'I was praying.' Why Kyle Larson couldn't overtake Bubba Wallace to repeat as Brickyard 400 winner
After NASCAR brought out the red flag due to the edge of a rain shower hitting Turn 1, Larson started outside of Wallace in the first overtime restart. After contact back in the field required another restart, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was unable to match Wallace's pace as the field got up to speed.
'(Wallace) was in first gear on both (restarts), but the first one he was just a little bit faster paced to the restart zone,' Larson said. 'So I stayed in second gear and he got a launch and I was able to just kind of barely hang on his right rear corner and then drag him back and kind of pull my momentum to halfway past him.
'And yeah, I was just hoping that he could maybe have a moment underneath me and get loose and I would have the momentum to get by him. And then the second one, he brought the pace down so slow, I had to be in first gear as well and just kind of launched with him. So I had no momentum at that time.'
Larson, the 2024 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year after his first double attempt, was outside Wallace as the pair headed to Turn 1 but couldn't keep up with the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota and fell back in line. Larson was four-tenths of a second behind Wallace as the pair started the final lap but couldn't make up the difference.
Both drivers had fuel concerns as the race approached its conclusion, especially Wallace as he pitted two laps before Larson.
'I don't really know their strategy and then our team's trying to piece it together the best that they can,' Larson said. 'So it's all just guesstimation. Even then, they're probably guesstimating as well, so I was praying that he'd run out of fuel, but I also didn't want to run out of fuel myself, either. So it is what it is.'
A handful of drivers pitted under caution for the end of the race's second 50-lap stage and those drivers led Wallace, Larson and the rest of the field who waited to pit under green with about forty laps to go in the race's scheduled 160-lap distance. After the drivers who pitted under yellow made their final pit stops under green, Larson and Wallace gradually climbed through the field to first and second with Wallace leading by over four seconds until the caution for rain on Lap 155.
Larson led the race twice for 19 laps after starting 13th. The three-time Knoxville Nationals champion finished eighth at the end of the first 50-lap stage and second after the race's second 50-lap stage.
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