Kyle Larson was cruising to a Stage 1 victory in the 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the unthinkable happened. In the closing laps, Larson was leading Ty Gibbs before his right-rear tire blew, sending him hard into the wall entering Turn 3. It immediately ended the driver of the No. 5 car's day.
Following the shocking wreck, Larson addressed what happened in the 2026 Brickyard 400. Based on his comments, there is nothing that he could've done.
“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. I’m proud of this No. 5 Chevrolet team. We qualified 10th and did
what we had to do to gain the track position to get to the lead. 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. It’s a bummer, but we’ll get back after it at Iowa (Speedway).”
Larson had a great car and could've been a two-time Brickyard 400 winner if everything went right for the No. 5 team at Indianapolis. Instead, Larson finished in dead last and now sits eighth in the point standings. Now Larson will focus on Iowa Speedway, as he looks to gain some momentum after a much-needed break.
This article originally appeared on Motorsports Wire: Kyle Larson addresses shocking NASCAR wreck at Indianapolis in 2026
