The first 26 races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season generated its fair share of ups and downs for Kyle Larson. But he enters the 2024 Cup Playoffs as a prime candidate to reclaim the coveted prize within the sport he once achieved three seasons ago and nearly reclaimed a year ago.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, commenced his fourth consecutive season driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Hendrick Motorsports by finishing 11th and 32nd, respectively, within the first two scheduled events. Then during the following weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson notched his first victory of the 2024 season after leading a race-high 181 of 267 laps while fending off a late challenge from Tyler Reddick.
Since the Vegas victory, Larson proceeded to record five top-five results over his next ninth starts. During his ninth start within the span, he edged Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds at Kansas Speedway during an overtime shootout to etch the closest-recorded finish in the Cup Series history books.
Larson would then hit a snag for the remainder of May that started when he finished 34th at Darlington Raceway due to being involved in a late single-car incident. Over the next two weekends, he proceeded to pull double-duty roles. While preparing for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren and also navigating through the upcoming Cup Series North Carolina events at North Wilkesboro Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Despite having time to travel and navigate between qualifying for the Indy 500 and competing in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, the Californian was left with a 50/50 option to compete in either the Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren or the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte due to Mother Nature stalling his travel plans for both. Ultimately, Larson would opt to start in the Indy 500, where he finished 18th. He then traveled back to Charlotte, to climb back aboard his No. 5 Chevrolet that was being piloted by veteran Justin Allgaier.
By then, however, Mother Nature interfered once again by placing the event in an extensive rain delay period before being made official. As a result, Allgaier, who started the Coke 600, was credited with a 13th-place result while Larson was unable to turn in a single lap of the event.
Larson rallied two weeks later by notching a late victory at Sonoma Raceway, his home track, in early June. By then, he was granted a waiver from NASCAR to be eligible to make the 2024 Playoffs despite missing the Coke 600. Then after finishing no higher than four during his next five events, Larson triumphed at Indianapolis by leading through two overtime attempts and achieving his first Brickyard 400 victory.
With four regular-season victories under his belt, Larson would come within striking distance of toppling Tyler Reddick for the regular-season title as he notched two additional top-10 results during the remaining four regular-season events. Despite leading a race-high 263 of 367 laps and finishing fourth during the regular-season finale at Darlington, Larson would fall short of winning his second regular-season title by a single point to Reddick.
Nonetheless, Larson will commence the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs in first place in the Playoff standings with 2,040 points. In a season where he has recorded an average-finishing result of 13.6, led 1,088 laps and recorded 13 top-10 results to go along with his current four victories, Larson strives to navigate his way through each venue and each round methodically while keeping his car both intact and competitive that would enable him to make his third Championship 4 round and join an elite class of competitors to win multiple championships in NASCAR’s premier series.
“Hopefully, I can make it through each [Playoff] round as well as the car,” Larson said after the regular-season finale at Darlington. “Just proud of my team. Proud of the pit crew today and proud of the race car. You work hard all year long to get stage wins, get race wins to position yourself well in the Playoffs, to not necessarily allow yourself a mistake, but I think I saw where we’re 35 points above the cutline right now, so that’s nice, especially when you go to a track as scary as Atlanta, but they could be wiped out in an instant. I could be below the cutline after Atlanta. That’s just kind of the craziness of this system, so just keep doing what we’ve been doing. Our car’s been really fast and our team’s been executing great, so just keep it up and hopefully, we can advance on through.”
Kyle Larson’s pursuit for his second NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2024 commences at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400 and the start of the 2024 Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
After early season injuries plagued any comeback hopes of making the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs a year ago, both Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports thrusted themselves back into the postseason battle for a championship in 2024 following a decent regular-season stretch highlighted with both achieving a single, respective victory and snapping a one-year winless drought.
For Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, fired off on all eight cylinders by finishing no lower than the top-20 mark through the first eight-scheduled events. During the stretch, he logged in back-to-back top-five results, where he finished fifth at Richmond Raceway before settling in third place at Martinsville Speedway after leading 64 laps.
Then at Texas Motor Speedway in April, Elliott survived two overtime attempts to notch his first Cup victory of the 2024 season and snap a 42-race winless drought since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in late 2022. The victory also automatically guaranteed himself and his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team a spot back into the Playoffs.
Following the Texas victory, Elliott would endure a roller coaster adventure for the remaining 17 events of the 2024 regular-season stretch. With four top-five results and eight top-10 results recorded during the stretch, the Georgian remained in contention for the regular-season title. Ultimately, he would cap off the regular season in third place in the standings.
Overall, Elliott’s 2024 regular-season points and Texas victory were enough for him to be slated in seventh place with 2,014 points come the start of this year’s Playoff battle, which will mark his eighth appearance in the postseason battle for a title.
Despite expressing his excitement over his return to the Playoffs, however, Elliott, a three-time Championship 4 qualifier, emphasized the goal for both himself and his team to set aside any potential on-track mistakes while remaining focused towards being competitive and in contention to win the title like in 2020.
“[I am] Excited to have [Darlington Raceway] over with and looking forward to getting the Playoff started,” Elliott said following this past weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington. “These next 10 [races], they’re intense, so we’re gonna have to, myself and our entire NAPA team, we’re gonna hit the reset button in a big way. Go to Atlanta and try to get things rolling in the right direction and see where we end up.”
Like Elliott, Alex Bowman was also left with mixed feelings over his regular-season stretch despite rallying from being plagued by injuires and a concussion that ended his title hopes early and forced him to sit out for select events during the previous two seasons.
The 31-year-old Bowman from Tucson, Arizona, commenced his fourth season driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports by finishing in second place in the 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway after being edged by teammate William Byron at the moment of caution on the final lap.
Bowman would proceed to finish in the top eight three times over his next eight starts before he notched five consecutive top-nine finishes at the conclusion of May. The following five events on the schedule throughout June saw Bowman finishing no higher than eighth, but finishing outside the top 25 twice.
Then during the series’ rain-shortened, second annual event at the Chicago Street Course, Bowman executed a late pit strategy to return to Victory Lane in the Cup Series for the first time in 80 starts as he leapt into the Playoff picture. Bowman’s victory at Chicago marked a pivotal moment for Hendrick Motorsports, with the Arizona native enabling all four Hendrick competitors into the Playoffs as he also delivered the first victory for sophomore crew chief Blake Harris.
Following the Chicago victory, Bowman would steer his way to finish third at Pocono Raceway before capping off the regular-season stretch by finishing no higher than 16th on the track.
As the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs approaches, Bowman will commence his first title pursuit in 12th place in the Playoff standings with 2,005 points. Having made the Playoffs a total of five times, including this season, Bowman has yet to make an appearance in the Championship 4 round as a finalist, with his closest opportunity occurring in 2020 after he was eliminated from the Playoffs following the Round of 8’s finale.
As Bowman shared teammate Elliott’s excitement over his Cup Series Playoff return and the opportunity to race for a title, he also shared identical sentiments towards addressing the regular-season struggles and improving the on-track performance for more consistency that would enable him to transfer through each round of the Playoffs.
Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“We got to get our stuff together,” Bowman added. “It’s been a rough month. Excited for the Ally No. 48 team to be back in the Playoffs, but at the same time, we have a long way to go after how we performed for the last month. We got to be on our A game for all [the Playoff races], so just got to go execute.”
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and battle for a championship for teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott are set to commence at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
The upcoming FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway is set to mark crew chief Alan Gustafson’s 24th NASCAR Cup Series event atop the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 pit box of the 2024 season. It will also mark a significant milestone achievement for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning crew chief. By participating in this weekend’s Cup event at Michigan, Gustafson will call his 700th career race as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Ormond Beach, Florida, Gustafson was working on go-karts piloted by Casey Yunick, grandson of legendary car mechanic and designer Smokey Yunick, at eight years old. As a mechanic, he worked his way up to late models, legend cars and the Sports Cars Club of America region. After graduating from Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, Gustafson was pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University when he decided to relocate to Charlotte, North Carolina, and pursue a career in motorsports racing.
In 1996, Gustafson joined Gary Moore’s Goody’s Dash Series team as a crew chief for Jimmy Foster. A year later, he became a crew chief for Addington Racing’s NASCAR Truck Series before making the jump to the Xfinity Series to work as an engineer for Diamond Ridge Motorsports. Another two years later, Gustafson, who was working for Jimmy Foster, was recruited by former NASCAR championship-winning crew chief Gary DeHart to work in Hendrick Motorsports’ chassis department. By 2000, he was working as a full-time shock specialist for HMS’ No. 5 Chevrolet team piloted by two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte before being named lead engineer for the No. 5 team another two years later.
Entering the 2005 Cup season, Gustafson was named crew chief for the No. 5 Chevrolet team set to be piloted by Kyle Busch, who entered the season as a 2005 Cup rookie candidate. Throughout the 36-race schedule, Gustafson achieved his first two NASCAR victories as a crew chief, the first at Auto Club Speedway in September and the second at Phoenix Raceway in November with Busch. The duo went on to achieve a pole, nine top-five results and 13 top-10 results, with Busch claiming the 2005 Rookie-of-the-Year title despite finishing 20th in the final standings.
Over the next two seasons, Gustafson remained as crew chief for Busch and the No. 5 team in the Cup circuit, where Busch achieved one victory apiece, made the Playoffs during both seasons and achieved a fifth-place result in the final standings in 2007. By then, Gustafson surpassed 100 Cup starts as a crew chief.
In 2008, Gustafson remained as crew chief for HMS’ No. 5 Chevrolet team piloted by Casey Mears, the reigning Coca-Cola 600 winner, who replaced Busch as Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing for the upcoming season. Throughout the 36-race schedule, Gustafson and Mears only achieved one top-five result and six top-10 results before finishing in 20th place in the final standings.
The 2009 Cup season was a competitive season for Gustafson, who was paired with veteran driver Mark Martin as Martin returned to full-time Cup competition for the first time since 2005 and as the successor of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. It took the first eight scheduled races of the 2009 season for Gustafson to return to Victory Lane in the Cup circuit after Martin achieved a dominant win at Phoenix in April, which snapped Martin’s 97-race winless drought and a 74-race winless drought for Gustafson. The momentum continued for the driver, crew chief and the No. 5 team as they won at Darlington Raceway in May, Michigan International Speedway in June and Chicagoland Speedway in July. Martin and Gustafson then achieved a fifth victory of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, which commenced the 2009 Cup Playoffs. They ended up as the championship runner-up to teammates Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus by 141 points. Nonetheless, they earned a total of five victories, seven poles, 14 top-five results and 21 top-10 results throughout the 36-race schedule.
Compared to the 2009 season, however, Martin and Gustafson were unable to pursue another shot at a championship in 2010 as they missed the Playoffs, went winless and only achieved a pole, seven top-five results and 11 top-10 results before finishing in 13th place in the final standings. By then, Gustafson surpassed 200 Cup starts as a crew chief.
For the 2011 season, Gustafson, who remained at HMS, transitioned from the No. 5 team to the No. 24 team as he was paired with four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Following a 28th-place run in the Daytona 500, Gustafson notched his first victory with Gordon at Phoenix in February, where Gordon rallied from an early wreck to dominate and fend off Kyle Busch to snap a 66-race winless drought. Gordon and Gustafson went on to achieve victories at Pocono Raceway in June and at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September along with a pole, 13 top-five results, 18 top-10 results and a spot in the 2011 Cup Playoffs before finishing in eighth place in the final standings.
From 2012 to 2013, Gordon, Gustafson and the No. 24 team achieved a total of three victories, four poles, 19 top-five results and 35 top-10 results, with a best points result of sixth place in 2013. Then in 2014, the duo recorded four victories throughout the 36-race schedule, including the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, which marked Gustafson’s first crown-jewel victory in NASCAR. Having earned three poles, 14 top-five results and 23 top-10 results along with the victories, Gordon and Gustafson were poised to contend for the title until a late run-in and brawl with Brad Keselowski ended their hopes for a championship prior to the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, thus relegating them back to sixth place in the final standings. By then, Gustafson surpassed 300 starts in the Cup Series.
In 2015, which marked Gordon’s 23rd and final full-time season as a NASCAR competitor, Gordon and Gustafson commenced the season by winning the pole position for the 57th running of the Daytona 500. They then rallied from a bumpy regular-season stretch to make the Playoffs and earn a spot in the Championship Round at Homestead following a sentimental victory at Martinsville Speedway in November, with Gordon earning one final opportunity to win his fifth title. During the finale, however, Gordon settled in sixth place on the track and third place in the final standings. Along with the Martinsville victory, Gordon and Gustafson achieved four poles, five top-five results and 21 top-10 results.
Following Gordon’s retirement, Gustafson remained as crew chief for HMS’ No. 24 Chevrolet team piloted by Chase Elliott, the 2014 Xfinity Series champion and the successor of the No. 24 entry. In their first run together, Elliott secured the pole position for the upcoming Daytona 500, thus becoming the youngest competitor to win the pole for the 500. Elliott, however, finished 37th after being involved in an early accident. Despite the slow start, Elliott and Gustafson managed to record two poles, 10 top-five results and 17 top-10 results. While they qualified for the 2016 Cup Playoffs, the duo were eliminated from title contention following the Round of 12 and went on to finish in 10th place in the final standings. By the end of the season, Elliott captured the 2016 Cup Rookie of the Year title. In addition, Gustafson surpassed 400 Cup starts as a crew chief.
