INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Larson’s hopes for a second NASCAR Cup Series victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway came to an abrupt end Sunday when a tire failure triggered a crash on Lap 46 of the Brickyard 400.
But as the closing laps of Stage 1 approached, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet suffered what Larson described as a sudden tire failure, sending him into the wall and causing race-ending damage.
“We just had a tire let go,” Larson said. “I wouldn’t say pushing it had anything to do with it. I was only going three-tenths quicker than I had been with saving fuel. It was just a little bit of bad luck, I guess.”
The setback was especially frustrating for Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team after what he felt was one of their strongest starts in recent weeks. Larson said the team executed its strategy perfectly, gaining valuable track position and putting itself in contention before the accident.
“We qualified 10th and did what we had to do to gain the track position to get to the lead,” Larson said. “We executed all of that really well. There was still obviously a lot of the race left, but I feel like we were positioning ourselves within the race and within the strategy to set ourselves up well to go after a win.”
Instead, Larson was left with an early exit and a disappointing finish at one of NASCAR’s crown jewel events.
“It’s a bummer,” Larson said. “But we’ll get back after it at Iowa.”