmie Johnson
34. Joey Logano
35. Josh Berry
36. Harrison Burton
37. AJ Allmendinger
38. William Byron
39. BJ McLeod