In 2017, Gustafson commenced the season by making history as he became the first crew chief since Ernie Elliott to achieve three consecutive Daytona 500 poles, with Chase Elliott zooming to his second consecutive 500 pole. After winning the first of two Can-Am Duel events at Daytona, Elliott and Gustafson were in striking position of winning the 500 until Elliott fell back to 14th after running out of fuel with two laps remaining. Despite several opportunities presented for Elliott, Gustafson and the No. 24 team to win, they endured a second winless season. Nonetheless, they earned 12 top-five results, 21 top-10 results and a Playoff spot before being eliminated from title contention prior to the finale and ending up in fifth place in the final standings. During the season, Gustafson was suspended for the Cup Playoff event at New Hampshire in September stemming from an L1-level post-race penalty report during the previous event at Chicagoland Speedway.
Gustafson remained as crew chief for HMS and Elliott in 2018, with Elliott piloting the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the new season. During the season, Gustafson was suspended for two races (Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway in April) stemming from an illegal rear window penalty report at Texas Motor Speedway the previous week. Nonetheless, Gustafson returned to Victory Lane in the Cup Series in nearly three seasons after Elliott achieved his first elusive Cup victory at Watkins Glen International in August. Earning a one-way ticket to the Playoffs, Elliott and Gustafson won at Dover International Speedway and at Kansas Speedway in October before finishing in sixth place in the final standings. By then, Gustafson surpassed 500 Cup career starts as a crew chief.
After a winless start through the first nine events of the 2019 season, Elliott and Gustafson achieved their first victory of the year at Talladega Superspeedway in April. They went on to win at Watkins Glen in August and at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in September before making the Playoffs and settling in 10th place in the final standings.
The 2020 Cup season was a season to remember for Gustafson, who commenced the season with two victories with Elliott throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch amid the COVID-19 pandemic. During the Playoffs, Elliott went on to win at the Charlotte Roval in October and at Martinsville Speedway in November, which earned Elliott, Gustafson and the No. 9 Chevrolet team a spot in the Championship Round finale at Phoenix Raceway. During the finale, Elliott rallied from starting at the rear of the field to lead a race-high 153 of 312 and capture the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship along with the finale victory. The championship was a first for Gustafson in his 16th season as a crew chief along with the first for Elliott and the 13th overall for Hendrick Motorsports.
Commencing the 2021 season as the reigning champions, Gustafson and Elliott recorded their first elusive victory of the season during the series’ inaugural, rain-shortened event at Circuit of the Americas in May. They went on to win at Road America in July and record 15 top-10 results during the 26-race regular-season stretch amid Gustafson being suspended for Watkins Glen in August due to the No. 9 entry failing pre-race inspection twice before qualifying for the 2021 Cup Playoffs. With four top-10 results during nine Playoff events, Gustafson and Elliott were able to transfer all the way from the Round of 16 to the Championship 4 and receive an opportunity to defend their series title. During the finale at Phoenix, however, Elliott finished fifth on the track and ended up in fourth place in the final standings. By then, Gustafson had surpassed 600 events as a Cup crew chief.
In 2022, Gustafson and Elliott achieved their first victory of the season at Dover in May. They went on to win at Nashville Superspeedway in June, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway in July before securing their seventh consecutive berth to the Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, the duo rallied from a rough start in the Rounds of 16 and 12 by winning at Talladega in October and transferring to the Round of 8. They were also able to accumulate enough points to transfer to the Championship 4 round for a third consecutive season. Their aim for a second Cup title, however, came to an end when Elliott was involved in a late-race incident with title rival Ross Chastain and ended 28th on the track. This, in turn, kept him in fourth place in the final standings for a second consecutive season.
The 2023 season was a difficult season for both Gustafson and Elliott that started with the duo finishing 38th in the 65th running of the Daytona 500 after being involved in a multi-car wreck in the closing laps of the second stage. Despite rallying during the following weekend at Auto Club Speedway by finishing second to Kyle Busch, Elliott was then absent for the following Cup event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after injuring his leg while snowboarding in Colorado. With Elliott absent, JR Motorsports’ Xfinity Series competitor Josh Berry and sportscar racer Jordan Taylor piloted the No. 9 HMS entry over the next six races. Then in March, all four Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs, including Gustafson, were issued a four-race suspension and a combined $400,000 fine as a result of NASCAR confiscating and noting issues to the hood louvers on all four HMS entries during the Phoenix weekend. The organization was also docked 100 owner points and 10 Playoff points between the four entries, but following an appeal process during the final week of March, the points were reinstated while the fines and suspensions remained intact. With Gustafson serving his four-race suspension, lead engineer Tom Gray filled in as an interim crew chief for the No. 9 HMS entry.
After returning atop the No. 9 pit box along with Elliott at Martinsville in April, Gustafson navigated the No. 9 team to nine top-10 results for the final 18 regular-season events. The results, however, were not enough for Elliott, who was suspended from racing at World Wide Technology Raceway due to intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin during the previous event at Charlotte during the 18-race stretch, to garner enough points to make the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, which marked the first time the duo did not make the postseason bid for the title since being paired together. With five recorded top-10 results throughout the 10-race Playoff stretch, Gustafson and Elliott concluded the 2023 season in 17th place in the final standings.
Striving for redemption, Gustafson and Elliott commenced the 2024 campaign with three top-10 results and six top-15 results through eight scheduled events. Then at Texas in April, the duo snapped a one-year winless drought and returned to Victory Lane after Elliott survived two overtime shootouts to claim the victory under caution and guarantee himself and the No. 9 team a spot into the Playoffs. Since the Texas victory, the No. 9 team recorded eight top-10 results over a 14-race span and they currently sit in third place in this year’s regular-season standings while trailing the points lead by six points.
Through 699 previous Cup events, Gustafson has achieved one championship, 39 victories, 34 poles, 201 top-five results and 349 top-10 results while working with seven different competitors.
Alan Gustafson is scheduled to call his 700th Cup Series event as a crew chief this upcoming Sunday, August 18, at Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Two months after having a Memorial Day Double Duty attempt spoiled due to Mother Nature despite campaigning in his first Indianapolis 500 attempt, Kyle Larson earned his redemption at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning his first Brickyard 400 title on Sunday, July 21, amid two overtime attempts.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led twice for eight of 167 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fifth place and endured a race-long afternoon featuring various pit strategies from start to finish as he was shuffled from the front to the middle of the pack and vice versa.
Running in third place as he tracked Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney for the win in the closing laps while also trying to conserve his fuel tank to the finish, an opportunity presented itself for Larson, who rallied from an early slow pit service, to strike after a late on-track incident involving Kyle Busch sent the event into overtime. Then after Keselowski ran out of fuel before the first overtime attempt, Larson, who moved up and started alongside Blaney on the front row, managed to snatch the lead from Blaney before a multi-car wreck sent the event into a second overtime attempt. Then during the latest overtime attempt, Larson fended Blaney and held off a late charge from pole-sitter Tyler Reddick for one lap just before Ryan Preece wrecked on the backstretch, generating a race-ending caution on the final lap. From there, Larson had enough fuel in his low tank to claim the checkered flag and add the Brickyard 400 to his extensive racing list of accomplished victories in the event’s historic return.
With on-track qualifying on Saturday, July 20, to determine the starting lineup, Tyler Reddick notched his second Cup pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 181.932 mph in 49.469 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Denny Hamlin, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 181.492 mph in 49.589 seconds.
Before the event, Austin Cindric dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs made to his No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse after scraping the outside wall during his qualifying run. Martin Truex Jr. was also sent to the rear of the field before the event’s start due to an inspection violation from an unapproved adjustment that occurred on Saturday. To go along with starting at the rear of the field, Truex was assessed a drive-through penalty through pit road at the event’s start.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin dueled for the lead through the first two turns and ahead of a tight two-by-two formation from within the field before Reddick muscled his No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry XSE ahead entering the backstretch. With the field behind jostling for early spots for two remaining turns, Reddick proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Hamlin while Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell and William Byron followed suit in the top six.
As Martin Truex Jr. served his pass-through penalty through pit road prior to the second lap, Reddick retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin while Elliott, Larson, McDowell and Byron followed suit in the top six. With nearly the entire field running in a single-line formation through every turn and straightaway, Reddick remained in front by seven-tenths of a second over Hamlin.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Reddick stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Hamlin, Larson and McDowell while Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek were racing in the top 10. Behind, Austin Dillon trailed in 11th place ahead of Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Harrison Burton while Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Noah Gragson were mired in the top 20 ahead of Chase Briscoe, rookie Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland and rookie Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson occupied 26th place ahead of rookie Josh Berry, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and Erik Jones while Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Daniel Hemric were mired in the top 35. In the process, Truex trailed in 39th place, dead last, by 41 seconds.
Ten laps later, Reddick continued to lead by half a second over Elliott as he also led an eight-car breakaway that included Hamlin, Larson, McDowell, Blaney, Byron and Gibbs, with the latter trailing the lead by more than five seconds. Meanwhile, ninth-place Stenhouse led a second wave of competitors comprising of nine competitors, including Nemechek, Austin Dillon, Logano, Bowman, Wallace, Burton, Bell and LaJoie, all of whom were separated by four seconds of one another, with Stenhouse trailing the lead by 14 points, while 18th-place runner Buescher led a third wave of competitors comprising of nearly the rest of the field as Buescher trailed by lead by 21 seconds. In the process, AJ Allmendinger dropped to 38th place and was pinned a lap down due to pitting a few laps earlier under green to address his ill-handling No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. In addition, Truex was mired in 37th place and trailing the lead by more than 40 seconds.
Anther three laps later, pit strategies commenced as Hamlin surrendered third place to pit his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE under green. The following lap, teammates Elliott, Larson, Byron and Bowman pitted their respective Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets. In the process, Hamlin managed to cycle his way past all four Hendrick drivers as they were exiting pit road while Reddick extended his advantage to more than a second over Blaney by the Lap 25 mark.
Blaney would then pit his No. 12 Menards Toyota Camry XSE from the runner-up spot as Stenhouse, Burton, Buescher and Truex all pitted their respective entries. Soon after, Elliott was penalized for a blend line violation, where Elliott attempted to cross the blend line and enter the track early in Turn 2, which was a violation and forced Elliott to pilot his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through pit road at pit road speed. Amid Elliott’s penalty, Reddick continued to lead by more than a second over McDowell while Gibbs, Nemechek and Austin Dillon were scored in the top five.
By Lap 35, Reddick stabilized his advantage to over McDowell as Gibbs, Nemechek, Logano, Wallace, Bell, Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe followed suit in the top 10. By then, more names including Zane Smith, Ryan Preece, Berry, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Jimmie Johnson, Hocevar, Daniel Hemric and Ross Chastain all pitted under green. More names including Gragson, Ty Gibbs and Cindric pitted during the proceeding laps before Reddick surrendered the lead to pit under green on Lap 37. McDowell, who inherited the lead in the process, pitted his No. 34 Horizon Ford Mustang Dark Horse the following lap as more names including Nemechek, Wallace, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Logano and Suarez all pitted. Amid the pit stops, Austin Cindric was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Nearing the Lap 40 mark, Christopher Bell, who inherited the lead, pitted under green along with LaJoie as Brad Keselowski assumed the lead. Then once Keselowski pitted under green by Lap 41, Hamlin, who managed to overtake Reddick as a result of pitting earlier and gaining the lost ground on the track when Reddick pitted latter, cycled into the lead as Larson, Blaney, Byron and Reddick were scored in the top five.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Hamlin fended off a late charge from Larson to capture his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson settled in second place ahead of Blaney, Byron and Reddick while McDowell, Bowman, Gibbs, Stenhouse and Gragson were scored in the top 10. By then, 33 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap while select notables including Ty Dillon and Cindric were scored a lap down. Meanwhile, both Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing competitors including Keselowski and Buescher were also off the lead lap category due to late issues. Keselowski was mired in 36th place after he was assessed a late blend line violation penalty. Meanwhile, Buescher was in 38th place after pitting under green with smoke coming from his No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track. Following the pit stops, where mixed strategies ensued, Gibbs and Wallace exited pit road first and second following two tire services. Hamlin followed suit on four fresh tires along with Larson, Burton, Byron, Bowman, Bell, Stenhouse and Blaney. Soon after, Ross Chastain and Erik Jones pitted to top off their respective entries on fuel.
The second stage period started on Lap 55 as Reddick and McDowell occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick briefly muscled ahead of McDowell through the first turn until Nemechek, who restarted behind Reddick, made his move beneath Reddick and assumed the lead entering Turn 2 and the backstretch. With Nemechek leading the race, the rest of the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes and dueled in close-quarters racing for a full lap. A majority of competitors racing in the mid-pack region continued to fan out and duel against one another for positions before all settled in a long single-file line by Lap 57.
Amid the early battles, Nemechek retained the lead and he would proceed to lead at the Lap 60 mark by a second-and-a-half while Reddick, Kyle Busch, LaJoie, McDowell and Wallace occupied the top-six spots on the track. With Logano, Hamlin, Byron and Larson rounding out the top 10, Blaney was mired in 11th ahead of Gibbs, Gilliland, Hocevar and Bell while Elliott was back in 18th place behind Jimmie Johnson. In addition, Truex was up to 22nd place as he was racing behind Bowman and Gragson.
By Lap 65, Nemechek continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Reddick while Kyle Busch, LaJoie and McDowell continued to run in the top five ahead of Wallace, Logano, Hamlin, Byron and Larson.
Two laps later, the caution flew due to a tire carcass that came off of the left rear of Cody Ware’s No. 15 Peoria TT Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the backstretch. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Nemechek pitted while the rest led by Busch and Wallace remained on the track. Not long after, Larson pitted for a second time to ensure the right-rear tire of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was tightened. McDowell and Haley had also pitted with Larson.
