Larson at peace with second-place finish at Indianapolis

Kyle Larson was on the opposite side of good fortune at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and tried to do the best he could with what he had in attempting to win back-to-back Brickyard 400s, but there was no overcoming Bubba Wallace.

Wallace had control of the race on two overtime restarts, including choosing the preferred lane. Wallace held serve on both as Larson hung on to the outside of the front row for as long as he could.

“It was going to be hard to beat him,” Larson said. “I think that’s about as good a job you can do from the front row outside, that second-to-last restart. It’s just really hard to pass here, especially on restarts when he has the preferred lane – a lot like me last year.

“We’ll take our second and go on to next week, and hopefully we can keep another good run going.”

On the second-to-last restart, or the first overtime attempt, Larson was able to hang on to Wallace’s outside through Turn 1. On the second and final overtime attempt, Wallace was able to clear Larson through Turn 1, then it was a matter of getting to the checkered flag, which occurred with no issue.

“He was in first gear on both (restarts),” Larson said. “The first one, he was just a little bit faster pace in the restart zone, so I stayed in second gear, and he got a launch, and I was able to barely hang onto his right rear quarter and drag him back, pull my momentum to halfway past him. I was just hoping maybe he could have a moment.

“The second one, he brought the pace down so slow that I had to be in first gear as well, and launched with him, so I had no momentum. I had as good of momentum as you could have in the first restart and still couldn’t clear him. It was going to be hard no matter what. That’s just Indy; it’s a difficult place to pass, but it’s also kind of fun. The team comes into play, the strategy, pit crew, and all that matters.”

Larson won the Brickyard 400 in 2024 by taking advantage of a late-race fuel gamble for Brad Keselowski that came up short. Keselowski was leading when he had to dash to pit road before the second-to-last restart, which moved Larson, who was third, to the front row. The preferred lane played to Larson’s favor as he cleared Ryan Blaney, and then did so again on the final restart to go on to win.

Sunday, Larson started 13th on the field and credited his Hendrick Motorsports team with maximizing the day with what they had. He felt they played their strategy well and executed on green flag pit stops, but on the last green flag cycle, which began around lap 117, the field went in multiple directions on fuel runs and tires.

Larson pitted on lap 122 with Denny Hamlin and Carson Hocevar. The trio had been running inside the top 10 at the time. Larson, however, was not anticipating drivers who took two tires were going to blend out in front of him as they did.

Joey Logano, Wallace and Tyler Reddick were the three drivers in the best position as the cycle ran through. Logano was taken out of contention by a flat right rear tire. Wallace then inherited the lead when the pit cycle completed. Larson, who had climbed to second, was over four seconds behind Wallace when the caution came out with six laps to go for rain and put the field back together for what would be two overtime restarts.

Wallace then not only bested Larson on the restarts but also made his fuel mileage work.

“I’m in the car; I don’t really know their strategy and then our team is trying to piece it together the best they can,” Larson said. “It’s all just a guesstimation – even them. They’re probably guestimating as well. I was praying he would run out of fuel, but I also didn’t want to run out of fuel myself.

“It is what it is. I’ll take it. I won with some good fortune last year … so to finish second today, it’s OK.”