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Kyle Larson wins Brickyard 400 in controversial fashion
NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson (5) celebrates with his trophy after winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kristin Enzor / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kyle Larson wins Brickyard 400 in controversial fashion

Kyle Larson won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, but it didn't come without a little bit of controversy. 

With Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski lined up for an overtime restart, Keselowski's Ford Mustang, which was low on gas, started sputtering, forcing Keselowski to take his car down pit road. Larson, who was originally lined up third suddenly found himself on the front row. 

On restarts, NASCAR designates the race leader as the "control car" — meaning the car that is supposed to accelerate first in the restart zone. With Keselowski being the leader before coming to pit road, Blaney only had a matter of seconds to realize that he was now the control car. 

On what turned out to be the race's second-to-last restart, Larson appeared to accelerate early and ended up grabbing the lead before the caution came out in turn one. On the next restart, Larson pulled away from Blaney, who had to yield the second spot to Tyler Reddick.

Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five, while Todd Gilliland and Daniel Suarez finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10. 

Other notable finishers from Sunday's race include Ross Chastain in 15th, Keselowski in 21st, Chris Buescher in 22nd, Denny Hamlin in 32nd and William Byron in 38th. 

Only four races remain in the Cup Series regular season, with the series' next race taking place at Richmond Raceway on Aug. 11. 

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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