With the race restarting on Lap 73, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Busch, who was running tight on fuel, rocketed ahead of Wallace and Gilliland with the lead through the first two turns. Entering the backstretch, however, the caution quickly returned when Preece, who was in 18th place, made contact with both Burton and Byron, where Preece got squeezed in between both, as Byron, who had made earlier contact with Chase Briscoe entering the backstretch, veered right into the outside wall before he came back across the middle of the track and got T-boned by Allmendinger as Byron spun his No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and hit the inside wall head-on while Allmendinger also made contact with the wall. The incident was enough to knock Burton, Allmendinger and Byron out of contention while Preece continued.
During the caution period, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Wallace and Gilliland remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 78 featured a side-by-side duel between Wallace and Elliott through the first two turns as both continued to drag-race against one another through the backstretch. Wallace would then manage to muscle his No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Elliott through Turn 3 while Hamlin went three-wide on Logano and Gilliland to boost his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE into third place. With LaJoie missing his lane and going wide while losing a handful of spots in the process, Wallace would proceed to lead the halfway mark on Lap 80 as Elliott, Hamlin, Gilliland, Nemechek, Logano, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Bell were scored in the top 10 while LaJoie fell back to 11th place in front of Briscoe and Truex.
At the Lap 85 mark, Wallace stretched his advantage to more than a second over Elliott while third-place Elliott only trailed Elliott by six-tenths of a second. A lap later, Gilliland surrendered fourth place to pit his No. 38 gener8tor Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, but he lost a lap in the process due to a slow pit service as Wallace continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott at the Lap 90 mark. With Hamlin occupying third place, Team Penske’s Logano and Blaney were scored in the top five as Nemechek, Reddick, Stenhouse, Truex and Bell were running in the top 10.
With three laps remaining in the second stage period, Logano surrendered a top-five spot to pit his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse under green, where he would then manage to regain speed and remain on the lead lap ahead of the leader Wallace, who continued to lead Elliott on the track.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 100, Wallace captured his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Elliott followed suit in second ahead of Hamlin, Blaney and Nemechek while Reddick, Stenhouse, Truex, Bell and Briscoe were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 39 starters, including Logano, were scored on the lead lap.
During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Wallace pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track. Not long after, Reddick pitted for a second time to address a loose left front wheel.
With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed ahead with the lead while Stenhouse quickly overtook Nemechek to take the runner-up spot. As the field behind jostled for spots through the backstretch, the caution then flew when Truex, who was mixed in a tight three-wide battle with Larson and Chastain for sixth place exiting the backstretch, made contact with Larson, which got Truex loose as he slid his No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE sideways and slapped the outside wall in Turn 3. In the process, Josh Berry got hit by Ty Gibbs and he ended up sliding and hitting the outside wall, which damaged the front nose of the No. 4 Panini/Caitlin Clark Ford Mustang Dark Horse and took Berry out of contention while Truex continued.
During the caution period, some including LaJoie, Reddick, Erik Jones, Wallace, Gilliland, Preece and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Hamlin remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period with 51 laps remaining did not last a single corner as Hocevar, who was running in the middle of the pack, made contact with Blaney, which generated a domino effect as Blaney then got turned into Austin Dillon and made contact with Jimmie Johnson, who made contact with Logano in the process as both Johnson and Logano wrecked hard against the Turn 1 outside wall while Blaney, Dillon and Hocevar continued. At the moment of caution, Hamlin had retained the lead while Nemechek, Briscoe, Stenhouse and Chastain were scored in the top five.
During the caution period, some led by Hamlin, who was on the edge of a fuel window, pitted while the rest led by Nemechek and Chastain remained on the track. By the time his pit service was complete, where he spent a little extra time in his pit stall to top off on fuel, Hamlin was the sixth competitor to exit pit road and dropped to 19th place in the running order.
As the race restarted under green with 46 laps remaining, Chastain gained a strong launch from the outside lane to boost his No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the lead over Nemechek through Turn 1. With Chastain leading through Turn 2 and the backstretch, Nemechek followed suit in second ahead of Alex Bowman, who boosted his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into third place ahead of teammates Larson and Elliott while Gragson, Hocevar, Reddick, Keselowski and Justin Haley were mixed into the top 10. By the following lap, Hamlin moved up to 15th place as Suarez executed a bold three-wide move over both Briscoe and Stenhouse for 22nd place during the next lap.
With 40 laps remaining and a majority of the field monitoring their fuel tank and strategy for the finish, Chastain was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek followed by Bowman, Larson and Elliott while Gragson, Hocevar, Reddick, Keselowski and Haley occupied the top 10 on the track ahead of Blaney, Daniel Hemric, Gibbs, Zane Smith and Hamlin. Meanwhile, Bell, Gilliland, McDowell, Wallace and Preece were in the top 20 ahead of Kyle Busch, Suarez, Cindric, Briscoe and Stenhouse while Austin Dillon, LaJoie, Ty Dillon, Cody Ware and Erik Jones were mired in the top 30.
Two laps later, Nemechek and Bowman pitted their respective entries from second and third, respectively. Both of their pit stops occurred a lap after McDowell had pitted as the leader Chastain along with Haley pitted during the next lap. As a result, Larson assumed the lead ahead of teammate Elliott and Gragson before he pitted under green with 37 laps remaining, which handed the lead to Elliott.
Then just as Elliott and Reddick pitted their respective entries under green, the caution returned with 36 laps remaining due to Truex spinning from the bottom to the top of the track entering Turn 3, where he hit the wall and flat-spotted his left-rear tire. By then, Gragson was leading ahead of Hocevar, Keselowski, Blaney and Hemric. During the caution period, Gibbs pitted his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE while pit road was closed due to an engine concern, and the hood was lifted as his pit crew diagnosed the issue before Gibbs, who was still dealing with the issue, proceeded. During the caution period, Gragson and Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and Blaney remained on the track.
With the event restarting with 31 laps remaining, Keselowski and Hemric led the field to the green flag as both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Keselowski drifted up and cleared Hemric to lead in his No. 6 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Blaney moved up to second and Hemric battled Zane Smith for third place while the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions through two and three lanes deep. As a series of battles continued to occur around every turn and straightaway, Keselowski retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Blaney with approximately 30 laps remaining as Smith, Hemric and Hamlin trailed in the top five.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Keselowski continued to lead by half a second over Blaney while Smith, Hemric and Hamlin continued to follow suit in the top five. Behind, Bell, Gilliland, Kyle Busch, Cindric and Wallace occupied the top 10 as Preece, Larson, Suarez, Reddick and Stenhouse trailed in the top 15 ahead of Briscoe, LaJoie, Elliott, Austin Dillon and Chastain.
Five laps later and with the entire field running in a single-file line, Keselowski stabilized his lead to four-tenths of a second over Blaney as Smith, Hemric, Hamlin, Bell, Gilliland, Busch, Cindric and Larson followed suit in the top 10, with Reddick, Wallace, Preece, Suarez and Briscoe scored in the top 15.
Another two laps later, a heated battle between Larson and Busch ignited as both swapped spots before Busch overtook Larson to assume seventh place. With Gilliland being dispatched by both, Busch was trying to close in on Bell for sixth place and Reddick trailed Larson in ninth place while Keselowski continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Blaney, Smith, Hemric and Hamlin. Larson would then overtake Busch again on the track for seventh place with 16 laps remaining before he overtook Bell for sixth place with 15 laps remaining as he proceeded to set his sights on Hamlin.
Then with 13 laps remaining, Larson gained a huge advantage to overtake Hamlin for fifth place through the first two turns. Hamlin would then fend off Busch for sixth place while Larson continued his march to the front as he had Keselowski, Blaney, Smith and Hemric in front of him. Larson overtook Smith for fourth place while Hamlin was being blocked by Smith, as Blaney was trying to gain a run to overtake Keselowski for the lead with 10 laps remaining. By then, the top-four competitors including Keselowski, Blaney, Hemric and Larson were separated by eight-tenths of a second as Larson was trying to gain a run on Hemric for third place while Blaney could not gain a run on Keselowski for the lead.
With nine laps remaining, Larson overtook Hemric for third place just past the backstretch. With Hemric then pitting under green, Larson started to gain a run on Blaney for the runner-up spot while Keselowski continued to lead during the next lap.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Keselowski continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Blaney as Larson followed suit by less than half a second, with the latter two continuing to intimidate one another and the leader Keselowski questioning whether he had enough fuel to finish. Meanwhile, Hamlin was mired in fifth place behind Smith while Reddick was in seventh place behind Kyle Busch.
Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew and the race was sent into overtime when Kyle Busch, who was trying to gain a run on Hamlin for fifth place exiting the backstretch, went up the track and made contact with Hamlin as Busch spun his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up towards the outside wall and made contact with the wall. During the caution period, some led by Zane Smith and including Hamlin, Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Haley, Cody Ware and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Keselowski and including Blaney and Larson remained on the track.
The start of the first overtime attempt featured Larson and Blaney occupying the front row as Keselowski peeled off the racetrack as he ran out of fuel. At the start, Larson and Blaney dueled for the lead in front of the stacked field into Turn 1 just before the caution returned for a vicious multi-car wreck just past the frontstretch when Hemric bumped and sent Nemechek into the inside wall, where both came back across the track and collected Bowman, Briscoe and Hamlin while the rest of the competitors running in the mid-pack region scattered to avoid the carnage. Amid the carnage, Larson had assumed the lead from Blaney, who was left fuming on the radio and the advantage Larson gained to start on the preferred inside lane after Keselowski ran out of fuel, just as the race was placed into a red flag period for 17 minutes.
Once the track was cleared and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, none of the front-runners led by Larson and Blaney pitted while a select few, including Haley and Briscoe, pitted.
The start of the second overtime attempt featured Larson and Blaney occupying the front row, where Larson dueled and muscled ahead of Blaney to retain the lead through the first two turns as Reddick bolted his way past Blaney for the runner-up spot. As Larson led the field through the backstretch, trouble ignited as Preece got bumped by Chase Elliott and spun towards the inside wall just entering the backstretch. Amid Preece’s incident, the race remained under green flag conditions as Larson proceeded to lead through the next two turns.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney trailed by nine-tenths of a second. Then two corners later, the caution flew and the race ended as Preece was unable to limp his No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang Dark Horse away from his wreckage. With the caution ending the race, Larson was able to coast his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 around the Indianapolis circuit for a final time with enough fuel in his tank before he made his way back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag for his first victory at the Brickyard and fourth of the 2024 Cup Series season.
With the victory, Larson achieved his 27th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his first since winning at Sonoma Raceway in June and his third crown-jewel victory overall, including the Coca-Cola 60 and the Southern 500, as he became the first four-time race winner of the 2024 season. The victory was the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the ninth of the season for Hendrick Motorsports (HMS, with HMS notching its 11th career win at Indianapolis as Larson became the 16th competitor overall to win the Brickyard 400, while crew chief Cliff Daniels achieved his 20th career victory as a Cup Series crew chief.
“[The Brickyard 400 win]’s for sure up there [on my list of accomplishments],” Larson said on the frontstretch on NBC. “This is just such a prestigious place and such hallowed ground. Pretty neat just to get an opportunity to race here on the oval again. What a job by our [No. 5] team. [They] Never gave up at all. We had the pit stop issue there early on and just fought and dug and had things work out. I love you, Indiana fans. I know you guys love me, too. How about we come back next May and try to kiss these bricks on the IndyCar? I’d love to do [the double again]. We’ll work on it, so I hope we can announce something soon and see you all next May.”
The 2024 Brickyard 400 victory also served both as a redemptive and proud moment for Larson, who was unable to complete a Memorial Day Double Duty attempt between the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May due to on-track precipitation that caused him to miss the latter event while he ended up finishing in 18th place during the Indy 500 while driving for Arrow McLaren’s NTT IndyCar Series team. Ironically, Larson’s race-winning No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sported the exact blue, white and papaya orange scheme he attempted to compete with at the Coca-Cola 600, but Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier ended up competing in when Larson opted to race the Indy 500 before traveling to Charlotte for the 600-mile event.
Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“[The Brickyard 400 victory] does [make up the month of May], I guess a little bit,” Larson added. “I wished we could’ve gotten to do both [races] and run the [Coca-Cola] 600 because we had a phenomenal papaya orange car for that race, too, but I think everything just comes full circle and everything’s meant to be. Today definitely felt meant to be for us, with the way strategy was working out, Brad [Keselowski] running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row, all that. A lot had to fall into place and thankfully, it did. I just can’t believe it. It’s just surreal to win here and can’t wait to kiss these bricks with my team, [owner] Rick Hendrick, whose here finally, my family, my friends, everybody. My parents are here, so we’ll be celebrating these next couple weeks.”
As Larson celebrated on the frontstretch and kissed the yard of bricks with his team, Ryan Blaney, who ended up in third place behind Tyler Reddick, was left displeased over having a first Brickyard 400 victory slip from his grasp through two overtime attempts.
