By David Morgan, Associate Editor
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Kyle Larson has gotten his redemption at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Two months removed from his debut in the Indianapolis 500, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, sporting the same paint scheme that he was scheduled to run that weekend in Charlotte, charged through the field late, putting himself in position to capitalize when the race went into overtime.
As the laps were winding down, it was shaping up to be a battle among those saving fuel (Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney) and those that could make it to the end without having to worry about it (Larson).
After restarting 23rd on Lap 130, Larson charged his way through the field, climbing to third place with Keselowski and Blaney in his sights – it seemingly only being a matter of when, not if he would be able to surpass them with three laps remaining in regulation.
But in NASCAR, things aren’t so cut and dry as a crash between Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch would bring out the caution and send the race into overtime.
Coming to the green on the first overtime restart, Keselowski peeled off onto pit road, his fuel tank empty, elevating Larson to the inside of the front row beside Blaney.
However, the field wouldn’t even make it through the first turn as a massive crash broke out behind them, bringing out the red flag and setting up for a second overtime restart.
Some 17 minutes and eight seconds after sitting on the frontstretch while repairs were made to the inside wall at the end of the frontstretch, the field re-fired and re-racked them to go again.
Larson was able to get the jump on Blaney when the green flag flew, with Tyler Reddick taking advantage as well to move into second place, moving Blaney back to third as the field stormed off Turn 2 and down the backstretch.
It looked as if we might be headed for a third overtime when Ryan Preece spun and couldn’t get going, but NASCAR waited just long enough to determine that Preece was indeed stranded on the backstretch, throwing the yellow after Larson had crossed the finish line to take the white flag, freezing the field and cementing Larson’s win.
“It’s for sure up there,” Larson said of his win. “Like you mentioned, it’s just such a prestigious place and such hallowed ground. Pretty neat to just get a chance to race here on the oval again. What a job by our team. Never gave up at all. We had the pit stop issue there…
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