Larson Wins 2024 Brickyard 400

By Jeff Thornton 

It took double overtime and a late caution, but Kyle Larson used a lot of skill and a little luck to win the 2024 Brickyard 400. Larson also raced this year in May at the Indianapolis 500. During the May race, Larson started fifth, led 4 laps and then finished 18th. The start was delayed by rain which cost Larson the chance to compete later in the NASCAR race in Charlotte. “I am just glad today my team and I were able to kiss the bricks after the victory,” said Larson.  

The first Brickyard 400 was run in 1994 and several of the Racecar drivers that competed in the first event came back to participate in prerace ceremonies. The winner of the first event was Jeff Gordon. Gordon is now part of Hendrick Motorsports, which oversees Kyle Larson’s team, so he was a part of the celebration in this year’s victory lane. It was also the first time that the Brickyard race was run on the oval track since 2020.  The last three years the race was run on the road course. 

The pole winner for this year’s race was Tyler Reddick. Reddick did a good job and led the first 30 plus laps before he had to pit for gas. Denny Hamlin made his stop earlier on the 24th lap and was able to take advantage of the other driver’s later pit stops to win the first stage of the race. There were zero caution flags in the first stage of racing. This would change in the second stage. The first big accident of the day came on lap 74 when Harrison Burton, AJ Allmendinger and William Byron collided knocking all three drivers out of the race. After the mess was cleaned up and green flag racing resumed Bubba Wallace was able to win the second stage of the race. This was Wallace’s first stage win since 2022. After the restart from the second stage started Josh Berry wrecked his car and the neatly painted hood of superstar WNBA player, Caitlin Clark became an accordion. Another incident occurred when Martin Truex Jr bumped Kyle Larson and then hit the wall. Larson did not incur any damage, but Truex needed repairs and would come out to create another caution later in the race. Joey Logano and past champion Jimmie Johnson collided on lap 110 to bring out another caution. Both Logano and Johnson were eliminated from the race. 

On lap 103 Brad Keselowski made his pit stop.  With the cautions and saving fuel Keselowski was in the lead on lap 158 just two before the end of the race. Kyle Busch was running 6th at the time spun to bring out the caution flag sending the race into the first overtime. Keselowski was the race leader at the time of Busch’s caution. He lined up to restart on the green flag but followed the pace car into the pits because he was out of gas. 

This allowed Kyle Larson to move into his spot and take the lead away from Ryan Blaney who was running second at the time. Before the cars could clear the second turn a huge accident four more cars brought out a red flag stopping the race. On the restart Larson knocked doors with Blaney. Larson kept the lead and took the white flag, but a car had stopped moving on the backstretch (Ryan Preece). This brought out the caution flag and since the white flag had been flown the race was over, giving Larson the victory. Larson, after his last pitstop on lap 130 was in 23rd position.  “Drivers were conserving gas, and we were able to get around about 10 pretty quickly. We were running third when the caution came out on 158. Things came together for us at the end,” said Larson. Tyler Reddick finished second, passing Blaney. Blaney was third, Christopher Bell was fourth and Bubba Wallace had a strong finish and finished fifth. The win was the fourth of the year for Larson and it also allowed him to take over the series points lead.  

 The Xfinity Penzoil 250 presented by Advance Auto Parts was also exciting on Saturday. Riley Herbst passed Aric Almirola on the last lap to win the race. Cole Custer, the pole winner, passed Almirola to finish second. It was an exciting weekend with good racing and perfect temperatures and sunshine!