“[Losing]’s no fun,” Blaney said. “We had a really good shot to win today. Gosh, our car was fast. I thought we put ourselves in a great spot. I knew [Keselowski] was probably gonna run out if [the race] went green. We came down to the [first overtime] restart and I couldn’t believe [Keselowski] stayed out. I knew there was no way they were gonna make it, so I obviously chose the top [lane] because [Keselowski] might run out in the restart zone and he runs out coming to the green, so he gets to go to pit road and [Larson] gets promoted [to the inside lane front row]. Luck of the day right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t even know what to be mad about. I’m mad at losing this race because I thought we were in a perfect position. It stinks to lose’em that way, but appreciate the effort. I hate we don’t get to celebrate with Mr. [Roger] Penske and everyone at [Team] Penske here. That stings a lot…[I’m] Not going to sleep very good tonight, I can tell you that. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Meanwhile, Reddick was pleased with his runner-up result that marks his third top-three result in a span of four races in 2024 and keeps him in the hunt for the regular-season championship, though he was also left a little disappointed over falling short of having a perfect weekend at the Brickyard after winning the pole and being the fastest during Friday’s practice session.
“It was a great recovery for us,” Reddick said. “Obviously, a lot of cars and a lot of things had to happen for us to get second. Honestly, it was a good day, but obviously the return to the Brickyard, it’s tough coming up short one spot, but once we got off Turn 2 there, I knew I was pretty much it and [Larson] was gonna have to make a mistake. Glad we got a good recovery. Another solid points day. In a big picture, it was a great day for our team.”
Christopher Bell came home in fourth place while Bubba Wallace, who won the second stage, recorded a strong fifth-place result as he is currently only seven points below the top-16 cutline in his efforts to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.
Todd Gilliland, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson and Chase Elliott completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 18 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 24 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 22nd event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 15 over Tyler Reddick, 43 over Denny Hamlin and 73 over Ryan Blaney.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, eight laps led
2. Tyler Reddick, 40 laps led
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Christopher Bell, two laps led
5. Bubba Wallace, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Todd Gilliland, one lap led
7. Austin Cindric
8. Daniel Suarez
9. Noah Gragson, three laps led
10. Chase Elliott, one lap led
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. Carson Hocevar
13. Austin Dillon
14. Corey LaJoie
15. Ross Chastain, eight laps led
16. Michael McDowell, one lap led
17. Zane Smith
18. Cody Ware
19. Ty Dillon
20. Justin Haley
21. Brad Keselowski, 35 laps led
22. Chris Buescher
23. Ty Gibbs
24. Chase Briscoe
25. Kyle Busch, one lap down, five laps led
26. Ryan Preece – OUT, Accident
27. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down
28. Erik Jones, two laps down
29. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
The NASCAR Cup Series’ teams and competitors will be taking the next two weekends off due to the Paris Summer Olympics before returning to action at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled to occur on August 11 and air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.
As the NASCAR Cup Series makes a historic return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval-shaped circuit for the Brickyard 400 after three years of competing on the circuit’s road-course layout, Kyle Busch is set to achieve a milestone start of his own. By competing in this weekend’s Brickyard 400, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Busch made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in March 2004. By then, he had made seven career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series and 10 in the Xfinity Series as he was also contending in the latter series for Hendrick Motorsports. Driving the No. 84 Chevrolet for HMS, Busch started 18th and finished 41st in his Cup debut after retiring early following an early incident. He made five additional Cup starts throughout the 2004 season and achieved a season-best 24th-place run at Auto Club Speedway in September.
The following season, Busch graduated to a full-time Cup role in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, where he replaced two-time series champion Terry Labonte as Labonte retired from full-time competition. After finishing 38th in his first Daytona 500 career start at Daytona International Speedway, Busch notched his first Cup career pole position at Auto Club in February, where he ended up in 23rd place, before he recorded a runner-up finish behind teammate Jimmie Johnson and in front of older brother, Kurt Busch, at Las Vegas in March. Throughout his next 21 starts, Kyle Busch recorded a total of seven top-10 results, including another runner-up result at Dover Motor Speedway in June. Then at Auto Club in September, he capitalized on a two-lap shootout to score his first Cup career win in his 31st series start and become the youngest winner in series’ history at age 20 years, four months and two days. Despite missing the 2005 Cup Playoffs, Busch would notch another runner-up result at Dover in September before capturing his second Cup career victory at Phoenix Raceway in November following a late duel against Greg Biffle. With a 20th-place finish in the final standings to coincide with nine top-five results, 13 top-10 results 362 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.0, Busch captured the 2005 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Busch would remain as the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the following two Cup seasons. During the two-year span, he claimed one victory per season and made the Playoffs during both seasons. In 2006, he won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July amid a two-lap shootout and recorded one pole, 10 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 571 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.5 before settling in 10th place in the final standings. The following season, he fended off a hard-charging Jeff Burton to win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March and record the first victory for the Car of Tomorrow stock car as he also recorded the 200th NASCAR national touring series victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the 600th in the Cup circuit for Chevrolet. Busch would proceed to record 11 top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 637 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1 throughout the 2007 campaign before boosting to fifth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
In June 2007, Busch was announced of his departure from Hendrick Motorsports at season’s conclusion, where he would be replaced by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Two months later, he announced his move to Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 18 Toyota Camry for the 2008 Cup season. Throughout the 26 regular-season stretch, Busch’s move to JGR made both the driver and team a lethal combination for the competition that commenced with top-four finishes through the first three-scheduled events. Then at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, the Las Vegas native led a race-high 173 laps en route to his first Cup victory of the season and first driving for JGR as he also recorded the first Cup Series win for the Toyota nameplate. Five races later, Busch rallied from losing a lap and nearly getting collected in an incident with Jamie McMurray to assume the lead with five laps remaining and retain the top spot prior to a multi-car wreck on the final lap to claim his second victory of the season at Talladega Superspeedway in May. Busch’s early hot streak extended throughout the regular-season stretch as he claimed victories at Darlington Raceway in May Dover Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway in June, Daytona, Chicagoland Speedway in July and at Watkins Glen International in August. To go along with a total of 17 top-10 results, Busch secured his spot into the 2008 Cup Playoffs as he also earned the top seed in his bid to win his first title. Throughout the Playoffs, however, Busch’s title hopes evaporated as he commenced the Playoffs with a 34th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September after plummeting from first place and being involved an early multi-car wreck followed by a last-place finish during the following event at Dover after his engine expired. Despite recording four top-10 results during the final eight events on the schedule, he could only climb his way up to 10th place in the final standings. Amid his early exit in the championship bid, Busch achieved a career-high eight victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 1,673 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.5 in his first season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Poised for another title bid in 2009, Busch commenced the season by finishing in 41st place in the 51st running of the Daytona 500 after being involved in a late multi-car wreck despite leading a race-high 88 laps. He would rally by finishing third at Auto Club before notching his first victory of the season at Las Vegas in an event where he rallied from starting at the rear of the field. Two races later, he won at Bristol for the second time in his career after leading a race-high 378 laps before collecting his third victory of the season at Richmond Raceway five races later in May, the latter victory making Busch the second competitor to win on a birthday date.
Busch would then endure a difficult summer stretch as he would only record three top-10 finishes in 13 events, results that eventually dropped him below the top-12 cutline to make the 2009 Playoffs. Despite claiming his fourth victory of the season at Bristol in August following a late battle with Mark Martin, Busch would end up 13th and fifth, respectively, during the final two regular-season events of the season, which resulted in him missing the Playoffs by eight points.
He would proceed to finish in the top 10 four times during the final 10 events on the schedule before settling in 13th place in the final standings. By then, Busch only earned half the total victories accumulated from the previous season (four) along with eight less top-five (nine) and top-10 (13) results as he capped off the season with an average-finishing result of 15.3 and 1,157 total laps led.
Busch would return to the Playoffs in 2010 as he claimed three victories throughout the regular-season stretch, starting at Richmond in May followed by Dover two races later and then at Bristol in August as part of his historic NASCAR top three national touring series sweep. Amid the three races where he was victorious, he racked up a total of 13 top-10 results. With four top-10 results recorded throughout the 2010 Cup Playoffs, Busch ended up in eighth place in the final standings as he also surpassed 200 Cup career starts. The following season, he would rack up four victories throughout the regular-season stretch (Bristol in March, Richmond in May, Kentucky Speedway in July and at Michigan International Speedway in August) along with 16 top-10 results. Then after recording only two top-10 results throughout the first seven Playoff events, including a strong runner-up result at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October, Busch was suspended from competing in the Cup Playoff event at Texas Motor Speedway in November following his actions during the Truck Series event at Texas two days earlier, where he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution at full speed. Returning for the final two events on the schedule, where he finished 36th and 23rd, respectively, Busch ended up in 12th place in the final standings. With seven victories recorded throughout the two-year span, which accumulated his wins total to 23, he also achieved three poles, 24 top-five results, 36 top-10 results, 2,726 laps led and average-finishing results within the top 15.
The 2012 Cup Series season initially commenced with a hot start for Busch as he rallied from two near spins to edge reigning three-time champion Tony Stewart by 0.013 seconds to win the non-points Budweiser Shootout at Daytona in February. After recording three top-10 results during the first eight events on the schedule, Busch claimed his first points victory of the season at Richmond after muscling away from the field during a nine-lap shootout. Despite finishing in the top four during his next three starts, he would then finish in the top 10 only three additional times during the following 13 events as he was left battling within the cutline to make the Playoffs. Despite notching back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Bristol and Atlanta between August and September that kept him within the cutline, Busch ended up in 16th place during the regular-season finale at Richmond, which left him three points below the cutline and out of the Playoffs for the first time since 2009. With his championship hopes of the season evaporated, Busch concluded the 2012 campaign on a strong note by finishing in the top seven in eight of the remaining 10 events before settling in 13th place in the final standings.
In the early stages of the 2013 Cup Series season, Busch finished in the top five twice during the first four-scheduled events before capitalizing on a last-lap skirmish involving teammate Denny Hamlin and ex-teammate Joey Logano to claim his first victory at Auto Club in March and deliver the first Auto Club Speedway win for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Two races later, Busch achieved his second victory of the season at Texas in April, which marked his 300th Cup career start as he joined Ned Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Kasey Kahne as competitors to win on the milestone start. Despite recording eight top-10 results during his next 14 starts, Busch would record his third victory of the season at Watkins Glen in August following a late duel against Brad Keselowski before winning for the fourth time of the year at Atlanta in September, victories that enabled him to clinch his spot into the Playoffs. With a total of five top-five results and seven top-10 results recorded throughout the Playoffs, Busch settled in fourth place in the final standings. By then, he recorded three additional top fives (16) and two additional top 10s (22) compared to his previous season. Despite leading 209 less laps (1,227) compared to the previous season, Busch boosted his final average-finishing result from 13.3 to 12.7.
Like the 2013 season, Busch emerged victorious for the first time in 2014 at Auto Club, the fifth event on the schedule, amid a two-lap shootout that resulted with the driver of the No. 18 JGR Toyota navigating his way from fifth to first, which kept his winning streak in the Cup Series alive to 10 consecutive years. To go along with a total of nine top-10 results, including three runner-up results, throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he made the Playoffs for a seventh time. Despite transferring from the Playoff’s Round of 16 to 12 amid three consecutive top-10 results followed by two top-five runs during the first two Round of 12 events, Busch’s title hopes came to a crashing end during the Round of 8 finale at Talladega in October after he was involved in a late multi-car wreck and could only salvage his way up to 40th place in the final running order, which prevented him from advancing past the Round of 12. Managing only a single top-five finish during the final four-scheduled events, Busch ended up in 10th place in the final standings for the fourth time of his career and with an average-finishing result of 17.6 amid a total of 15 top-10 results.
The 2015 season was a breakthrough year for Busch that commenced with the driver potentially having his racing career ending following a harrowing accident during the Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona in February that resulted with the driver hitting head-on into a concrete wall and suffering both a massive compound fracture in his right leg and a minor fracture to his left foot. With the injuries causing Busch to miss the first 11 events on the schedule, he made his return at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race in May, where he ended up sixth. Needing at least one victory and enough garnered points to remain above the top-30 cutline in the standings that would guarantee him in Playoff contention as part of his medical waiver by NASCAR, Busch finished no higher than ninth in his first four races back in contention before accomplishing his first feat: a victory that occurred at Sonoma in June, which marked his 30th victory in the Cup Series and extended his winning streak to 11 seasons.
Despite finishing 17th during the next event at Daytona, Busch notched three consecutive victories at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. Managing four top-10 results, including two runner-up results, throughout the final six regular-season events in 2015, Busch was able to climb his way inside the top-30 cutline and make the Playoffs. Utilizing consistency throughout the Playoffs in the form of five top-five results and six top-10 results, he proceeded to transfer from the Round of 16 into the Championship 4 round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. Then during the finale, Busch capitalized on a seven-lap restart to overtake Keselowski and fend off title rival Kevin Harvick to win both the finale and his first Cup Series championship. With the title occurring in his 11th season in competition, Busch became the 31st different competitor to win a championship in NASCAR’s premier series as he also delivered the first Cup title for Toyota and the fourth for Joe Gibbs Racing. In total, he accumulated five victories, one pole, 12 top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 736 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.8 in 25 starts, which made him the first competitor to win a championship despite not competing in every scheduled event since Richard Petty made the last accomplishment in 1971.
Commencing the 2016 Cup season as the reigning champion, Busch recorded four top-five finishes during the first five-scheduled events before notching back-to-back victories at Martinsville Speedway and at Texas in April. Four races later, he notched his third Cup victory of the season at Kansas Speedway in May before winning at Indianapolis for a second consecutive season nine races later. To coincide with 16 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Busch made the Playoffs for a ninth time. Implementing consistency throughout the Playoffs, he finished in the top eight in eight of the first nine Playoff events, which enabled him to transfer from the Round of 16 and back into the Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season. During the finale, however, Busch, who made a late pit stop, could only climb his way up to sixth place on the track, which resulted in him settling in third place in the final standings. Despite falling two spots short of defending his title, Busch concluded the 2016 campaign on a strong note with four victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 25 top-10 results, 1,379 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.5. By then, he also surpassed 400 Cup career starts.
