Defending champ Kyle Larson returns to Brickyard seeking turnaround

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Larson raced to his third NASCAR Cup victory of the season at Kansas in mid-May then turned his attention to his second and perhaps final attempt at racing’s double — completing all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

Instead, he was hit with a double whammy.

A crash on Lap 92 knocked him out of the 500, relegating him to 24th, and two crashes — the second on Lap 245 — knocked him out in Charlotte, where he finished 37th.

Not much has gone right for Lason since then.

He posted just one top five finish over the next eight races before finishing fourth at Dover last weekend. Now, the defending Brickyard 400 champion is back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway trying to recharge his season.

“It’s great to be back here in Indy and back at the track, hopefully I’ll do a much better job than I did in May,” he said Friday. “It’s a privilege to get to run here and I would love nothing more than a good run and hopefully kind of put the bow on the double stuff.”

Only three drivers in race history own back-to-back Brickyard wins — Jimmie Johnson in 2008-09, Kyle Busch in 2015-16 and Kevin Harvick in 2019-20. Larson’s won last year on Indy’s historic 2.5-mile oval instead of the road course used the previous three years.

Most if not all drivers including Larson prefer running the oval.

“There’s so many people from all over the world here whether it be May or our events or, really for that matter, any events,” Justin Allgaier said. “… It’s just there’s nothing quite like it;”

Larson understands having driven an IndyCar on the oval each of the last two Mays and now back in a Cup car, his fourth start in 14 months at the Brickyard.

The difference this year: Larson wants to change directions after some sub-par results.

But they haven’t dashed his championship hopes.

The 2021 Cup champ is tied for second in wins this season, already has accrued 23 playoff points and trails only Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup champ, and William Byron in points. Neither Elliott or Byron has won the 400, though.

Neither has Denny Hamlin, who sits just behind Larson in points despite winning a series-best four times including last weekend at Dover. He also signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday.

If he can add a win Sunday to the three he’s had in the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 and the one Coca-Cola 600 title, Hamlin would join the short list of drivers who have won all four Cup crown jewel races in their career.

“It certainly would mean a lot to me,” said Hamlin, who has started 16 Brickyards. “We’ve come close. We were actually as close on the road course as we were on ovals although I don’t know — you could argue whether that (road race) was actually a crown jewel or not. So, yeah, highly motivated.”

But things already are off script for Larson, Hamlin and everyone else in Indy.

Friday’s scheduled practice was rained out, making the second week in a row practice was washed out. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday when temperatures are forecast to be in the mid to upper 80s with rain in the forecast most of the afternoon. The forecast for Sunday looks almost identical to Saturday.

That’s not what Larson wanted to hear even though race organizers rescheduled a short practice for Saturday afternoon.

“Hopefully, our car is good again,” he said before the scheduled practice. “I believe it should be fast, if not better than it was last year. So, you know, hopefully we’ll have a good practice, good qualifying (Saturday) and execute a good race on Sunday.”

Larson’s goal is simple — qualify up front, stay up front and stay out of the trouble he’s found far too routinely lately.

“When (Christopher Bell) spun (at Dover), I thought I was going to get collected and be like ‘Uh, oh, just continuing our bad luck here,” he said. “So, hopefully, this is the beginning of us to kind turn things around. We’ll see.”

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