INDIANAPOLIS – There’s a good chance a driver named Kyle will be celebrating a victory in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway late Sunday afternoon.
After all, a driver named Kyle has won the last two Brickyard 400s. That was, of course, Kyle Busch, who enters Sunday’s race winless in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series since winning the 2016 Brickyard 400.
Entering qualifying late Saturday afternoon, the driver named Kyle that appeared to be the favorite to win this year was Kyle Larson, the young star at Chip Ganassi Racing who is experiencing his breakout season in NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series with two wins and is second in the standings.
Unfortunately Larson’s Chevrolet brushed the wall during his qualification attempt and he did not make the top 24 to advance out of first round.
“We’ve been off all day with our Target Chevy and I made an attempt to run before the run and got really tight,” Larson said. “We adjusted the car and then it was too loose on that lap.”
While Larson will have to race his way from the 25th starting position, it can be done. He has raced his way from the back to the front the past two weeks.
In three previous Brickyard 400s, Larson has finished seventh in 2014, ninth in ’16 and fifth last year.
“It would be awesome to win here, I’ve ran good every time I’ve been here,” Larson said. “I think in the top-six or eight in the three races I’ve ran. I always have speed, and I’m really excited about this weekend because we’ve had more speed than we have ever had anywhere so far in my career. Practice didn’t go quite like I had hoped, especially in qualifying trim. I didn’t think we were very good. We’ll work on it some, and get better. We typically ran better than we even practice.”
Kyle Larson is expected to contend for the victory in Sunday’s Brickyard 400. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)
Because Larson won’t be starting up front, his Chip Ganassi Racing team will have to make some changes on the car to help him get through the field on a track where it is very hard to pass.
“Qualifying is always important, and especially when you come to Indy because it is tough to pass,” Larson said. “But, I think you look at the last two weekends, those are probably the hardest tracks to pass at as well. We had to start last in both of those and made our way to the top-10 or top-five pretty quickly. I think if you have a good car, you will be able to pass. For sure, hopefully we can get qualifying in today. If not, that might work about better because I will start on the front row. I think if you have a good car, you can get underneath people and pass them fairly easy.”
It’s obvious, though that something clicks for Larson at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I think it is a rhythm type of a race track,” Larson said. “I’m not sure…maybe the rhythm thing. I’d maybe see smooth but I don’t think I am the smoothest guy out there. I think if you look at Chip’s record here with Juan (Pablo Montoya) or Jamie McMurray, this just seems to be a really good track for whatever reason. I don’t know if we piggyback off the IndyCar team at all on anything, or if you even can, but I feel like Chip has always been good here. Even in the seasons where they haven’t been strong, they’ve been good at Indy. I don’t know what it is about that.”
If it’s not Kyle Larson that wins the Brickyard 400 then it’s always a good bet to pick Busch.
Busch, who won the pole for the second time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, is attempting to win this race for the third year in a row. If he does, he’ll join Formula One legend Michael Schumacher as the only other driver to win at least three-straight races at Indianapolis.
Schumacher won the United States Grand Prix four-straight years from 2003 to 2007.
Source :speedsport.com
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