The following two Cup seasons would feature Busch making competitive championship runs as he notched multiple victories and transferred all the way to the Championship 4 round. In 2017, Busch endured the first 20-scheduled events winless before notching his first victory at Pocono Raceway in July. In the midst of the winless streak, he achieved his first All-Star Race win at Charlotte in May, which marked his 12th attempt of winning the event’s million dollar prize. Busch would proceed to win at Bristol in August as part of his second triple series weekend sweep before winning the following Playoff events at New Hampshire, Dover and Martinsville. During the finale, however, Busch ended up in the runner-up spot both on the track and in the final standings to Martin Truex Jr. In 2018, Busch achieved a career-high eight victories, which marked his second time achieving the feat since 2008. His victories included winning three consecutive races at Texas, Bristol and Richmond in April before emerging triumphant for the first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600 in May. He would then bump and overtake Kyle Larson amid a last-lap skirmish to win at Chicagoland in early July before muscling away from teammate Daniel Suarez during a two-lap shootout to win at Pocono in late July.
Once the Playoffs commenced, Busch, who claimed the 2018 Cup Series regular-season title, would win at Richmond during the Round of 16 and at Phoenix during the Round of 8 finale in November, to which by then, he had made the Championship 4 round for a fourth consecutive season. Ultimately, he would end up in fourth place both during the finale at Homestead and in the final points standings in 2018. During the two-year span, Busch notched 13 victories, bringing his wins total to 51. He also recorded a total of 36 top-five results, 50 top-10 results, 12 poles, with 20,285 laps led and average-finishing results within the top 11, with the 2018 season generating career-high stats in top fives (22), top 10s (28) and average-finishing result (8.3) while the 2017 season generated the most poles (eight) and laps led (2,023) in a season.
For the 2019 season, which marked his 12th season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, Busch commenced the season by finishing in the runner-up spot during the 61st running of the Daytona 500 before finishing sixth at Atlanta, which marked his 500th Cup career start. Two races later, he secured his first victory of the season at Phoenix in March and backed it up with a dominant win at Auto Club, where he achieved his 200th NASCAR national touring series victory. As Busch proceeded to win at Bristol in April before winning at Pocono in June, he would accumulate a total of 21 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch before qualifying for his 12th appearance in the Playoffs and winning his second consecutive regular-season title. Then after finishing in the top 10 five times throughout the Playoffs that enabled him to transfer from the Round of 16 into the Championship 4 for a fifth consecutive time, Busch led a race-high 120 laps en route to his second Cup Series championship during the finale at Homestead.
With his accomplishment, Busch became the 16th different competitor to achieve multiple Cup Series titles as he also delivered the fifth championship to Joe Gibbs Racing and the third for Toyota. Overall, Busch capped off his second championship season with five victories, one pole, 17 top-five results, 27 top-10 results, 1,582 laps led and an average-finishing result of 8.9.
Compared to the 2019 season, the 2020 Cup Series season generated a difficult season for Busch both during the regular-season stretch and throughout the Playoffs that prevented him from contending for his third series title. Despite recording 11 top-five results and 13 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch that enabled him to make the 2020 Cup Playoffs, Busch finished no lower than sixth throughout the Round of 16 before transferring into the Round of 12. Then amid respective finishes of sixth, 27th and 30th throughout the Round of 12, he was eliminated from title contention. Busch quickly rallied during the second Round of 8 event by notching his first elusive Cup victory of the season at Texas in October following a late battle against Martin Truex Jr. and having enough fuel to snatch the victory, which extended his winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons. Managing respective finishes of ninth and 11th during the final two events on the schedule, Busch settled in eighth place in the final standings.
In 2021, Busch notched two victories that occurred during the regular-season stretch: the first at Kansas in May as he won on his birthday for a second time and the second at Pocono in July after overtaking teammate Denny Hamlin prior to the final lap while running on fumes with a low gas tank. Amid the victories, he also won the non-points Busch Clash at Daytona in February following a last-lap skirmish involving the reigning champion Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. The pair of victories along with 16 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch allowed Busch to make the Playoffs for a 14th season, which he would record five top-10 runs throughout the Playoffs and transferred past the Rounds of 16 and 12 before coming up three points short of transferring into the Championship 4 round, which resulted with the two-time champion settling in ninth place in the final points standings. By then, Busch had recorded a total of 14 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, 334 laps led, an average-finishing result of 12.8 and surpassed 600 Cup career starts.
For the 2022 season, Busch’s lone victory of the season occurred during the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April, where he capitalized on a final lap incident involving Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to beat Reddick by 0.330 seconds. The victory not only marked Busch’s 60th in NASCAR’s premier series, but it also marked his 18th consecutive season of winning at least one event in a Cup season, a record feat that was also made by Richard Petty. Despite recording a total of 13 top-10 results, including his Bristol Dirt victory, throughout the regular-season stretch that enabled him to make the Playoffs, Busch was eliminated from title contention following respective finishes of 30th, 26th and 34th throughout the Round of 16. Managing four top-10 results throughout the final seven events on the schedule, Busch ended up in 13th place in the final standings in a season where he accumulated a total of 17 top-10 results, 627 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7.
In September 2022, Busch announced his move to Richard Childress Racing to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the 2023 Cup season, where he replaced the departing Tyler Reddick. The move came amid a termination to Busch’s 15-year partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing due to longtime sponsor Mars, Incorporated departing NASCAR following the 2022 season and JGR unable to secure a primary sponsorship for Busch prior to the 2023 season. After ending up in 19th place during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 while being collected in a final lap, multi-car wreck, Busch achieved his first victory of the season and his first driving for RCR at Auto Club in February, which made him the new holder of the longest winning streak in Cup Series history at 19 consecutive seasons. Eight races later, he dodged a final lap, multi-car wreck to notch his second victory of the season at Talladega in April before grabbing his third Cup win at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, where he led a race-high 121 laps. The three regular-season victories along with a total of 14 top-10 results enabled Busch to make his 16th entrance into the Playoffs. Despite transferring into the Round of 12 amid no finishes lower than 20th throughout the Round of 16, Busch was unable to transfer into the Round of 8 amid respective finishes of 34th, 25th and third throughout the Round of 12. Finishing as high as third for the final four events on the schedule, he concluded his first campaign with RCR in 14th place in the final standings. By then, he had also accumulated a total of 17 top-10 results, 241 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.0.
This season, Busch has started on pole position once, which occurred at Dover in late April and has finished in the top 10 six times through 21-scheduled events, with his best result being a third-place run at Atlanta in February. With his current average-finishing result being a 19.4, Busch is currently ranked in 18th place in the 2024 regular-season standings and trails the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Playoffs by 102 points as he also strives to collect his first victory of the 2024 season that would extend his record-setting wins of consecutive seasons to 20.
Through 699 previous Cup starts, Busch has achieved two championships, 63 victories, 34 poles, 248 top-five results, 378 top-10 results, 19,280 laps led and an average finishing result of 14.0. He is set to become the 20th competitor overall to reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. Should he win this weekend’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Busch would become the first competitor to win in a 700th Cup start.
Kyle Busch is scheduled to make his 700th Cup Series career start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 21. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
William Byron capped off a day that started strong by notching a fourth-place run in The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 14.
The 2024 Daytona 500 champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, who featured the bold red and black RAPTOR High Heat scheme on his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the first time since Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, commenced the weekend on a strong note by posting his best qualifying lap at 169.661 mph in 53.047 seconds. The qualifying run was enough for him to start in second place as he shared the front row with fellow Charlotte competitor Ty Gibbs.
When the green flag waved, Byron made an early bid for the lead as he dueled with Gibbs during the opening lap. After being edged by Gibbs to lead the first lap, Byron would settle in second before he would be intimidated by Gibbs’ teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin for more. Byron, who would remain on the track following the event’s first caution period on Lap 14 along with a majority of the front-runners, would proceed to settle in fourth place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 30. Despite restarting outside the top 20 due to pitting during the first stage’s break period, Byron would methodically carve his way back to the front and finish in fourth place for a second time of the day as the second stage period concluded on Lap 95.
Restarting in 15th place as the final stage period commenced with 60 laps remaining, Byron would manage through a total of four caution periods and restarts, including the latest one with 23 laps remaining, to steer the No. 24 Chevrolet to a fourth-place result in the final running order. The result came as Byron prevailed in a late multi-car battle for the fourth spot that included Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.
Byron’s fourth-place finish at Pocono marked his seventh top-five result through 21-scheduled starts of the 2024 season, his first at Pocono since finishing in third place in 2021 and his first since finishing in the runner-up spot at Iowa Speedway four races ago. It also came a day after he finished in third place while driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry during Saturday’s Xfinity Series event. Combined with his fourth-place finish and the stage points he accumulated, Byron swapped spots with Truex in the 2024 regular-season standings as he is ranked in fifth place while trailing points leader and teammate Chase Elliott by 57 points. Byron along with the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team led by crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle are already guaranteed a spot in the 2024 Playoffs based on winning the Daytona 500, Circuit of the Americas and Martinsville Speedway earlier this season between February and April.
The result left the Charlotte native pleased despite being mired with four results of 15th or worse over his previous seven starts but striving to gain more ground before the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs commence in early September.
“This is definitely a really good result,” Byron said on USA Network. “We just kind of executed our way through the race. Not everything went our way, but for the most part, we did a good job with the circumstances and the restarts and everything. Just really proud of the effort. Our team did a great job. The RAPTOR Chevrolet was decent all day. Certainly good to get a fourth place and just, hopefully, work on the things that we need to work on going to Indianapolis, which is somewhat [a] similar track [to Pocono]. Looking forward to that. Just two good weeks, two good finishes in a row, so proud of that.”
With Pocono in the rearview mirror, Byron will attempt to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400 in what will be his eighth Cup start at the famed venue located near Downtown Indianapolis next weekend. Byron’s current best result at Indianapolis is fourth, which occurred in 2019. He achieved his first NASCAR national touring series victory at Indianapolis in July 2017 when he fended off former Brickyard 400 champion Paul Menard to win in what would be his first motorsports start at Indy.
Having won the 2024 Daytona 500 in car No. 24, Byron approaches Indianapolis with a unique goal of keeping the No. 24 victorious at Indianapolis in years that end with the number 4. Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, piloted the No. 24 car to victory during the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 before he would win his fourth in 2004 and his record-setting fifth in 2014.
Should Byron win this year’s Brickyard 400, he would become the first competitor to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season since Jamie McMurray made the last accomplishment in 2010. McMurray along with Cup Series champions Dale Jarrett and Jimmie Johnson are the only competitors to win both crown-jewel events in the same season.
William Byron’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule continues with the return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Alex Bowman capitalized on a gutsy late-race strategic pit call made by crew chief Blake Harris to race his way into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by winning the rain-shortened, second annual running of the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday, July 7.
The 31-year-old Bowman from Tucson, Arizona, led the final eight of 58-shortened laps in an event where he started in eighth place and navigated through the streets of Chicago’s wet conditions to record a total of 14 stage points between two stage periods, including the second and latest stage where he remained on the track on wet tires to settle in second place behind Joey Hand. At the conclusion of the second stage period, the event became a race against the clock to conclude at 8:20 p.m. CT instead of its scheduled distance of 75 laps due to an earlier rain delay period that spanned more than an hour and a half.
For the start of the final stage period with 27 laps remaining, Bowman, who was among several front-runners who elected to continue to race on wet tires instead of dry slicks for the remainder of the event following a strategic call made by crew chief Harris, assumed the lead from Hand with 26 laps remaining. Then amid another late-race caution that gave him more time to lead as the event’s timed clock to conclusion kept expiring, he muscled away from the field during the next restart period with 22 laps remaining and led the next two laps before the event was then shortened to two laps remaining (75 to 58 laps overall) as the clock expired. Despite having Tyler Reddick challenging him over the final two laps, Bowman left little room to error around the Chicago Street Course’s 12 turns and he managed to fend off the competition to snap an 80-race winless drought and lock both himself and his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team into this year’s Playoff field.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, July 6, Kyle Larson notched his fifth Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a 90.168 mph lap in 87.836 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 90.158 mph in 87.846 seconds.
Before the event, several drivers including Brad Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece and Erik Jones dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective entries. William Byron also started at the rear of the field due to a power steering failure. Notably, Josh Bilicki, who started at the rear of the field, was not permitted to qualify and was assessed a drive-through penalty at the start of the event due to his entry failing pre-race inspection three times.
With rain occurring around the course as the field made the pace laps, the teams were given the option to switch from slick to wet weather tires. Select names including Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and rookie Zane Smith pitted for wet tires while the rest led by Larson and Gibbs remained on the track on dry weather tires.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch amid a series of tire spins as Ty Gibbs launched his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE ahead with the early advantage through Turn 1. Gibbs proceeded to lead from Turns 2 to 5 while Tyler Reddick tried to close in from the runner-up spot. With the field then navigating through a long straightaway in South Columbus Drive, Gibbs retained the lead through the next series of turns starting in Turn 6 to East Balbo Drive to South Michigan Drive and the East Congress Plaza Drive through Turns 7 to 11. Through one final right-hand turn to Turn 12, Gibbs led the first lap over Reddick.
