Kyle Larson had to wait a few months to win at Indianapolis.
Larson won Sunday’s Brickyard 400 under caution after driving ahead of Ryan Blaney on the race’s final restart. Larson took the white flag before NASCAR finally called a caution for Ryan Preece’s stopped car on the backstretch.
Preece spun off Turn 2 on the penultimate lap and hit the inside wall, but NASCAR waited for over 30 seconds to throw the caution as Preece couldn’t get going. By waiting until Larson took the white flag to throw the caution, the race was over per NASCAR rules. Had the caution come out before Larson started his final lap, another restart would have been necessary.
The race was extended seven laps past its 160-lap scheduled distance because of two late cautions. Kyle Busch crashed while racing Denny Hamlin for a spot in the top five with less than three scheduled laps to go and then a big wreck on the ensuing restart took out five cars including Hamlin after he had to pit for gas.
Those two late crashes forced a red flag and the end of the race to be aired on USA instead of NBC because of President Joe Biden’s decision to not run for re-election.
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