No caution? Kyle Larson gets controversial Brickyard 400 victory in double overtime

Kyle Larson won in NASCAR’s return to the Indianapolis oval — but not without some luck.

He found himself sitting in 23rd place with 130 of 160 (extended to 167) laps completed in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. The Hendrick Motorsports star sped through the field as the race wound down, getting all the way up to P3 before a wreck behind the leaders prompted overtime.

Brad Keselowski, who’d been leading the race on a near-empty fuel tank, had to pit as overtime started. Larson battled with Ryan Blaney off the restart, only for an even bigger crash to ensue behind them. The Cup Series race needed to be red-flagged for 17 minutes as debris was cleaned.

As Larson raced out to a narrow lead in the second overtime, Ryan Preece spun farther back in the field. The No. 41 car was clearly done — but NASCAR waited to throw a caution until Larson took the white flag.

“We want our teams to race to the checkered flag,” Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, said in a video NASCAR posted on social media Sunday night. “We did everything we possibly could. We kept an eye on (Preece) — He got turned around; He was really giving a solid effort.

“Once he came to a stop, we could tell he had a flat left rear tire and could tell he wasn’t going to move, we had already taken the white (flag). So it was unfortunate, but it was the right call.”

Tyler Reddick finished second, Ryan Blaney came in third, Christopher Bell fourth and Bubba Wallace fifth.

How Kyle Larson finally won at Indy

Denny Hamlin started on the front row alongside pole-sitter Tyler Reddick and got to the lead early. He pitted alongside the four Hendrick Motorsports cars early in the opening stage, beating Larson in the race off pit road — and ultimately held him off to win Stage 1.

A big wreck came on the backstretch during Lap 74 (of 167). Preece got into William Byron, and the No. 24 car spun through the field and into the inside wall. Byron’s day was done, as were those of AJ Allmendinger and Harrison Burton.

Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, Chase Elliott and Wallace all decided to stay out during a caution in the second stage. Wallace made his way to the lead late and won Stage 2, collecting 10 huge playoff points for the No. 23 team.

Several yellow flags needed to be waved throughout the final stage. Keselowski led the field back to green as drivers restarted with 30 laps to go in regulation and commanded the race until overtime.

After Larson worked his way back up to third place, Blaney blocked him from second as Larson charged at Keselowski — before a Kyle Busch wreck behind them sent the race to its first overtime.

Blaney and Larson appeared set to battle it out from the front row as the field restarted for overtime, but a big wreck ensued behind them. Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric and Chase Briscoe all got collected in a crash that prompted the 17-minute red flag.

Larson got out to the lead off the second overtime restart, and that was all he needed.

“I wish we could have got to do both and run the (Coca-Cola) 600,” Larson said. “We had a phenomenal car for that race, too. I think everything just comes full circle. Everything is meant to be. Today definitely meant to be for us. With the way the strategy was working out, Brad running out of fuel, me inheriting the front row. A lot had to fall into place. Thankfully it did.”

NASCAR celebrates 30 years since inaugural Brickyard

Thirty years after NASCAR’s first race at Indy, drivers from the inaugural race in 1994 returned to the Brickyard.

Hut Stricklin, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Rudd, Rick Mast, Bobby Hillin Jr. and Morgan Shepherd posed for a photo along the bricks.

Sunday’s race marked the first time in four years that NASCAR ran the Brickyard 400 on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval track. NASCAR’s summer race in Speedway, Indiana, had previously been held on a road course — won by AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell — for the past three years.

It represented 30 years since Jeff Gordon recorded the first of his record five Brickyard 400 wins in 1994. Jimmie Johnson is a four-time winner there, and Kevin Harvick owns three victories. Kyle Busch won back-to-back Brickyard 400s in 2015 and 2016.

Nearly two months after attempting to run the Indianapolis 500, Larson — one of NASCAR’s biggest current stars — found his way to victory lane at the Brickyard.

And he left the door open to attempt the vaunted “double” once again.

“How about we come back next May and try to kiss these bricks in an IndyCar?” Larson said. “I’d love to. We’re working on it. I hope we can announce something soon. See you guys all next May.”