Through the second lap, Gibbs slightly stretched his early advantage to more than half a second over Reddick as Kyle Larson, who lost the lead at the start, tried to challenge Reddick for the runner-up spot. Behind, Alex Bowman was trying to fend off Shane van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace for fourth place before van Gisbergen overtook both Bowman and Larson to move his No. 16 Wendy’s Saucy Nuggets Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to third place.
Meanwhile, Truex had carved his way up to 10th place after pitting for wet tires as he tried to close in on Chase Briscoe for more while Christopher Bell and Michael McDowell were in seventh and eighth. With a series of on-course battles ensuing between those who pitted for wet tires versus those who did not, Gibbs retained the lead by a second over Reddick by the fifth lap mark. By then, McDowell, Ryan Preece and Harrison Burton pitted their respective entries for wet tires as rain was being reported within the north end of the circuit.
At the Lap 10 mark, Gibbs, who remained on the course on dry tires, continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging van Gisbergen as Bell, Larson and Briscoe followed suit in the top five. Behind, Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek and Todd Gilliland trailed in the top 10 while Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., AJ Allmendinger, rookie Carson Hocevar, Joey Hand, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala rounded out the top 20 ahead of Chris Buescher, Austin Hill, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Daniel Hemric. By then, select names including LaJoie, Austin Dillon and Truex had pitted.
A lap later, Gibbs, who was stuck behind Preece and Joey Logano as the latter two were struggling on wet tires and trying to remain on the lead lap, was overtaken by van Gisbergen for the lead through the South Michigan Avenue and entering Turn 11. With van Gisbergen leading through the frontstretch and at the Lap 12 mark, Bell would also try to follow suit in his No. 20 Craftsman Toyota Camry XSE, but Gibbs would fend him off as Bell bumped and nearly sent Logano sideways in Turn 1. With Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spinning in Turn 1 while the event remained under green flag conditions, select names including Burton, Logano, Preece, Erik Jones, Cindric and McDowell were lapped as van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to a second over Bell by Lap 14. Bell, however, would assume the lead from van Gisbergen on Lap 15.
A lap later, the event’s first caution period flew due to LaJoie, who was scored in 29th place, spinning and crashing his No. 7 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the wall in Turn 5 as he was dodged by oncoming traffic, including the leader, while faced backward. By then, van Gisbergen had reassumed the lead from Bell as Gibbs, Briscoe and Larson were running in the top five.
With the precipitation slowly increasing around the circuit, the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 20 concluded under caution as van Gisbergen claimed the first Cup stage victory of his career and of the 2024 season. Bell, who swept both stage periods a year ago at the streets of Chicago, settled in second ahead of Gibbs, Briscoe and Larson while Bowman, Wallace, Gilliland, Reddick and Suarez were scored in the top 10. By then, 30 of 40 competitors were scored on the lead lap as William Byron, LaJoie, Ryan Blaney and rookie Josh Berry were pinned a lap down.
During the closing laps of the first stage period, NASCAR announced that the event’s conclusion would occur at 8:20 p.m. CT, even if the event did not reach its scheduled distance of Lap 75, which made the event a race against the clock for the scheduled time. Once the event’s leader crosses the start/finish line at the time when the clock expires, the next lap will be the final lap and the checkered flag will follow suit with no overtime rules occurring.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by van Gisbergen, including those on dry tires, pitted for wet tires while Zane Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, where the field stacked up upon exiting pit road to avoid an on-track safety vehicle, Bell exited first while Gibbs, Larson, van Gisbergen, Bowman, Wallace, Briscoe and Reddick, who ran into the rear of teammate Wallace, followed suit.
The second stage period started on Lap 23 as Smith and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs managed to overtake both to reassume the lead in Turn 1. Shortly after, Wallace, who was battling in the top 10, spun at the exit of Turn 2 after Bowman made contact with Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE, which resulted in Wallace making rear-end contact with the tire barriers and sliding back into the path of both Bowman and Suarez.
As the field continued to navigate through the course, the caution would then return just shy of Lap 25 due to Briscoe sliding sideways amid the slick conditions and slamming into the tire barriers on the driver’s side of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Turn 6 while also clipping van Gisbergen as both were racing in the top six. In the process, van Gisbergen slid and slammed into the outside wall on the right side in Turn 6 and came to a full stop towards the wall. The incident was enough for van Gisbergen to retire from competition as his hopes of winning on the streets of Chicago for a second consecutive season evaporated.
“I just sort of turned in [to Turn 6], it looked pretty good and then just got smashed by [Briscoe],” van Gisbergen said upon being released from the infield care center on NBC. “Gutting. That sucks, but it’s an unfortunate mistake by him. I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but yeah, when he just clipped me, ain’t nothing I could do. It’s a shame to be out so early and shame we couldn’t have a proper crack at [the win] at the end.”
During the caution period, the field led by Gibbs was directed to pit road and the race was placed in a red flag period for one hour and 43 minutes due to the rain as the on-track crews went to work to blow the standing water off of the course.
Once the field led by Gibbs returned to the course under a cautious pace, some including Byron, Erik Jones, Suarez, Logano, LaJoie, Preece and Burton pitted for a fresh set of wet tires. By then, the race had approximately an hour before it would reach its scheduled time of concluding at 8:20 p.m. CT.
When the race restarted on Lap 30, where all competitors restarted in single-line formation, Gibbs retained the lead from teammate Bell through the first turn before navigating his way from Turns 2 to 5. Then through the South Columbus Drive, Bell drew even with teammate Gibbs before he gained the advantage and moved into the lead in Turn 6. With Denny Hamlin locking his tires and running into the rear of Stenhouse as both spun and hit the tire barriers in Turn 6, the race remained under green flag conditions as Bell retained the lead over teammate Gibbs over the next four laps. In the process, Larson began to ignite his challenge on Gibbs for the runner-up spot while Reddick and Gilliland carved their way into the top five over Nemechek, Elliott, Chastain, Allmendinger and Smith.
Then on Lap 33 and with Bell stretching his advantage to more than a second, the caution flew after Larson, who was battling Gibbs for the runner-up spot, locked up his front tires and went dead straight into the tire barriers in Turn 6 as he got his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 stuck underneath the barriers. With the assistance of a wrecker, Larson limped his car that had heavy front nose damage as far as he could around the course, starting from Turn 6, before he parked his car in Turn 8 and retired from further competition.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 36 featured Bell retaining the lead over teammate Gibbs, Reddick and Gilliland through the first two turns. With seventh-place Chastain barely hitting the wall in Turn 4, trouble struck as Josh Berry hit the tire barriers head-on in Turn 4. In the ensuing process, teammate Briscoe spun off the course in the exact same turn, but both continued without drawing a caution. Amid the chaos, Bell slowly stretched his advantage to more than half a second over teammate Gibbs during the ensuing four laps.
Just past the Lap 40 mark, Bell retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Gibbs while third-place Gilliland trailed by four seconds. Behind, Nemechek and Reddick were in the top five as Allmendinger, Joey Hand, Chastain, Bowman and Justin Haley were in the top 10 ahead of Buescher, Grala, Keselowski, Austin Dillon and Elliott.
With three laps remaining in the second stage period and with nearly half an hour of racing left on the clock, select names including Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Elliott, Austin Hill, McDowell, Blaney, Byron, Zane Smith, Cindric, Suarez and Wallace pitted their respective entries for slick tires. Teammates Bell and Gibbs along with Gilliland, Nemechek, Reddick, Allmendinger, Chastain, Haley, Buescher and Grala all pitted for dry tires during the next lap as Joey Hand cycled into the lead. In the process, Austin Dillon and Berry had on-track incidents of their own within separate turns, but the event remained under green flag conditions.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 45, Joey Hand, an accomplished sports car competitor from Sacramento, California, who was making his first NASCAR start of the 2024 season in Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, captured the stage victory, which was also his first in the Cup Series level. Bowman followed suit in second along with Keselowski, Hocevar and Truex while Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Stenhouse, Burton and Hamlin were scored in the top 10. By then and with the top-10 competitors all remaining on the track on wet tires, Bell was mired in 13th place, but running two spots ahead of teammate Gibbs on his slick tires while Gilliland, Reddick, Nemechek, Allmendinger and Haley were mired within the top 20 on the course.
With 27 laps remaining but less than 20 minutes left until the event reached its concluding time of 8:20 p.m. CT, the final stage commenced as Hand, who along with the rest of the field remained on the track during the second stage’s break period, led Bowman, Keselowski, Hocevar, Truex and the rest of the field through the frontstretch. At the start, Hand retained a slim lead in his No. 60 BuildSumbarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse over Bowman through the first two turns while Truex was trying to overtake Hocevar for fourth place. Hand would was lead through Turns 2 to 5 and through South Columbus Drive before he made his way into Turn 6 with the top spot. Behind, Keselowski retained third place ahead of Truex, Hocevar and Stenhouse just past Turn 6 while Hand maintained the lead by within half a second as he led the proceeding lap.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Hand continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bowman, who kept intimidating Hand through every turn, as Keselowski, Truex and Hocevar followed suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Bell, racing on slick tires, was mired in 11th place behind Stenhouse, Gragson, Hemric, Burton and Preece while Gibbs, Reddick, Briscoe and Nemechek were in the top 15 ahead of Berry, McDowell, Gilliland, Blaney and Hamlin. In the process, Allmendinger was recovering from spinning in Turn 12 without drawing a caution.
Then just as Bowman assumed the lead from Hand in Turn 5 and was entering South Columbus Drive during the following lap, the caution returned due to Berry wrecking and getting his No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse stuck underneath the tire barriers.
With 22 laps but four-and-a-half minutes on the clock remaining, the race restarted as Bowman retained the lead ahead of Hand and the field through the first turn. Amid a strong start, Bowman retained a steady advantage through the next set of turns while Briscoe and Nemechek each wrecked separately. As the race continued to run under green flag conditions, Bell muscled his way up to eighth place behind Hocevar and Gragson while Bowman retained the lead entering Turn 6 before he navigated his way through Turns 7 to 11.
The following lap, Truex got sideways in Turn 2 and he got teammate Bell, who was about to crack the top five, spinning sideways in front of Hocevar as both Bell and Hocevar collided into one another towards the wall. Despite all competitors continuing without drawing a caution, Bell’s progress to drive back to the front was derailed as he pitted and eventually retired from the race. In the process, Bowman kept his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 out in front of the field while running strong on his wet tires.
Then as the time clock expired and the event’s duration decreased from 20 to two laps remaining, Bowman continued to lead by more than a second over Hand as Reddick, Gibbs and Stenhouse trailed in the top five. Reddick, who was on slick tires, would proceed to overtake Hand for the runner-up spot, but he trailed Bowman by more than three seconds.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Bowman remained as the leader by two seconds over Reddick, who was mounting a late charge on slick tires and logging in faster lap times than Bowman. With Reddick hitting the inside wall in Turn 5 and losing ground amid his late-race charge, Bowman was able to navigate the final seven sets of turns within the streets of Chicago smoothly and to perfection as he returned to the frontstretch victorious for his first checkered flag in over two years.
With the victory, Bowman achieved his eighth career win in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his first on a road course and street course venue and his first since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March 2022. The victory was also the first for crew chief Blake Harris, who assumed the role as crew chief of the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team at the start of the 2023 season. In addition, Bowman’s victory for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 team, which was the eighth of the season for the Hendrick organization and the ninth for the Chevrolet nameplate through 20-scheduled events, means that team owner Rick Hendrick has all four of his entries making the Playoffs and for the first time since the 2022 season.
Bowman’s victory was also a redemptive moment for the Arizona native, whose championship hopes in 2022 evaporated when he wrecked at Texas Motor Speedway during the Round of 12 opener. The incident resulted in Bowman sustaining a concussion and missing five of the final six events of the schedule and also eliminated him from the Playoffs following the Round of 12. He then suffered a back injury following a sprint car accident in late April that forced him to miss three regular-season races in 2023 and resulted in him missing the 2023 Playoffs. The 2024 season will mark Bowman’s sixth time overall being a participant in the Playoffs in NASCAR’s premier series.
“Anytime you go to the racetrack with Hendrick Motorsports, you got a shot [at winning],” Bowman said on NBC. “We have a trophy to take home. [I] Know it means a lot to this team. They put me in position to win the race. Man, I broke my back, had a brain injury and we kind of sucked ever since. You start to second-guess if you’re ever gonna get a chance to win a race again. Last one we won, we really didn’t get to celebrate. We’re gonna drink so much damn bourbon tonight. It’s gonna be a bad deal. I’m probably gonna wake up naked on the bathroom floor again, but that’s the part of this deal sometimes. Excited to get home. It’s gonna be a good night.”
Tyler Reddick charged his No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE to a runner-up result for his eighth top-five result of the 2024 season while Ty Gibbs charged his way up to third place on slick tires and for his fifth top-five result of the season. Joey Hand notched a career-best fourth place while Michael McDowell came home in fifth place.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Bubba Wallace, who ran into the side of Bowman after the race to express his displeasure over being spun by Bowman earlier in the race, rallied to finish 13th behind Daniel Suarez and Daniel Hemric. In addition, Brad Keselowski slipped to 18th, Chase Elliott ended up 21st behind Chris Buescher but ahead of Ross Chastain and Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin ended up 30th after he wrecked with Austin Hill into the tire barriers with two laps remaining and Martin Truex Jr. ended up 33rd following his late-race wreck. In addition, Christopher Bell, who was unable to finish, ended up 37th.
There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 34 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 20th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson continues to lead the regular-season standings by 11 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 23 over Tyler Reddick, 42 over Denny Hamlin, 70 over Martin Truex Jr. and 72 over William Byron.
Results.
1. Alex Bowman, eight laps led
2. Tyler Reddick
3. Ty Gibbs, 17 laps led
4. Joey Hand, seven laps led, Stage 2 winner
5. Michael McDowell
6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
7. Todd Gilliland
8. William Byron
9. Kyle Busch
10. Ryan Blaney
11. Daniel Suarez
12. Daniel Hemric
13. Bubba Wallace
14. Noah Gragson
15. Austin Cindric
16. Justin Haley
17. Zane Smith, three laps led
18. Brad Keselowski
19. Austin Dillon
20. Chris Buescher
21. Chase Elliott
22. Ross Chastain
23. Joey Logano
24. Carson Hocevar
25. Harrison Burton
26. Kaz Grala
27. Corey LaJoie
28. Josh Bilicki
29. Erik Jones
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Austin Hill
32. Chase Briscoe
33. Martin Truex Jr.
34. Ryan Preece
35. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
36. Josh Berry, one lap down
37. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led
38. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident
39. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident
40. Shane van Gisbergen – OUT, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for The Great American Getaway 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 14, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
After enduring an up-and-down process in his attempted double duty attempt in May, Kyle Larson rose to the occasion with a strategic NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 9.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led twice for 19 of 110 scheduled laps in an event where he dodged a series of on-track carnages within the first two stage periods. With pit strategies ensuing amongst every team and competitor throughout the event, Larson’s key path to victory occurred with 30 laps remaining as he pitted under green after leading the previous 10 laps. Returning to the track with fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, Larson then spent the next 21 laps carving his way back towards the front, where he would gain ground on the leaders Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr., both of whom pitted 13 laps earlier than Larson.
Then with nine laps remaining, Larson took advantage of both Buescher and Truex dueling each other for the lead through Turn 12 and Truex missing the Chute’s entrance turn moments after he assumed a brief lead to overtake both and reassume the top spot. Having the clean air to his advantage while stretching it, Larson was able to pace his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around Sonoma’s 12-turn circuit for the final eight laps before he crossed the finish line in first place for his third Cup Series victory of the 2024 season and his second at his home track.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, June 8, Joey Logano notched his third Cup pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 97.771 mph in 73.273 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 97.661 mph in 73.356 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Joey Logano launched his No. 22 AutoTrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead of the field through the uphill first turn before he led the way through the second turn, a pair of Turns from 3 to 3A and the Chute between Turns 4 and 7 as Tyler Reddick battled and fended off Ryan Blaney to retain second place. As the field proceeded to navigate through the Esses before making the sharp, right-hand turn in Turn 11 and back to the start/finish line in Turn 12, Logano proceeded to lead the first lap as Reddick, Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and William Byron followed suit in the top six.
Just past the second lap, the event’s first caution flew for fluid on the course after Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE went up in a billow of smoke just past the frontstretch, where he would manage to nurse his car through the uphill first turn before he parked his car in Turn 2 and became the first retiree of the event.
During the event’s first caution period, select names including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track. John Hunter Nemechek would also pit for repairs to his No. 42 Save Mart Toyota Camry XSE entry after he scrubbed the wall in Turn 1 due to slipping into Hamlin’s oil spill.
Following an extensive cleanup on the track due to Hamlin’s oil spill and a blown engine, the event restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Logano fended off teammate Blaney to retain the lead through the first three turns while Reddick was able to overtake and reassume the runner-up spot from Blaney. As the field fanned out through the Chute before entering the Esses, including a series of right- and left-hand turns, Logano maintained a steady advantage over teammate Blaney and Reddick as Elliott, Larson and Daniel Suarez followed suit. Behind, Byron dropped to seventh as Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10.
The following lap, Martin Truex Jr., who was in 18th, spun in Turn 2 after he got turned by Will Brown. Not long after, Ross Chastain got loose and drove his No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 sideways off the dirt course in Turn 8A while he was in eighth place. Amid both incidents, the event remained under green flag conditions as Logano was leading by nearly half a second over Reddick and more than a second over teammate Blaney.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Logano continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Reddick followed by Blaney, Elliott and Larson while Suarez, Byron, Bowman, AJ Allmendinger and Michael McDowell were running in the top 10. Behind, Ty Gibbs occupied 11th place ahead of Christopher Bell, rookie Carson Hocevar, Todd Gilliland and Corey LaJoie as Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Will Brown, Noah Gragson and Austin Dillon occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Chase Briscoe, Austin Cidnric, rookie Zane Smith, Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece. Meanwhile, Chris Buescher was 27th ahead of Cam Waters, Erik Jones was mired in 30th in between rookie Josh Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski was back in 33rd place ahead of Daniel Hemric and Truex was down in 37th behind John Hunter Nemechek.
Five laps later and with a series of battles ensuing around the circuit, the event’s second caution flew after Ty Gibbs, who was running in the top 10, hit the newly installed concrete walls in Turn 11, which broke his right front hub before he proceeded to drive through Turn 12 and slap the outside wall entering Turn 1, which left Gibbs with more right-side damage to his No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota Camry XSE entry. At the time of the caution, Logano maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Reddick while Blaney, Elliott and Larson continued to race in the top five. In addition, Byron, who went off the course in Turn 1, had pitted under green to address concerns of a loose wheel to his No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry.
During the caution period and with pit strategy amongst the field ensuing, some led by Logano and including Allmendinger, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Preece, Zane Smith, Cam Waters, Berry, Erik Jones, Hemric, Justin Haley and Grala pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 18, Reddick launched his No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE ahead of Blaney and the field with the lead through the uphill first turn before navigating through the following three turns and the Chute. With the field fanning out and jostling for spots approaching the Esses, the caution quickly returned after Chase Briscoe, who was running in the top 15, got turned in Turn 8A, where he was clipped by Logano, who bumped Stenhouse and sent him for a spin, as Logano, who shredded the rear of Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, spun off and back onto the course through Turn 8 before he was hit in the rear by Harrison Burton, leaving all four competitors with damage to their respective entries.
Amid the caution period, select names including Bell, Will Brown, Buescher, Byron, Keselowski, Preece and Haley pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.
The event re-started under green with three laps remaining in the first stage period. At the start, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead through the first three turns before Reddick managed to muscle ahead entering Turn 3A and the Chute. As Reddick led Blaney, Larson, Elliott and Bowman through the Esses before Turn 11, McDowell was in sixth while Trackhouse Racing’s Suarez and Chastain battled for seventh place. In addition, LaJoie and Gilliland battled for ninth place ahead of Hocevar, Wallace and Gragson while Cindric and Allmendinger trailed in the top 15.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 25, Reddick captured his third Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Blaney followed suit in second along with Larson, Elliott, Bowman and McDowell, respectively, while Chastain edged teammate Suarez to grab seventh place. LaJoie and Gilliland would round out the top 10 at the first stage’s conclusion.
Under the stage break, some including Kyle Busch, Truex, Preece, Hemric, Allmendinger, Logano, Haley, Stenhouse, Grala and Harrison Burton pitted while the rest led by Reddick remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 29 as Reddick and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Reddick and Blaney dueled for the lead through the uphill first turn and through Turn 2 before Reddick launched ahead entering Turn 3A. With Reddick leading through the Chute, Elliott tried to make a move to Blaney’s outside entering Turn 7, but he got loose amid light contact with Blaney. This allowed Larson to assume third place from teammate Elliott while Chastain trailed in fifth place through the Esses.
During the Lap 30 mark, Austin Cindric nearly flipped as he spun his No. 2 America’s Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse sideways off the course and through the uphill turn in the dirt entering Turn 2, but he managed to proceed without drawing a caution. Two laps later, however, the caution returned after Will Brown, who was battling electrical issues to his No. 33 Mobile X/Shaw and Partners Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, parked his car off the course in Turn 11 due to a potential engine issue that resulted in him falling off the pace entering Turn 11. At the time of caution, Reddick was leading ahead of Blaney, Larson, Elliott and Chastain.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 34 amid a stacked restart, Reddick and Blaney dueled amid close-quarters racing through the first four turns before Reddick managed to maintain the top spot and clear Blaney prior to entering the Chute. Meanwhile, Larson bumped and overtook Blaney for the runner-up spot entering the Esses while Chastain, Elliott, Gilliland and Bowman followed suit.
Shortly after, more on-track issues ensued as Bubba Wallace, who was running in the top 10, slipped his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE off the course and kicked up dirt in Turn 11. While Wallace recovered despite losing a handful of spots as the field stacked up, trouble ignited in front of him as Josh Berry got bumped and turned into the concrete walls by Erik Jones in Turn 11, which resulted in Berry locking up the tires and going dead straight into Bell, Truex, Byron and Dillon, as all but Truex spun. Cam Waters was also collected in the carnage while the rest of the field in the mid-pack region scattered and jammed on the brakes to avoid the carnage. The carnage drew the event back into a caution period as Reddick retained the race lead.
With the event restarting under green on Lap 39, Reddick retained the lead from Larson, Blaney and Chastain through the first four turns and the Chute, with Chastain bumping and battling Blaney for third place. Then through the Esses, the caution quickly returned after Austin Cindric got Noah Gragson sideways in Turn 8A, where Gragson then clipped Cindric and sent both into the tire barriers as McDowell was also sent into the tire barriers after getting caught in a mid-pack stack-up.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 42 featured Reddick muscling away from Larson to retain the lead as Chastain moved into third place from Blaney. While Bowman and Suarez rubbed fenders while battling for fifth place in front of Elliott before entering the Esses, Reddick kept his No. 45 entry racing in front of Larson to retain the lead during the ensuing lap while the rest of the field behind jostled for spots. By then, Austin Dillon took his No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to the garage.
Through the Lap 45 mark, Reddick was leading by six-tenths of a second over Larson while third-place Chastain trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Blaney and Bowman trailed in the top five while Suarez, Elliott, Buescher, Preece and Busch followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Truex, Allmendinger, Erik Jones, Zane Smith and Keselowski. Meanwhile, Logano, Burton, Gilliland, Stenhouse and Hemric were racing in the top 20 ahead of Hocevar, Cam Waters, Haley, Bell and Briscoe as Wallace, LaJoie, Grala, McDowell, Gragson and Byron were mired in the top 31.
At the Lap 50 mark, Reddick extended his advantage to two seconds over Larson while Blaney, who overtook Chastain for third place a few laps earlier, trailed by three seconds. With Chastain settling in fourth, Bowman retained fifth while Elliott overtook Suarez for sixth place.
A lap later, Blaney pitted his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry under green along with Elliott and Suarez. Larson would pit his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry during the following lap along with teammate Bowman, Chastain, and rookie Zane Smith before Reddick, the only competitor who has yet to pit, surrendered the lead to pit by Lap 53. Reddick’s pit stop moved Chris Buescher into the lead as he was followed by Preece, Truex, Busch and Allmendinger.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 55, which marked the event’s halfway point, Buescher captured his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Preece followed suit in second along with Truex, Busch and Allmendinger while Keselowski, Erik Jones, Gilliland, Logano and Burton were scored in the top 10. By then, a bevy of front-runners that included Larson, Chastain, Byron, Reddick, Blaney, Elliott, Suarez and Bowman were mired outside the top 25, with Reddick locking up his front tires and going off the course before entering the Chute after he made contact with Larson just after completing his green flag pit service.
With 51 laps remaining, where the entire lead lap field remained on the track, the final stage commenced as Buescher and Preece occupied the front row. At the start, Buescher launched ahead from the outside lane and retained the lead through the course’s first four turns before navigating his way through the Chute. Behind, Truex overtook Preece for the runner-up spot while Allmendinger and Busch battled for fourth place in front of Nemechek and Keselowski. With the field navigating through the various turns through the Esses, Buescher was leading by nearly a second over Truex with 50 laps remaining.
Shortly after, Preece, who was trying to battle Truex for the runner-up spot, slipped sideways and spun his No. 41 Caymus Vineyards Ford Mustang Dark Horse off the course in Turn 7, but the event remained under green as Preece dropped out of the top-10 running order. Meanwhile, Larson, who carved his way into the top 20, was trying to weave his way back to the front amid a series of jostles and on-track contact in the middle of the pack. Other front-runners mired in the mid-pack region with Larson included teammate Elliott, Chastain, Suarez, Reddick and Bowman while Buescher stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over Truex.
With 43 laps remaining, the leader Buescher along with Truex, Busch, McDowell, Logano, Preece, Bowman, Wallace and Burton pitted their respective entries under green. More names including Gilliland, Erik Jones, Haley, Bell, Reddick and Berry pitted over the next two laps before Hocevar, Hemric and Suarez pitted with 40 laps remaining. By then, Allmendinger, who assumed the lead when Buescher pitted, was leading ahead of Larson, Stenhouse, Chastain and Elliott. Once Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry along with Chastain with 39 laps remaining, Larson cycled into the lead.
Down to the final 35 laps of the event, Larson was leading by four seconds over teammate Elliott as LaJoie, Blaney and Grala trailed as far as 18 seconds in the top five. Behind, Buescher, the first competitor with four fresh tires and fuel, trailed by 18 seconds in sixth place while Truex, Busch, Allmendinger and McDowell were racing in the top 10 ahead of Keselowski, Gilliland, Chastain, Reddick, Erik Jones, Bell, Cindric, Suarez, Bowman and Haley.
Five laps later, the top-four competitors led by Larson and including teammate Elliott, LaJoie and Blaney continued to run on the track, though all have yet to make another pit stop, while Buescher trailed the four leaders by 20 seconds in fifth place. Meanwhile, Truex continued to trail the lead by 22 seconds in sixth place as Busch, Allmendinger, McDowell and Keselowski were in the top 10. Behind, Reddick, who was still trying to carve his way back to the front, was mired in 13th in between Chastain and Bell, Suarez was in 15th and Bowman was in 18th.
Not long after, Larson surrendered the lead to pit under green as teammate Elliott moved into the lead. Third-place Blaney pitted under green with 27 laps remaining before Elliott and LaJoie pitted during the following lap. Amid the pit stops, Buescher cycled his No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry into the lead as Truex, Busch, Allmendinger and McDowell all cycled into the top five while Larson cycled his way back to sixth place.
With 20 laps remaining, Buescher stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Truex while third-place Busch trailed by four seconds. Meanwhile, Larson, who was locked in a heated three-way battle with McDowell and Allmendinger three laps earlier, trailed in fourth place by less than six seconds while McDowell and Allmendinger followed suit in fifth and sixth, respectively. In addition, Chastain was in seventh ahead of Gilliland, Elliott and Keselowski while Reddick, Bell, Suarez, Blaney, LaJoie and Bowman trailed in the top 16.
Over the next handful of laps, Truex started to close in on Buescher for the lead as he cut the deficit as close to half a second. At the same time, Larson, who overtook Busch for third place, ignited his pursuit on the two leaders, with Larson having fresher tires than both Buescher and Truex, as he trailed both by four seconds. Despite having two series champions intimidating him through distinct approaches, Buescher continued to lead by half a second with 15 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the top three competitors were separated by eight-tenths of a second as Buescher retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Truex while Larson, who now has the top two leaders close in front of his windshield, was trying to navigate his way around Truex for the runner-up spot. Behind, McDowell trailed in fourth place by four seconds while Busch trailed in fifth place by six seconds.
Then approaching the final nine laps of the event, Truex attempted to stick his front nose beneath Buescher entering Turn 11 as Buescher missed his marks. Despite squeezing his way underneath Buescher through the turn, Buescher refused to surrender as he rubbed dead even with Truex through Turn 12. This allowed Larson to close in even more as Truex was able to overtake Buescher to move his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry into the lead in Turn 2. Larson, however, also overtook Buescher for the runner-up spot through Turn 2 as he pursued Truex for the lead. Then entering the Chute, Truex went wide after he missed his marked turn, which allowed Larson to make his move beneath Truex in Turn 7 as he assumed the lead. Larson would proceed to lead by two-tenths of a second over Truex while Buescher trailed in third place by a second.
With five laps remaining, Larson started to stretch his advantage as he was leading by eight-tenths of a second while third-place Buescher trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, McDowell started to close in on Buescher in his late attempt for third place while Busch trailed in fifth place by six seconds. Another lap later, McDowell, who radioed a potential flat tire to his No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, overtook Buescher for third place as Chastain, Elliott, Allmendinger, Blaney and Reddick trailed in the top 10.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained as the leader while extending it to two seconds over Truex. As Chastain and Busch tangled for fifth place entering the Chute, Larson was able to cruise his No. 5 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry smoothly around the 12-turn Sonoma circuit for a final time before he navigated his way back to Turn 12 and across the finish line to claim the checkered flag for his third Cup victory of the 2024 season and by four seconds.
With the victory, Larson, a product of Elk Grove, California, notched his 26th career win in NASCAR’s premier series, his second at Sonoma and his first since 2021. He also joined teammate William Byron and Denny Hamlin as competitors to notch three victories during the first 16 events of the 2024 schedule as the 2024 Sonoma victory marked the eighth of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the sixth for Hendrick Motorsports. The Sonoma victory marks Larson’s 20th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson’s Sonoma victory also occurred five days after he was granted a waiver to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. The waiver occurred due to Larson missing the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after on-track precipitations between both the Coke 600 and the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway spoiled his attempt to complete the Memorial Day “Double”, where he opted to start the Indy 500 and was unable to register a lap for the Coke 600 with the event being shortened and as Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier filled in for Larson’s Cup Series efforts.
SONOMA, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 09: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Valvoline Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 09, 2024 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images).
“I didn’t know what we were like doing as far as strategy,” Larson said on FOX. “I was just out there banging laps away. We studied all the strategies, but it’s like doing homework. I don’t really know what I’m looking at. I was like, ‘Well, [Buescher and Truex] have to pit another time, maybe.’ Then [the team] said we had to go race and pass those guys. I got a bit nervous. I knew I’d be quick from the get-go, but I thought once the tires would come up to [track temperature], it would even off too much. Thankful that we had enough grip. Thankful too that those guys got racing and Martin [Truex Jr.] never got clear really where I would get stuck in third. That really saved the race…just an awesome, awesome race car. Cool to win at home. [I’ll] Drink some wine here in a little bit and go celebrate.”
As Larson celebrated his Sonoma victory both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane towards the circuit’s dragstrip, Truex, who was losing steady ground of Larson during the final lap, had his hopes of posting a strong runner-up finish spoiled after he ran out of fuel approaching the final stretch to the finish line. Truex’s misfortune allowed Michael McDowell to claim the runner-up spot while Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain finished in the top five.
As AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland finished in the top 10, Kyle Busch nursed his No. 8 zone Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to a 12th-place result following his last-lap spin from Chastain, where he also ran out of fuel approaching the finish line. Truex ended up in 27th place as he struggled to coast his entry across the finish line to finish the race, drawing a caution as the event concluded.
There were 10 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 16th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson reassumes the lead in the regular-season standings following his Sonoma victory and he leads by 14 points over teammate Chase Elliott, 26 over Denny Hamlin, 49 over Tyler Reddick and 53 over Martin Truex Jr.
Results.
1. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led
2. Michael McDowell
3. Chris Buescher, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner
4. Chase Elliott, three laps led
5. Ross Chastain
6. AJ Allmendinger, three laps led
7. Ryan Blaney, one lap led
8. Tyler Reddick, 35 laps led, Stage 1 winner
9. Christopher Bell
10. Todd Gilliland
11. Corey LaJoie
12. Kyle Busch, one lap led
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Daniel Suarez
15. Alex Bowman
16. Zane Smith
17. Carson Hocevar
18. Ryan Preece
19. Erik Jones
20. Bubba Wallace
21. Joey Logano, 16 laps led
22. Austin Cindric
23. Kaz Grala
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25. Harrison Burton
26. Noah Gragson
27. Martin Truex Jr., one lap led
28. Daniel Hemric, one lap down
29. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
30. William Byron, two laps down
31. Will Brown, three laps down
32. Josh Berry – OUT, Suspension
33. Justin Haley – OUT, Steering
34. Chase Briscoe – OUT, Transmission
35. Cam Waters – OUT, Accident
36. Austin Dillon – OUT, DVP
37. Ty Gibbs – OUT, DVP
38. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 16, and air at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Kyle Larson has been granted a waiver from NASCAR that will make him eligible to qualify for the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs.
The news comes more than a week after Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion who was attempting to become the fifth competitor overall to attempt “The Double” between the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, had his plans foiled due to the Indy 500 being delayed by four hours for precipitation. Opting to remain at Indianapolis to compete in the 500 for Arrow McLaren, the Elk Grove, California, native missed the start of the Coke 600 as Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier piloted Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry in the event.
After finishing 18th in his first Indy 500 attempt, Larson, who would be named the 2024 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, then hopped on a plane, flew to Charlotte Motor Speedway and arrived just as the event was placed in a red flag period due to on-track precipitation. Despite getting suited for the event, the event was made official on Lap 249 of 400 and Allgaier was credited with a 13th-place result despite starting at the rear of the field due to the driver change made to Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team. As a result, Larson was unable to turn in laps to complete his double-duty task, which also made his status of being eligible to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs in jeopardy since he did not take the green flag for the 600-mile event.
Following the event, Hendrick Motorsports filed in a waiver request for Larson, who had notched two victories through 13 scheduled events that made him eligible for the Playoffs prior to “The Double”. The first victory of the 2024 season occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March while the second occurred at Kansas Speedway in May, where he established the closest-recorded finish in the history of the Cup Series after edging Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds.
Per the NASCAR Rule Book, every competitor is to start in all scheduled events in a season to be eligible for the Playoffs unless circumstantial situations would be approved or authorized by NASCAR. Ultimately, the decision to grant Larson a waiver from NASCAR was due to his efforts to travel to Charlotte Motor Speedway and compete in the Coke 600 following his run at Indianapolis, per Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition.
Larson, who has 25 Cup career victories to his current resume, has accumulated three poles, six top-five results, seven top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 12.4 to go alongside his two regular-season victories through 14 starts. He is currently ranked in second place in the regular-season standings, where he lost the points lead after opting to race in the Indy 500, and trails points leader Denny Hamlin by 21 points. He is also coming off a 10th-place result in last Sunday’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway.
With his Playoff eligibility restored, Kyle Larson’s next event of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to occur at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, June 9, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Kyle Larson capped off an eventful day and month of motorsports competition leading up to Memorial Day weekend on a bittersweet note that resulted with his plans of performing ‘Double Duty’ between the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 being partially spoiled due to on-track precipitation and resulting with him campaigning in the former over the latter.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, commenced his planned ‘Double Duty’ task by opting to remain at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to compete in this year’s 108th running of the Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren on Sunday, May 26, despite the event being delayed by four hours due to a heavy stream of precipitation.
Qualifying in fifth place during last Sunday’s qualifying session with a four-lap average-qualifying speed of 232.846 mph in two mintutes, 34.6083 seconds, Larson, who started the main event on the second row, dropped one spot on the track amid a multi-car wreck on the opening lap that knocked Pietro Fittipaldi, Tom Blomqvist and the 2022 Indy 500 champion Marcus Ericsson out of contention.
Then during the next restart period on the ninth lap, Larson endured a brief scary moment when he fell off the pace after missing a gear and getting his car to launch at the start. Larson’s gearing issues resulted with the Californian dropping to 14th place as he made wheel-to-wheel contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay through the frontstretch. Amid the contact, Larson was able to keep his No. 17 HendrickCars.com/Arrow McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet pointing straight as he remained within 14th place in the early stages.
After gaining two spots on pit road following his first INDYCAR pit service amid another caution period for Katherine Legge having a mechanical issue, Larson would remain in the top 15, starting through the event’s next restart period on Lap 26.
Over the course of the event, Larson, who would carve his way back into the top 10 on the track, was scored in ninth place by the Lap 50 mark before he moved up to seventh place at the halfway mark on Lap 100. Through a steady pace on the track and stellar pit stops from his team, Larson would run as high as fourth place on the track.
Then during a late cycle of green flag pit stops with 69 laps remaining, Larson’s strong run was foiled after he smoked his front tires while trying to reduce his speed to enter pit road while running in the top five. Amid his pit service, Larson would be assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road. After serving his pass-through penalty, Larson was mired back in 22nd place on the track.
During the final round of green flag pit stops that commenced with nearly 30 laps remaining, Larson, who was on a different pit strategy compared to the leaders, would lead his first lap in the Indy 500 with 20 laps remaining. He would lead the next four laps before he surrendered the lead to pit for the final time under green with 16 laps remaining. Returning to the track, Larson would cross the finish line in 18th place, which made him the lowest-finishing Arrow McLaren competitor of the day while his teammates Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi and Callum Ilott finished second, fourth and 11th, respectively.
“I would definitely love to be back next year,” Larson said on NBC. “I feel like I learned a lot throughout the race. [I] Felt like I did a really good job on the restarts and was able to learn a lot. Obviously, I smoked the left front [tire] or something into the green flag stop and killed our opportunity, so proud to finish, but pretty upset at myself. If I just could’ve executed a better race, you never know what could happen. Bummed at myself, but huge thank you to Arrow McLaren, Hendrick Motorsports, Hendrick Automotive Group, Rick Hendrick, Chevrolet, everybody that’s a part of this. We’ll go hop on a jet and see if I can get into the [Coca-Cola] 600 somehow.”
By the time Larson arrived at the track from his helicopter, however, the event, which had started without Larson present, was under a caution period due to precipitation and eventually red-flagged on Lap 249 of 400. By then, Justin Allgaier, an Xfinity Series veteran for JR Motorsports who was selected to serve as Larson’s standby competitor, had piloted the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to 13th place after Allgaier was forced to start at the rear of the field due to a driver change.
Eventually, the event was made official by NASCAR due to the precipitation around the Charlotte Motor Speedway circuit, with Christopher Bell claiming the rain-shortened victory and Allgaier being credited for 13th place by both starting and finishing the event while Larson, who had planned to contest in 1,100 miles between the Indy 500 and the Coke 600, was unable to pilot his No. 5 entry for a lap.
As a result, this season marks the first time where a competitor attempting the double during Memorial Day weekend ends up competing in one event over the other since Robby Gordon ended up only competing in the Indy 500, which was delayed by three hours and caused him to miss the Coke 600.
By missing this year’s Coca-Cola 600, Larson, who snaps a 121-race starting streak, and Hendrick Motorsports have yet to submit a waiver request to NASCAR that would keep Larson eligible to make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. In addition, Larson, who came into the Coke 600 with a 30-point lead in the 2024 Cup Series regular-season standings, drops to third place in the standings, but trails points leader Denny Hamlin by six points and runner-up Martin Truex Jr. by one.
With his 2024 Indianapolis 500 start complete, Larson shifts his focus back to his full-time Cup Series role for the upcoming series’ event at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway for the Enjoy Illinois 300. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, June 2, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
